Living here at Twin Maples? It’s basically my kingdom. I would like to think that I make all of the rules here because people cater to me all day long. I’m puuurrrrtty old though, 17 to be exact. My brother Dave and I were brought here by an employee one day when were kittens. We thought that we were just being checked out by the doctors to make sure that we were healthy, but we ended up staying for a while. Dave eventually got adopted out by another employee not too long after we had been here and little did I know I had been home since I had arrived. I was officially a part of the family here at Twin Maples and I couldn’t be happier! My name is Hank and I am currently the oldest house cat here.

So what has it been like living here for the past 17 years you ask? I will speak for all of us puuurrrfect cats here at Twin Maples as I go into depth about the pros and cons of living at this hospital. I am not kitten with you when I say that it is pretty interesting to live here. You might not even know that we are here because most of us like to stay downstairs away from all the craziness!

For starters, there are way more pawsitives than there are negatives about this place and all of us cats here can agree on that. Although I am retired from it now, the absolute best part about this place is that us cats can help save other fellow kitty lives as we are or were blood donors! We get the puurrrivilage of supplying blood to some of our sick feline friends that come in that are in need of a blood transfusion. Although some of us aren’t too happy about it when we have to get poked, we are all happy to help in the end! Living here gives us the best medical care possible since some of our caretakers are doctors. We are so lucky to have medication on hand for us if we start feeling a little under the weather.

Speaking of our caretakers, they are all pawsome! Some of these lovely people have been here as long as I have (and even longer) and that is noteworthy. They give us each and every meal, treats when we are extra cute, pet us when we want attention, change our litter box, and clean up after us if we make any messes. In return to our humans and all they do for us, we are there for them when they have had a rough day. We see a lot of animals that come in here, the healthy and the sick. We can tell it can take tolls on them sometimes, so who doesn’t like snuggles with cute cats after a bad day?

Night time? Pssshhhhh, it’s purrrhaps the best time! Once the hospital closes for the evening, it is nice and quiet with no other four legged friends running around upstairs. We don’t hear any loud scary barks or loud meows. We all like to relax and cuddle downstairs in our kitty beds and snooze until the first person comes in for the day!

A personal pro for me that some of the other cats don’t really get to experience is that I get to hang out in the treatment area all day long… Well, anytime I want to really. Remember when I said that this place is basically my kingdom? I wasn’t lying to you. I have these people trained into giving me any type of food I want, even if I already have a plate of some in front of my face. They gave me my own personal spot in treatment with a nice heating pad and some blankets to go on top of it. I get to snooze up there during the day and be there to try to whack the mean doggies away (that’s how I let them know I’m boss). No worries though, I have never hurt any of your doggies in the attempt to swat them, I don’t even get close enough to touch them!

There are so many good things to say about living here, I could go on and on. But since I am late for my cat nap I will tell you about some of the cons of living here. For starters, some days it’s super loud and I will be honest, it really freaks meowt. Since we see all kinds of furry friends every day, we wake up from our cat beds downstairs in the morning not knowing if it is going to be a wild or tranquil day. I try to keep my cool but those big dogs just rub me the wrong way sometimes and I feel like I need to let them know about it. I’m kind of a delicate feline in general so sometimes loud noises really scare a life out of me; I am surprised I still have all 9 left!

Although we have the downstairs area to ourselves and clearly I get to stay wherever I want, the humans upstairs shooooo us away if we try to come up and see what’s going on at times. Occasionally they will remove me from up there because they say I’m, “being too annoying” or “I’m in the way”. If you want me to be honest, I think that’s totally absurd because I’m just trying to explain to them that they haven’t given me the propurrr attention yet that day or I want to be taken up front to the reception area for one of those delicious treats they have in those round containers.

Please don’t tail anyone this, but I don’t really like to fight for full attention from the humans. Since there are four of us that live here, it can be a little competitive at times. Of course I love when I’m getting my daily lovin’ in treatment, but when the others come up they are the ones being worshiped. I’ve even tried love bites with my humans to keep the attention on me but they don’t seem to like that very much.

Now that you know some of the good and bad about living here at Twin Maples, I think I will go get comfurrrrtable in my cat bed and try to get some sleep. After all, every day here is different and there is no telling how loud and crazy it will be tomorrow! I don’t want to give any cattitude tomorrow if I’m needed for snuggles at any point.

Bye for meow!
-Hank