i nostri gatti

It was hard to part from our little Ella and this week has been rather lonely without her. While Chris has been at work I have been sad that I no longer have a little cat trailing behind me when I am at home. Ella has been staying with her grandparents, who are first time cat caretakers and while they are doing exceptionally well, they are prone to some novice mistakes. The other day my mother told me that Ella wasn't eating her dry food. Ella eats one homemade meal per day, usually chicken and butternut squash mixed with special vitamins, and for the other meal she gets dry food. Just like a child, Ella prefers the "McDonalds" food to the homemade, lovingly prepared meals I (and now my mother) slave over. Naturally, I was shocked to hear she wasn't eatting her dry food especially since I had told my mother which brand of food to buy. When my mother suggested that perhaps it was too big for her mouth, I knew exactly what had happened. I asked her to check the bag and sure enough, she was feeding the cat dog food. To make up for it she gave Ella a little orange roughy for dinner to soothe her palate, but the whole sad story made me miss our little cat even more. We still haven't received our webcam but we can see my parents on theirs and they have begun to bribe Ella to come near the computer where we can see her.

As anyone who has seen the ubiquitous "Cats of the Colloseum" calendar in souvenier shops here knows, Rome is full of stray cats. Outside our apartment is no exception, particularily because we are close to the garbage dumpsters. Probably the only advantage to being close to the trash is the opportunity to see many little cats when coming in and out of our house. There are about four regular visitors to the garbage area, two of which Chris and I have decided are our outdoor cats. This means little more than giving them names, since I am a little afraid of what would happen if we started to feed them. We call the one with black and white splotches resembling cow hide mucchina (which in Italian means little cow). Mucchina (pictured above) is the most adventurous because she actually comes up near our apartment. There is also a tiny black cat, Nero, that likes to rest in the bushes in front of our house. Unfortunately, Chris has told me that I shouldn't pet the cats because I could get ringworm from them. I'm sure this is unlikely to be a problem since these cats are not at all interested in coming near us. To them we are pesky intruders who like to pass by their favorite resting spots disturbing their cat naps. But in the event that they should come near me, I'm not sure I could resist.