Dogs of the North The Pack Ambrose

Melanchthon needed a friend. His old buddy, Archie, was nineteen years old and Mordecai liked to sleep better than he like to play, and Melanchthon needed someone who could give him a run for his money. So when I stopped by the boarding kennel to pick up the dogs after a trip out of town and saw the six week old tabby who had been abandoned by the St. Croix River, I couldn't help but take him home. Even if I hadn't been thinking of another kitten, I couldn't have left him once he walked up my arm with those tiny legs of his and perched on my shoulder to purr in my ear. Besides, having spent half of his first six weeks of life at a boarding kennel, the little guy really loved dogs!

To my surprise, Archie adopted Ambrose right away. The old guy took one look at the youngster, wrapped him up in his front paws and bathed him head to foot as well as any mama cat could. It was almost as if Archie knew that Ambrose had been taken from his mother too soon, and was supplying some surrogate parenting. The two of them slept together; the aged, arthritic, crotchety old man and the kitty. While Ambrose and Melancthon did indeed become the best of friends, I will always be grateful for the happiness he brought to Archie in the last months of his life.

Ambrose is part spider. Or perhaps part monkey. Take your pick. The guy goes everywhere! At ten weeks of age he raced the length of the apartment, flew to the top of the table and sprung high in the air to catch the arms of the chandelier. He swung for a moment or two, then took flight again, this time landing at the top of the curtain in the living room, looking at me over his shoulder as if to say, "Bet you can't do that."

He is happiest when scaling new heights, literally. I frequently find him napping on top of the cabinets in the kitchen or on a shelf that runs the length of the wall about a foot below the ceiling. He perches on the top of doors and bookcases, surveying his kingdom as it passes by beneath him.

Ambrose is a lap cat. He loves to curl up when I read or work or watch TV (figure skating is among his favorite viewing). Most of all, Ambrose likes to sit on top of the computer monitor while I work. In March, Adrian surprised me with a new 19 inch monitor which is much easier on my eyes and more efficient for the research I do. He says he got it for me, but I can't help suspect that he really meant it for Ambrose. We like to refer to the monitor as Ambrose's "throne" as he looks like a little monarch sitting up there. As a kitten, he bore quite a resemblance to the young "Simba" in "The Lion King," thus earning him the moniker of "The King of Cats."

Go to Grendel's page.