Pongo's Kitties

Pongo had separation anxiety when I first adopted him from the Washington Animal Rescue League in 2002.  Having spent six months in a cage, he was desperate for exercise, mental stimulation, and human companionship.  I lived in an apartment in Washington, DC at the time, and tried very hard to make sure all of Pongo's needs were met.  I used to walk him for two hours a day - an hour in the morning before I left for work and an hour when I came home.  Still, when I tried to leave, he would try to get out the door with me, and I felt guilty leaving him home alone. 

After six months, I ended up adopting a cat named Henri to keep him company.  It worked beautifully and they were friends long before she bonded with me. When Henri was killed by raccoons in 2008, we were both devastated.  I had never seen an animal grieve before, but Pongo did.  He missed her. 

Although I vowed I would not get another cat, one of my coworker's kept texting me pictures of a kitten at an adoption event at PETCO a couple months later.  I decided to go take a look.  The kitten she had been sending me pictures of had already been adopted by the time I got there, and so I asked staff to point out a cat they thought would be good with a dog.  They suggested a young, long-haired black and white cat that had been found on the streets of Kent with a litter of kittens.  All of her kittens had already been adopted, but she still awaited a home. When I picked her up to hold her, she started playing with my hair!  I was instantly smitten.  And so Bella came to live with Pongo and I in Seattle. 

I had met my husband earlier that year, but we didn't get serious until a few months after I adopted Bella.  My husband loved cats but had never owned a dog.  He had two cats when I met him - a long- haired calico named Cindy and a skinny, short-haired grey tabby named Zoumie.  Cindy was the matriarch and was clearly in charge.  She let Pongo know it the first time he came to visit, swatting him on the nose when he got too close.  Pongo had a little scratch on his nose from the incident, but it wounded his feelings more.  To this day, he won't walk past her if she is sitting on the stairs or in the middle of a hallway.  He will bark or cry to let me know if she is blocking his pathway to me.  He will only pass her if I put myself between them.

My husband and I were married in 2010, merging our pets in his home.  His daughter, Ashley, from a previous marriage also came to live with us full-time. About a year later, Ashley's mom gave her Dewey, a long-haired orange tabby as a gift.  Ashley saw him at her mom's every-other-weekend.  However, when her mom moved and couldn't take him to the new apartment, she asked us if we could take him.  What initially was a temporary arrangement turned into a permanent one. 

If someone had ever told me that one day I would end up with four cats, I never would have believed it!  But there you have it.  For Pongo, it has been heaven.  He has never been alone again.  Dewey, who was still a kitten when he came to live with us, is Pongo's favorite playmate.  Dewey will roll over on his back when Pongo approaches and bat at him with his paws. 

Pongo gets excited when the cats gather in the kitchen for treats or when we feed them wet food.  The only way to keep him out of the middle of the cat chaos is to have him do a down-stay in the entrance to the kitchen.  Of course, he gets rewarded with a treat too!

Here Pongo waits for the kitties to finish so he can lick their bowls.

Life at the Wulff house is always busy with furry four-footed activity!  And Pongo is happy with his job of guarding the house and his kitties when Mommy is away.