Cats back home in Washington

After taking care of our daughter's three cats for more than eight months during the late stages of her pregnancy and for several months after she had her sons, the four-footed trio finally are back with their owners in Washington, D.C.

I have to admit, I actually feel somewhat sorry for the cats. They were not returning to their old home because our daughter and her husband bought a new townhouse and now have these two new beings who like to scream for attention and let everyone within a mile's radius know when they are hungry.

The cats were used to having a two-story, carpeted house to run around in at our daughter's earlier home, now they are returning to a four-story, wooden-floored townhouse where there aren't second-story bay windows for them to sit and watch passersby.

Catching the cats last Friday morning for the drive over the mountains was more "fun" than I really wanted. The two older cats, Riley and Zoe, weren't too hard to grab and get inside their carriers, but the more-wild-than-not Penny was a challenge. Penny will get within a couple of feet of people, but will not be petted, touched or cornered. Anything out of the norm will set her to run, even when she's in the family room and my wife is trying to play with her with a fuzzy animal dangling from a string and wooden pole.

When I'm feeding the cats in the morning, Penny will get within inches of me as I put wet and dry food in her bowl. Soooooo, I figured that would be a good time to grab her, hoping she didn't scratch me to pieces and didn't get away to hide under a bed.

For about 15 minutes my wife and I chased Penny around the room, finally cornering her under our bed until my wife was able to grab her long enough for me to take hold and drag her out from beneath the bed to put her into her carrier.

For the six-hour drive Penny, who obviously was scared, made not a sound and neither did Riley, who just went to sleep in his carrier. Zoe softly, thank goodness, meowed most of the way to Washington.

Once at our daughter's home, the cats were released in our daughter's upstairs bedroom, where they stayed until Monday night to get them a chance to readjust to our daughter and her husband ... and the babies who were taken upstairs to meet the cats but not left with them.

The cats were left to roam the house Monday night while the bedroom door to the babies' room was closed.

The cats really were no probably during the eight months we had them, and we do feel a little lonely without them, but we're also glad they are back with their family where they belong.