Neighborhood Cats

We don't have any pets.   We don't want any pets.  By we, I totally mean Derek and I. ha.  Because the boys would love one.  But we, as in Derek and I, don't want the responsibly or the expense.  Like boarding while traveling, pet food, vet bills (you never know!) etc...  So it's pretty exciting that we started to see a couple of young cats roaming the neighborhood this fall.  After some investigating, we discovered one of our neighbors has chipmunks damaging their foundation and got a couple 'outside cats' to try and remedy the problem.  Meet: Brutus and Thrasher.

They are super friendly for being outside cats. My boys like to play with them any time we go in or out.

Or snuggle them for a few minutes here and there.

During the super cold winter months, we did have issues with them running into our garage anytime we opened it.  Even when we'd shoe them out, they'd trip the garage door censor coming back in when we'd try to close it, making it go back up.  Derek walked inside the house with Brutus in his arms once and I thought he was crazy! :)  Then he told me it was the only way to get it out of the garage, by shutting the garage door and brining the cat through the house and out the front door.  

We haven't had any trouble at all with that since things have thawed slightly.  And for real, these cats are pretty tolerant of my boys' affection! 

And pretty affectionate in return. 😻

They seem to enjoy the attention, since they come running when they see us.

Owen looks for them anytime we get in or out of the van.

He knew which cat was Brutus or Thrasher before I did.

It's a pretty good arrangement to have some benefits of pets, without the responsibility. ha.

Even if it's a teeny tiny bit sad to not let them inside for more love.

(Don't tell the boys I said that though!!)