Charlie the Cat

We all know that Chester the Cat is the best cat around... But do we know about his son? Charlie the cat is technically still a kitten, and he is in fact Chester's son. Surprisingly (I know this is hard to believe), but Charlie is actually the best kitten around. I know... I know... how likely is it that this low-key geeky girl in Michigan has both the best cat AND the best kitten? It's not very likely. But I suppose this is why I never win the lottery. Used all my luck up on acquiring pets.

As you can see, Charlie has a cute little grey mustache. He is, in fact, named after Charlie Chaplin, but I often change his name around on him. He can be Charles Darwin and Charles Barkley (which would be a perfect name for a dog!) too, depending on his personality at the time. We were also surprised to find that Charlie is a long-haired kitty! Both of his parents had short hair. The trait is recessive, so it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that we would end up with some long-hairs, but I didn't see it coming at all!

You can see that little mustache, right?

Charlie is in fact, Chester the cat's son. We had an "oops" litter of kittens, but don't worry all our kitties are now fixed! We had 6 beautiful little kittens, and I fell head over heals in love with one kitten in particular. His name was Phillip. Surprise! It wasn't Charlie. Phillip was the first kitten to do everything. First to open his eyes, the first to start walking, the first to eat solid food, and the first to steal my heart. Phillip was so easy to love and so cute with his fluffy black fur and his little white socks. We had 3 grey kittens that all pretty much looked the same, so Phillip was an easy one to focus on.

It wasn't until Charlie got a little bit of an eye infection that we started to notice him (sad to say). Every day, several times a day, I was washing his poor little eyes and putting eye drops in for him. Of course a 2 week old kitten doesn't enjoy that too much, but I found if I sang quietly to him, he would just relax and let my clean him up. Needless to say, over the course of his antibiotic drops, Charlie and I got very attached to each other. When it was time to find homes for our babies, I knew I couldn't let Charlie go. Phillip was brave, sweet and lovable; I knew he'd find a home so easily. I couldn't stomach the thought of Charlie going to someone else, so he joined our little family.

I must credit my good friend for taking this adorable picture. And for having such nice legs!

Of a beautiful friendship

As you can tell, Charlie and I are quite fond of each other. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet boy, and I look forward to all the time we get to spend together!

We were hosting a baby shower for my sister at our clubhouse recently, so people were in and out of our apartment quite a bit. I knew Chester would find somewhere dark and somewhat quiet to hide for the entire day; he's the shyest kitty ever. In my mind, though I was picturing Charlie being a little more rambunctious. He's usually right at the bottom of our stairs ready to great whoever is coming in, but he surprised me! I guess it was just a bit too much for him. My father-in-law told me he went looking for them (he's a fellow cat lover!), but neither of them were anywhere to be found. I was worried! What if they got outside!? They've never been outside except for a few little trips to the vet! No need to worry though, they were both hunkered down in my closet hiding behind some of the boxes that I still need to unpack. When am I going to get to that...? I was really interested that Charlie is starting to become more like his dad, I wonder when he'll start to drive himself around on the carpet. Hopefully soon! It's so cute!

I just can't believe how grown up he is! He's always sitting in the most silly poses, and that little mustache makes him look so serious... Luckily he's still a silly playful boy!

...and how could you say "no" to that face?