Shelter Cats and Redemption

Fifteen years ago this summer, I took what became THE famous.... Tyler sitting funny picture. Summer, 2003.  I don't remember the exact date.   My first apartment, Glen Cove, NY. One summer weekend, on an otherwise normal, uneventful day, I happened to be walking into the living room from the bedroom, when.....I noticed....an extremely funny sight. Tyler was sitting on my living room recliner in this exact pose: Before I could even let out a chuckle, I grabbed my camera (an actual camera, with film!) and snapped this now famous shot before Tyler could move. The rest, as they say, is history. Since this was 2003, a year or so before Facebook was even invented, I couldn't share this anywhere. I think friendster may have been around?  Myspace?  I don't recall offhand.  I did, however, email it to everyone I knew.   Since then, this photo has been my go-to pic to prove that, without a doubt, Tyler was the ultimate ham. ...

Now....back to celebrating and commemorating happy feline occasions. This coming Wednesday, July 11th, is a big day in my feline household. It's a double birthday! Tucker turns 5! Minnie Turns 1! Not only that, but July 11th marks 6 months since Minnie ended her life on the streets and became the happiest female house cat in the world. Talk about a day of celebrations, right? As is often the case with my cats, I never know their actual birthday, so I make up one for them. Why not?  Cats deserve birthday celebrations too, right? I've always thought so.  I have never and will never consider them my pets.  No.  They're family.  Family members always get to celebrate birthdays, so there you go. Tucker got backdated to 7/11/13 based on his age when I adopted him.  Minnie got backdated to 7/11/17 because there was no possible way she was any older than that without having given birth already to kittens of her own, so we made her birthday last July...

I have no birthdays to commemorate. No anniversaries to wax nostalgic on. I have plenty of stories about Tyler and Tiger from back in the day, but none that stick out enough for me to want to blog about. So....what to do? Share some recent pictures of Sophie, Tucker, and Minnie, that's what! So, here you go.... The continuing adventures of the feline trio of Sophie, Tucker, and Minnie! Here are some pics, and updates, on Tucker, Sophie and Minnie from the past few weeks.  The best three cats ever! First of all, I was finally able to get Tucker to the vet last week, thanks to a little vet supplied tranquilizer and my son's assistance.  Tucker does NOT like to get into a carrier!  This time, with a little help, he got into the carrier and was the MODEL patient. The vet assistants GUSHED over him, and even had him pose for a picture!  Is this a handsome cat or what?? By the way, Tucker is in perfect health.  It's SO NICE havin...

Tyler would have been 19 this coming Saturday, June 9th. Nineteen. Tyler would have been pushing TWENTY.  That's really hard to fathom.  I often wonder what life would be like if he was still around and had retained his health.  I'm sure he would have been the same old Tyler, just an older, slower version.  Still in charge.  Still holding court. So is June 9th his ACTUAL birthday? I will never truly know. I adopted him, as readers of this blog know, on December 9th, of 2000.   I was told he was a 1.5 year old cat, so, I back-dated him to June 9th, 1999. Therefore, he got an official birthday.  I do that with all my cats. Hard to believe you're gone almost 4 years.  It's still not quite the same without you, but I know you're proud of the job Sophie is doing in your old slot as alpha cat.  Sophie is about to approach senior-hood herself now that she's 8 years old, but shows no signs of slowing down so far.  Then again, s...

I could have sworn I blogged about this, but it looks like I didn't. How could I miss this story about Tyler! This past Friday, I received some tremendous news, news that totally made my day. I'd found Chloe. Who, you may ask, is Chloe? Chloe was Tyler's brief love affair, and his first apprentice. Here's the story. 2007: At the time,  I had this close female friend, for the sake of decency I'll not mention her name here. Let's call her.....FRIEND.  Friend and I spent a lot of time together when we were both single and lived close to one another.  While primarily a dog person, Friend was always envious of the immense bond I had with Tyler, and was dying to, around late 2006-2007, attempt to recreate that bond by adopting a cat of her own. Enter...Chloe.  An adorable young semi-long-haired kitten from North Shore Animal League,  an organization I'm not going to subject you to a rant about.  Not a fan.  Moving on. Chloe was less than...

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,...