Mac & Cheese
Friday, December 7, 2012
By: Jim Fleissner

The perfect combination

2008-Mac was a tiny kitten with ears 2 sizes too big, and a personality to match. She was so tiny that she couldn't go under anesthesia until she put on some weight. She popped her head over the side of her box, and it was all over. She came home, and it was the best playground a kitten could have asked for. She was notorious for tearing across the apartment like her tail was on fire, then sliding under the couch any time a guest came over.
Fast-forward to 2010-Cheese was a "discount" dog. He had been in the shelter for well over 2 months when we came in, "just to play with the dogs." His physique and demeanor showed the stress. His ribs and hip bones were clearly visible, his eyes were red, and he paced around his kennel endlessly. But, he looked like my parents' dog did when I left home to go to college. So, I was in love.
We brought Cheese home, and gave him a chance to get acclimated. Then we found out just what kind of personality Mac really had. Cheese, fortunately, is a lover, lacking that killer instinct that some pointers/labs possess. All he wanted to do was to be friends with everyone and everything. All Mac wanted was to maintain her monopoly on our affections... and to annoy the dog at every possible juncture.
Now, Mac is the friendliest cat we have ever met, rubbing on anyone who enters-especially if they're wearing jeans. And, Cheese has lived up to his goofy name. Only recently, on a whim, did we truly discover just how affectionate they are with one another when we're not around. The key ingredients, as it turned out, were a blanket and the couch. Like any cat, Mac loves sleeping on her perch-the back cushions of the couch. Cheese, however, hits the couch like a banshee, and is instantly put to sleep, whining out of pure joy. And, after 2 long years, we have finally gotten them to cuddle.
They say you can't buy happiness, but whoever said that has obviously never adopted from the animal shelter.