Poppy (Seed)

in all the excitement of a new puppy coming in two weeks i've neglected to mention the current queen of the house, a 7.5 lb calico named poppy.  she's always been a tiny peanut of a cat, so i'm hoping she can hold her own against a big wrinkly puppy.  she goes by many nicknames. tiny poppers, the poppinator. popstar.  the list goes on.  oh, and in my family we give all pets middle names.

so, her full name is poppy seed o'durbman hager. 

quite a mouthful for such a small cat. 

(flip flop included for scale? sure)

o'durbman comes from a combo of my maiden name as well as my two roommates' (at the time) last names.  we got poppy & her brother, carl, when we all lived together in manayunk.  we decided that i would get both cats whenever we disbanded (due to allergies and various other things), but about a year ago the two cats really started fighting. 

(about to pounce)

they had loved each other for 3 years and suddenly could not be in the same room together.  it was on and off, a love-hate relationship, for a while there.  the fights started escalating.  then carl, who has always been a total sweetheart and also outweighs poppy by a good 6 lbs, scratched/sliced poppy's ear so badly that she almost needed surgery.  luckily a trip to the vet for meds, and some strong-ass liquid band-aid worked magic.   but after that it became clear that these two could no longer co-exist.  i was beyond heartbroken to give one of them up. but my very good friend & college roommate loves cats, and was more than happy to adopt carl. (i let her choose, bc i couldn't).   turns our carl is now the most spoiled rotten cat, who has the undivided attention of his new owners.  he is doing great, AND i still get to see him.  poppy is loving life too, with a new house to explore...as the only cat in the place.  she is much calmer & happier now.

she's a tiny cat with a long name, and a big backstory.  and we just love her to pieces.  tim pretends that he's not a cat person, but I've caught these two cuddling more than a few times.  as you can see.

xo
Kate