Milo

Milo is the second oldest and second adopted of the quirky quartet of cats. He is the middle child. He will turn four next month. He’s also the first fur kid my husband and I adopted together. We adopted Milo on November 1, 2008, just a little over a month after we were married.

My cat Edison and my husband’s cat Tinkerbelle had defected to my parents and sister respectively, leaving Howard as the only cat. Howard is not an only cat kind of guy, so we made the decision to adopt a feline companion for him. I perused petfinder looking for a cat who seemed suitably deranged to be Howard’s buddy.

Milo seemed to fit the bill; he looked absolutely insane in his picture, and his foster mom described him as “interesting, playful, energetic, and entertaining”. There was also a comment of “bring out the toy mice and watch what happens”. (We later learned he frantically chews the tails off because of a string fetish.) He sounded like the cat for us! I also learned that he had been dropped off at a vet’s office after his mother was hit by a car when he was about six weeks old, and I am a sucker for animals with sad stories.

We submitted our application and picked Milo up on Saturday afternoon. A volunteer with the rescue even stayed a little late to give us time to make the hour drive to the Pet Smart he was at. We met Milo and he was everything and more they said online, so we headed home with him.

He screamed (the blood-curdling scream that only a furious cat can manage) during the entire drive home. I don’t think he even paused to breathe. That hasn’t changed; putting Milo in the carrier still results in horrific screaming.

Milo and Howard bonded quickly and have remained good buddies. I guess the orange guys have to stick together.

Milo is definitely an interesting guy. If he were human I believe he’d be diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or possibly some sort of disorder involving paranoia. He’s very frightened by anyone or anything new, and doesn’t handle disruptions to his routine well. He’s also very focused. If we take something away from him and put it in a closet he will sit in front of the closet for hours trying to open it.

Milo also has quite a few fetishes, the most extreme of which is anything ribbon or string. He has eaten more shoelaces than I care to think about; we now have to keep shoes with laces in one particular closet that he can’t open. He has also eaten all of the drawstrings out of our pajamas. And he loves Christmas! All of the packages with ribbons are Milo’s dream come true!

I am Milo’s person. With any other cat, I might be inclined to say that they are my cat, but with Milo it’s a case of me being his person. I am the person he sleeps next to, and the person whose lap he will always sit on. I’m also the only person allowed to pet his head. It’s a Milo thing. I have no idea why he chose me, though I do feel honored. And I love being Milo’s mom. He’s everything we hoped for and definitely helps complete our little family.