Happy Birthday Rowan!

Rowan is 16 today. That is the equivalent of 80 years old in human terms. I can only hope that I am so athletic at 80; Rowan is my permanent kitten. She gets the crazies and zooms from room to room. If she goes past you, the run is often accompanied by an enthusiastic "prrrrrrrrt!!!!!!!!" that results in something similar to a kitty Doppler effect. If Chandler is flopped down blocking the hall she'll do a six foot wide broad jump straight over him.

She's an evil genius and utter brat. She's my demonkitten. If she could talk, I suspect she'd be complaining all the time. She once led my mother into the den so she could complain that Ashke was sleeping in her favorite spot. If you don't get her food fast enough she'll start pushing heavy items off the bureau or shredding whatever paper she can get her teeth into. She'll check doors to see if they are slightly ajar so she can open them and slip through. I'm sure she knows what doorknobs are for, but has trouble reaching them. My parents insist that she has jimmied theirs several times, but I am a bit skeptical because of her height. Given half a chance, she'll get into anything and has ended up temporarily trapped in the linen closet or on the lazy susan under the kitchen counter.

She's a dedicated little huntress given the opportunity. When I take the cats outside for a half hour outing during good weather, she wears a harness and drags a 26 foot flexi lead, because she is difficult to catch when we have to return indoors. Despite this, she shot straight across the front yard last year and pounced on a chipmunk at the edge of the woods. She was most displeased that I would not let her keep it.

She's temperamental, and will bat you if you annoy her. However, she keeps her claws pulled in. I've seen Chandler grinning as Rowan thumps his muzzle and meows her annoyed mew.

She's a loving companion kitty, and likes to march across laps purring, and eventually snuggle down. She's unhappy if people don't settle in front of the television so she gets her laptime. She loves to take naps with people, and has been known to bully my father into taking one.

She has a few autoimmune issues. She's lost most of her teeth because she kept getting cavities at the gumline. She developed irritable bowel disease in 2000, which I have controlled first with a specific diet, and later by the addition of prednisolone. Otherwise, the only other indication of her age is that she's not as good at grooming herself as she used to me, so I've had to comb mats out of her underside when she sheds her winter fuzz. Otherwise, she's very "well preserved".

She's my pesty cat, my loving cat, my demanding cat.
Happy Birthday Rowan.
I love you.
Even if you do drive me crazy sometimes. :)