Maxima

In all fairness, I should mention our cat, Maxima. She joined the family about 5 years ago as a tiny little feral kitten. She was sleeping in the engine of a car that was parked in front of my place and when Bodhi and I walked by it his ears perked right up. Seeing the confused look on my face, a neighbor said that she thought a kitten was in the car. Okay... Kitten IN the ENGINE?!... With no luck, I spent the next 6 hours trying to coax her out with what I thought were tasty offerings. I even placed notes and drawings on the engine in case the owner returned. I finally convinced the local mechanic to open the hood (shhhh!). When it popped open, there she was all curled up in a ball and HISSING like a big girl. Unconvinced of her might, I scooped her right up. She was covered in grease and FLEAS, hundreds of them all over her face like a little blood-sucking army. Gross. My hands became black just carrying her into my place.

Bodhi had shown some high prey drive on our hikes so I presented her to him with caution. "You be nice to this little kitty!" I ordered. At which point, my 85lb Male Rottweiler's MATERNAL instincts kicked in and he obsessively wanted to lick and clean her! I washed her up and he started licking her all over, playing close attention to the inside of her ears and little 'behind' (which I had apparently not cleaned well enough). She immediately became inseperable from Bodhi. Following him, napping with him, eating with him and greeting him with pure joy every time we'd return from the outside world.

I hadn't planned on keeping her, just getting her healthy and finding a good home. You've heard that before, I know. But seeing how she and Bodhi bonded warmed my heart. I think she believes she is a Rottweiler. She has no fear of dogs and loathes any cat that dare come into her stratosphere. Starting out as a feral, she gets zero pleasure out of being pet. Can you believe it? A cat that does NOT want to be touched! She just loves her dogs. I joke that I have a dog, and he has a cat.... Anyway... that's how Ms. Maxima came to join our family... from the engine of a Nissan Maxima...