Julius!

So remember how sometime 3-4 months ago I told you that our fat orange wonderful cat Julius ran away? Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles....Guess who showed up at our apartment Tuesday night!?

I'm pretty sure Whitney Houston was singing "I Will Always Love You" somewhere during the reunion of laughter and tears and purring and so much Julius affection.

He's really skinny (the once plump tummy is now concave) and has a few battle scars that weren't there before and his meow has gotten older somehow, but it's definitely him. And he's sitting on my lap right now pulling chunks of flesh out of my leg with his love claws. But I let him do it, because it makes him happy and I'm just so excited that he's home and alive and that I can fatten him up again and pet him and kiss him (he hates it but he loves it) and keep him warm and safe during the winter.

Tylor had predicted that Julius would come home once the first snow of the season fell, and I always felt it was wishful thinking and Julius was long gone, but I guess I should never give up hope on these things. Guess what else happened on Tuesday? The first snow of the season.

The kittens (who are getting bigger and bigger every day, but are still the kittens) aren't quite sure what to make of their new big brother. They don't get along particularly well: Julius seems to prefer a world where they leave him alone and he leaves them alone; they seem to prefer a world where they smell Julius every chance they get and swat at his tail whenever the opportunity arises. Tiberius has become protective of his cuddle time. If I'm petting him and Julius comes up, he'll hiss at him which is kind of cute because he's so brave to stand up to Julius who is still huge comparatively, but I would of course prefer that we all cuddle together. Fidel is a little terrified of Julius, who has beat him up on a few occasions over the past days (no major fights, but enough to make sure Fidel knows his place), but Fidel also idolizes Julius. The wonder on his little panther kitten face when he watches Julius jump onto counters he could only dream of reaching or open up cupboards when he wishes he knew how is so adorable.

The Catch:

We are only allowed to have less than or equal to two pets at our apartment. While it's fairly likely that we could get away with having all three without getting caught, there is a $2000 fine if you are caught with an unauthorized pet (ridiculous, I know, but it is on a contract that I signed so I have to live with that), and that's too much of a risk to be worth it. It's heart-wrenching to break up our family when it's just been made whole again (or more whole...I still wish Lyric were here, too), and I don't want to have to pick a cat to get rid of. I love them all so much. It probably makes the most sense to give away Julius because Tiberius and Fidel get along so well and they're who we've grown accustomed to having, but it still breaks my heart. And where could he go? If any of you reading this would be interested in or know anybody who would be interested in giving my Julius a good home, please let me know. If you'd like, it could be a temporary thing: our contract in the current apartment is up in six months and if we could find somewhere where we can have three cats after we live here, we'd be happy to take him back. Please let me know if any of you have any ideas.

Oh my sweet Julius kitty.

And since it is Halloween, but a kitty post, I'll end with what I would dress up each of the cats as for the holiday if I could only get them to wear anything:

Julius - Firefighter
Tiberius - Bumblebee
Fidel - 30s era Gangster