Years ago, doing taxes was as simple as an EZ form, declaring my two boys as deductions and crossing my fingers I didn’t owe any money back to the government. Today things are a bit more complicated and Dan and I use the assistance of a CPA to help us out. We have used the same guy for several years and the routine is pretty basic – he comes to our house with his computer and we plug in all our information while sitting at the dining room table. It takes a couple of hours in total and after he leaves we don’t see him again for another year, which happened to be a couple days ago.

He is a nice guy who fits in the category of someone who has never had cats and does not dislike them per se, but he doesn’t necessarily like them either. Let’s just say he has neutral feelings. Naturally, cats being cats, he may as well have showered in fish oil and rubbed himself with catnip, because they were instantly drawn to him. And by that, I mean they were obsessed with his “I’m not a cat person” pheromones and would not leave him alone. What is it about cats that they do this? Invite a cat lover to the house who can’t wait to meet and pet the gang and they run for cover. A guy who would prefer they be locked in the bedroom and they can’t get enough of him…

Peanut began the love fest almost immediately by plopping in his lap, gazing adoringly up at him to pet her chin. Ignoring her was not an option and my physically removing her from him at least a dozen times was an exercise in futility. I finally gave up and let him figure it out. Once I did that, she was snuggled in his lap, purring up a storm, and he was gently petting her as his fingers deftly plugged in our numbers. She was in heaven and he actually seemed to enjoy her presence. Score one for team kitty!!

Zee was next. Zee is a very large, bulky, awkward, clumsy oaf of a cat who thinks he is a tiny and lithesome kitten. We love him to pieces and he is an absolute sweetheart, but he can be a bit of an overbearing pain sometimes… Especially when it comes to computers, full coffee cups and things of that nature that are in the path of his big and bushy tail when he jumps atop the dining room table. And I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by feigning shock when he does that… What? Oh my goodness… he has NEVER done that before. Of course we don’t allow our cats on the table….Bad boy, Zee!

Zee was insistent that he MUST say hello, but for him, the most direct path was by jumping on the table, walking over the CPA’s keyboard, and by swishing his tail into every beverage within a three foot radius… This only went on for an hour or so as I would pick Zee up and put him on the floor, so that he could jump back up on the table to start again.

Then came Kizmet who was fascinated by this creature sitting in our dining room. He took one look at him, curled up next to his computer and just stared at him like a boy who had finally met his favorite football hero.  It was so cute that I couldn’t scold him and just left him there. The CPA was equally as smitten and I think perhaps the neutral tides were turning… Well, that is until the CPA moved his mouse and Kizmet bit his hand thinking they were playing a game of real cat and mouse…

Mia who is very shy around strangers came by for a quick look. She sniffed his computer but that was as far as it went. She was not impressed and left of her own accord. Zoey also made sure to check this person out, but it was done in a blur of feline cautiousness. She skirted low to the ground, her body almost one with the wall, glared at him with distaste, then galloped off into the distance so as not to be seen by this possible predator. You can never be too careful around a CPA…

The other cats – Harley, Jazz, and Rolz actually did what most cats do during the day – they napped, not caring one iota that we had company and they made no effort whatsoever to be a part of any of the process. That is part of the reason when people come to visit us, they don’t quite comprehend all at once that we have eight cats (other than the fact that the house looks like one big cat condo), because unlike dogs, they typically don’t all come rushing at the door when we have company! It’s not until dinner time when they all come out, that you get a true sense of how many cats we have!

All in all, I highly recommend whenever possible that everyone have a cat or two help with tax preparation. H & R Cat. It takes the edge off the task at hand and you focus less on what you have to give back to the government and more on just how fascinating cats are. If only we could declare them all as deductions!