When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted...

We have four cats at the Create office. Two are fairly normal, and shy. Their names are Dixie and Tuna. Dixie is white with brown and black patches, while Tuna is dark gray. The two others, however, Muffin and Snickers, stray far from your average feline friend.

Muffin is quite friendly, but whenever you're around her, you get this strange feeling you can't shake that...something's not quite right. Something's...missing. Muffin is missing her right eye. She lost it in a fight (we'll get back to that later), and has since been dubbed "One-Eyed Jack," "The Pirate Kitty," and "Jack Sparrow." Sometimes, the vacant hollow of her eye gets filled with puss, but we still love her. She can usually be found rubbing up against tables, chairs, computers, and even people, apparently scratching her itchy spots. Both Lyd and Rachel (one of the staff) like to pick her up and cuddle, much to Muffin's grief, yet another poor victim of forced love.

Snickers is the hunter. He is possibly the friendliest of the lot, and especially enjoys rough petting around the neck and shoulders. He is also the most vocal, sporting by far the highest soprano skills of the bunch. Snickers, by the way, is the only male cat among the four. He has been known to hunt snakes, rats, and birds. But rather than keeping the building rodent-free, he often chooses to drag them into the Create office. Severed heads and entrails have been smeared on the floors in the house, including the bathroom, which is also home to three of our staff (all girls!!)!

Most recently, a yellow/orangish fat cat has started to stray around the office. He has this soulful meow that sounds like a dying sheep. The guy who does our building maintenance (we live next door), who we've befriended says the cat is lookin' for a mate. Well, that makes sense, because he hangs around our cats, chasing the females, and fighting with Snickers. We suspect he was the one who took Muffin's eye out. Sometimes we find Snickers with patches of hair missing, and deep gouges and gashes in his shoulders or lower.

The last straw was when this orange cat started coming into the office and eating our cats' food. Jasmine, one of our staff (see picture) bought a plastic pellet gun recently to scare off our intruder. It was cheap, and within days, broke. After that, she apparently bought a slingshot. She hasn't gotten good enough to hit her target (this cat must be a glutton for punishment... it still comes around even after being shot!), but she's on a vendetta!

I would like to say no animals were harmed in the making of this blog entry, but that would be a lie. Rest assured that the cat Lydia is holding in the picture is one of our own, though, just posin' for the shot!