Camera Critters, respectable age

This is Bengeltje (pronounced: Bangeltyuh). She came to us, together with her sister when she was just a little kitten, 19 years ago. Her sister died about a year and a half ago.

Bengeltje was an unexpected addition to our family. When we went to get her sister Lapje (pronounced: Lopyuh) Bengeltje was rather taken with hubs. She climbed onto his lap, fluttered her eyelashes at him, purred as loud as she could, so we ended up taking two little kittens home. On our way home, we had to decide on a name for this little beauty. Since hubs was rather taken with Susanna Hoffs, singer of The Bangles, it was soon decided: Bengeltje, which also means 'little rascal' in Dutch.

When we adopted the four young cats (see here, and if you hold the [Ctrl] button when clicking on the link, it opens in another window, just a little tip for the people who didn't know that) last year, we were a bit worried how Bengeltje would take to them.

Fortunately we need not have worried. She just ignores them and sometimes chases them around the house. But she also is very willing to share her meal with them, letting them eat out of her bowl when she's eating.

Sometimes I see Bengeltje walking through the house with one, two, three or four of the young ones sneakily tailing her. And when she looks back to see what's happening behind her, her followers pretend that its purely a coincidence that they are there. Lots of paw licking, looking up to the sky, whistling (if they could).

So, that's our 19 year old Bengeltje. A respectable age for a cat.

Camera Critters is hosted by Misty Dawn. Click here to see more entries.