Filed under: Maxwell's Musings
Are YOU talking to ME?
My name is Meridian Miracle Maxwell, Max for short. Some people call me Maxie, but I don’t like that name as much. I’m going to start things off by telling you a bit about me and my family.
I’m a Bengal cat, and I have spots that make me look like a little leopard. My human-mom (I call her Meowmy) loves leopard spots. She has so many leopard spotted things in the house that it’s easy for me to hide sometimes – all I have to do is lie still, and no one knows where I am, because I blend right in.
Meowmy didn’t just adopt me because of my spots, though, she adopted me because I’m so handsome and because she loves my playful attitude. She calls me a crazy monkey clown sometimes, and I don’t mind. I like to show off for her.
Sometimes I show off by running in my cat wheel, and sometimes I like to swing like a monkey in my cat tree – I can even hang by one paw! I have lots of fun at home with my other furry family members. I live with Meowmy and 4 other cats.
One of the other cats is a purebred Bengal, just like me. She’s actually my auntie, since she is my momcat’s sister, and her name is Tigris Picassos Penchant, but we call her Penny. She doesn’t have spots, though, she’s a marbled Bengal. Even though she’s not spotted, she’s really pretty and won a ribbon in a cat show when she was just 7 months old. It’s hanging up on the wall in Meowmy’s office.
The other cats I live with are named Ginger, Ferris and Baby Bonnie. Ginger was the first one in the house, and she chose Meowmy out from a whole bunch of other humans at the North Shore Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts, back on August 19, 2005.
She stuck her paw out of the cage and grabbed onto Meowmy and wouldn’t let her go – she knew she was choosing the right human instinctively, and we’re all glad she did, because she taught Meowmy all about being a cat slave. I mean cat owner. *wink* She was born sometime around the middle of June in 2005, but we don’t know her exact birthday. She was pretty tiny when Meowny brought her home.
Ginger is a domestic long hair (DLH) and her coloring is torbie, or patched tabby. She is a tortoiseshell with big spots of orange tiger, and she’s really stunning to look at. At least we think so. She does have what they call “tortitude,” though. She’s an alpha female and has a bit of an attitude problem – she’s really not that friendly, and she tends to stay by herself and not want to play with the rest of us. That’s ok, we have lots of fun without her.
Ferris was adopted next, and he’s what they call a “feral rescue.” He was born to a wild, feral momcat out in the woods in Billerica, MA sometime around the end of May in 2006. We don’t know his exact birthday. Meowmy brought him home when he was just 3 months old, on August 31, 2006.
He’s a really huge, really fluffy (DHL) orange tiger cat, and he’s a huge scaredy cat and a great big baby. He loves us and trusts Meowmy with his life, but if he hears anyone outside, he growls and runs and hides under the bed. What a baby!
He is SO fluffy that Meowmy has to take him to get a “lion cut” every spring so his fur doesn’t get all knotted up underneath, because then it makes it hard for him to run and jump. He loves getting his fur shaved, because he LOVES to feel Meowmy touching his bare skin, it makes him so happy!
Ginger doesn’t like him too much at all, poor guy. She was really hard on him until the rest of us moved in. Now he’s a pretty happy boy because he always has someone to play with.
Penny was adopted next. She was born on August 26, 2005. Her breeders are the same folks that helped bring me into the world, Nial and Teri Thomson of Meridian Bengals in NC. They are fantastic people and their cats are some of the best in the world, if I do say so myself!
Penny was a breeding queen, but she was spayed when she developed some complications during a pregnancy, and then was retired and adopted by our Meowmy, who traveled by airplane to go get her and bring her home from NC to MA at the end of May in 2007.
I was adopted next. My birthday is February 19 and I was born in 2007, so when Meowmy came to get Penny, she met me then. I was just a little crazy kitten then, about 12 weeks old. At the time, Meowmy had no idea that she’d later wind up adopting me as well, but I’m so glad that she did!
I came to live with her later that year at the beginning of November – I flew on an airplane all by myself! It was really scary, and I cried a lot, but everyone at the airlines was really nice to me, and I was really happy to be let out of my carrier once we got to Meowmy’s house!
Almost a year later, Meowmy packed us all up and moved the five of us (4 kitties and her) back to the state I was born in, North Carolina. She said something about being sick of the snow and wanting warmer weather – I’m not complaining, I was going home!
About two months after we moved into our new house, Meowmy came home with a surprise one night. We could smell it, but weren’t allowed to see what it was for more than a week!
Finally, when we couldn’t stand the suspense any longer, Meowmy brought the surprise out for us to see, and it was a little tiny girl kitten! She’s been abandoned by some really mean people to fend for herself at about 7 weeks old, and she was so tiny she only weighed a pound and a half!
Well, Meowmy took her to the vets (I hate the vets, but it seems they are a necessary evil…sigh…)and got her all fixed up, and started fattening her up good. She named her Bonnie but we call her Baby Bonnie, since she’s the baby. We think she was born the last week of September in 2008, but we don’t know for sure.
Personally, I think she’s got some Bengal blood in her somewhere, because she acts a LOT like the Bengals I’ve known and grew up with. She even runs in our cat wheel, and that’s something Ginger and Ferris would NEVER do.
Bonnie is a grey tabby, and she looks like she’s going to be a long-hair, because her tail is REALLY fluffy, but she’s still young, so it’s hard to tell. Right now her fur is sort of medium length, not short, but not long, either. I don’t care what she is – she’s my favorite kitten and I love her. I took her under my paw and taught her how to clean herself and how to use the wheel.
I love to snuggle up with Bonnie to take naps, and I love to play with her. I always want to make sure she’s clean, so I give her a bath every chance I get. She told me she’s a “bengul,” too, because she has eye goggles (eyes that look like they are outlined with black eyeliner) and a brick-colored nose just like me and Penny do. She has black pawpads, too, just like us, and a bit of rufus (reddish-brown) fur coloring just like we do, so although we don’t have any real idea, we think it’s ok if she identifies with us and calls herself a “bengul.” 
She’s such a smart little girl, she taught Meowmy how to play fetch! It’s one of Bonnie’s favorite games now; she’s always bringing toys to Meowmy for her to throw them. And it’s funny, but she really doesn’t meow, instead, she squeaks! It’s the cutest little noise, it really is.
Well, that’s a heck of a lot of info all at once – now you’ve been introduced to my four-footed family members. I’ll tell you more about myself and my Meowmy on another day.
I hope you’ll come visit my SpottedCatBlogSpot as it grows, because I’ve got lots to talk about and would love to hear from other Bengals out there.
Also, if you’re like me and love to eat cat grass, please ask YOUR Meowmy to visit my auction sites on eBay, where I sell Max’s Best Cat Grass Seeds and Max’s Best Ground Canadian Catnip to other discriminating cats with sophisticated palates. Simply do a search for Max’s Best, and you’ll find our listings.
We hope to have a website soon, too, so be sure to check back for more information!
Have a wonderful day, remember to take lots of naps, seek out the sunshine, and chase your tail as often as possible!
Lots of purrs and headbutts,
Max
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