Ollie and Benny

“We’ve all gone crazy” is the text my daughter sent yesterday with the picture I’ve included at the bottom of this post. There is Ollie asleep in the sink! I literally laughed aloud. She put on the bathroom light to blow dry her hair, and there he was. Ollie is a jokester. He spends his days posing in whimsical positions, in boxes, in and on suitcases, and now in a sink.  I am sure he was a comedian in another life.

I‘ve written much about Ollie and Benny, my daughter’s two cats, in past posts. They lived with us during the first year of COVID, joining my cat Mister. They often spend much of the summer at our house, ditching my daughter’s city apartment for suburban landscapes. 

It’s surprising how very different these two cats are. Ollie loves people and clearly enjoys his life. When my daughter must leave him with a cat sitter, he runs out to greet the new stranger. When any of us visit, Ollie jumps into us, with an exuberant bounce.  Benny, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. He hides when the cat sitter comes, is reticent to see us when we visit, and is very scared much of the time. It is almost impossible to put him in his cat carrier without him hissing and fussing. But Benny can be very sweet and loving; it’s just on his terms. 

Much like kids, cats are unique and have their own personality. When you pick out that cute kitten from the shelter, you have no idea how they will turn out later.