CHAI

For those of you who don't know, I married into a cat. David adopted CHAI from the DC pound over 13 years ago. When David & I were engaged, I was planning to move into the apartment he had been living in for nearly ten years. The apartment was ideal for Chai - he had access to the great outdoors through the backdoor. About a month before we got married, David's apartment flooded - a pipe burst on the second floor on Christmas Day and no one was around to shut the water off. David's apartment was destroyed (thankfully our wedding gifts and the computer remained unharmed). We found our current apartment the week between Christmas and New Year's.

The new apartment is great and was a wonderful fresh start for David and me. The apartment, however, was not ideal for Chai. We were asked by our landlords to keep him inside at all times. They didn't want him in their backyard or on their front porch (they live in the house above us). So poor Chai is inside all day and night. To make matters worse, when we use our alarm system during the day, Chai has to be locked in the bathroom because we cannot get the 'stay' function to work properly.

I'm not a cat person. So having Chai in the house all the time has been a HUGE adjustment for me. He's pretty low maintenance, but is so needy at times. And I hate the smell of kitty litter, the sound he makes when he's digging around in his litter box, and all the freaking cat hair in our apartment. Chai's personality, however, is growing on me. He's sassy - he demands attention when he wants it and then walks away when satisfied. I'm learning to appreciate him and his way of life...

Chai and I have been bonding the past couple of weeks. Since I'm not working, he spends considerably less time in the bathroom. When I'm home he's free to roam around, sleep by the window, and get the needed attention he desires. One of Chai's quirks is that he doesn't like to drink water from a bowl. He prefers to get his drink from either a dripping faucet or the toilet bowl (he has fallen in!). The picture here shows Chai sitting in the bathtub waiting for someone to come in and turn on the water. If you don't turn the water on before sitting down to go to the bathroom, you are likely to have a kitty on your lap.