Shelter Cats and Redemption

Do you celebrate your cat's birthdays? Of course you do, anyone who actually loves, honors and respects their pets does such a thing. Today is, for Sophie, just such an occasion. Sophie turns 8 today. How do I know this?  Sophie's previous owner was good enough to give me all of her vet records, and sure enough, the date April 22, 2010 was listed as Sophie's birthday. Simple enough, right? Happy birthday, old girl.  Hard to believe you're already 8, and hard to believe this summer marks 4 years since you succeeded Tyler.  As I've said countless times, Sophie is the perfect successor for Tyler. The perfect alpha cat. Despite all that has gone on in her 4 years as the boss: from losing Jackson, to finding Tucker, to Minnie's arrival, to the comings and goings of The Colony, Sophie has remained large, in charge, and above the fray. Sophie does things her way, and remains a pioneer in my lifetime with cats. The first female cat I ever adopted. ...

My blog has a lot of....commemorating. Commemorating Tyler's birthday, or Tiger's birthday.  Commemorating Jackson's crossing of the Rainbow Bridge. Why do I do all of this commemorating?  Well, it's kind of the point behind this blog.  In it's original form, I wanted to tell the life story of Tyler, my first and still best cat.  Over the nearly three years since I started blogging, the purpose of this blog evolved from just a progression of Tyler's life to the lives of all the cats I have owned and currently own.  From a collection of stories of what was in the past to an ongoing diatribe of the past, present, and future of the cats that have entered my life. Got me? This time of year involves a lot of commemorating, what with the anniversary of Jackson's passing and what would have been his birthday less than one month apart. Correction: Jackson did not pass,  Jackson crossed the Rainbow Bridge. A few days ago, in a quiet moment of reflection,...

This past Wednesday, March 7th, would have been Jackson's 11th birthday. Eleven.  My sweetums would have been an old man!  Then again, he was born an old man. My second birthday without you, Jackson. Happy birthday.  It's been over a year yet I still remain shocked that you're gone from me.  It does give me some comfort to know you're happy and healthy forever with Tyler and Tiger at the Rainbow Bridge. All dogs may go to heaven, but all cats go to the Rainbow Bridge.  Where every bowl is full of food, every tree is right next to his favorite window, and every cat bed big and fluffy, as I choose to remember you. I miss you every single day, my sweetums.  I know you would have loved Tucker, and probably would have hated Minnie, especially given how playful she is and how......playful you weren't. You can rest assured with the knowledge that Tucker is keeping my lap warm and happy. Until I see you again, my Jackson.  Happy Birthday at the R...

Thursday, January 11th, 2018. Not your average run of the mill Thursday.  Well, not for me, anyway. Today was, we hoped, Minnie's day to come home! I took the day off and nervously began our day.  Always being one to "overthink" most things, I spent most of breakfast planning out exactly how we were to get Minnie into the carrier in the first place. I was obsessed with the planning of Minnie's "capture" for the simple reason that I have NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE.  Capturing a stray cat was one part of cat ownership I was completely new at.  So, to my thinking, it was best to over-plan than to under-plan. Needless to say, my plan was carried out to the letter and perfectly!  Minnie was waiting at the door, I gently grabbed her and she went right into the carrier without freaking out or screaming her head off. Her mother, Smudge, and her siblings Wally and Speck were there, and gave us a "what the fuck are you doing to her?" look.  Or were th...

As promised, here is an update on how my colony of 6 cats are doing. Yup, our colony has grown by one to 6 cats.  Minnie and Wally have a brother that we've named Speck.  For the speck of white on his chest of course!  He's quite a lot bigger than Minnie and Wally, so we think he's a boy. The colony is doing quite well, despite the onslaught of bitterly cold weather just after Christmas.  Since last I blogged, I started giving them wet as well as dry food, much to their delight.  Delight is an understatement, they LOVE wet food! Fortunately, large cans of good old Friskies are cheap enough, so no problem seeing to their demand for the "good stuff."  Twice a day they get all the wet and dry food, and even warm water, they need to stay healthy.  It was nice to see them all eat heartily, knowing they had a reliable source of good food and clean water. Minnie has remained her adorably sweet self.  Always showing up at our door, meowing loudly ...

So, just like that, we've "adopted" a colony of 5 feral cats. Adopted?  Not so fast, let me explain. Living on Long Island, with a lot of wooded areas about (yes, there are trees on Long Island,) there are plenty of stray and feral cats in the neighborhood we live in.  A bird sanctuary around the corner I'm sure helps as well.  You know cats and birds after all. I have always noticed several cats that wander our block, occasionally walking into our back yard.  I've even seen one or two stare at me as I get in and out of the car in the driveway, but of course, they always run away when I say anything.  Feral cats hate sarcasm, I guess. This all changed a few weeks ago. As regular readers of my blog know, I work weekends.  I also wake up quite early on weekends to get ready for what are usually long days. A few weeks ago, early one Saturday morning, this cat showed up at our door: Later that day, I put out a small bowl out and filled it with ...

Today, December 9th, is one of the most important dates in the history of my life. On this date, and day, back in 2000, I brought Tyler home from Little Shelter.  Seventeen years.  Just like that.  WHOOSH, it's almost two decades later.   I'm big on commemorating important dates.  Always have.  I've never been one to let important dates go by.  Whether a good event or bad event happened on those dates, I stop and remember.  I reflect.  I reminisce.  Speaking of remembering, let's re-live that very day, shall we?  Here's a re-post of the blog I wrote, describing that very day I brought Tyler home for the first time.   We pick up our story at just the very moment my mother and father met Tyler for the first time, my mother remarking how "serious" Tyler looked....... Saturday, December 9th, 2000 “What does that mean?” I asked my mother.  Serious?  A cat doesn’t smile, they ALWAYS look serio...