My kitties. I counted almost sixty that we’ve had since we lived here. The inn is closed, we have no intention of taking in any more. The most we had at one time was thirty eight. The last time we lost a cat to something that wasn’t a disease, was December, 1993. In January 1994, the fence was modified to keep our cats in our yard. Other critters could get in, but it was pretty damned hard for them to get out. We kept a few of these cats. We had a lot of ferals and we kept food out for them. That’s how we got many of our kittens.
Opie and Sammy are brothers, born in June 2001 (there were six kittens in total).
Sagwa came from our old pet sitter. She worked at my vet’s office and she and her husband moved to a new house and her landlord said “no, not all of those cats”. In all, we rescued six or seven cats from her. Sagwa is the only one left.
Next come the Friends cats. Ross and Rachel are littermates. One day short of four months, their mom had another litter. We got them all, as well as mom, on Sept 11, 2004. The second litter are Monica, Joey and Phoebe. The morning after Phoebe was spayed, the vet called early early in the morning. Phoebe had pulled her stitches out and eviscerated herself. He put everything back in and stapled her closed.
Then we got the Gilmore girls. Mom Lorelei and daughter Rory. And Ronnie. Unbeknownst to us, our ex-pet sitter invited friends over when she pet sat. One Sunday morning there was a knock at our door and this woman was in tears, her neighbor moved out and left his cats behind, could we take them. We did. Turns out, they were her cats, she got Lorelei from the petsitter and never had her fixed. Nice.
Charlie came from the vet’s office. The office manager had rescued him, but he had never been properly socialized with other cats and he kept fighting with her cats. She didn’t want him to live a life drugged out, so she asked if we’d take him. We did. He’s calmed down a lot over the years, but he can still be an asshole.
Then Pancho just showed up one day. We put food out for him (by this time, the ferals were pretty much gone, coyotes) and one night I just grabbed him. The week before the kitten he hung out with got caught in a car engine. I was working so hard to get her, was gone overnight with a friend and came home to the sad news. I knew he couldn’t stay out there on his own.
When my mom started showing strong signs that there was something not so good going on with her, we took her to the doctor, she was placed in a residential care home. We took her two cats in because we didn’t know how long it would take her to recover (she didn’t, the doctor told me alcohol related dementia, only time would tell and she had a heart attack six weeks after going in). Mystie lived until she was twenty-three and we still have Bobby. He’s a real lover of a cat.
Spot was one of the cats who breached the fence. He stayed. He is a male calico, he has one black spot on his side. He also had a problem with his body making crystals so he kept getting blocked and he couldn’t pee. After months of doing everything requested by the vet (he was at the vet at least once a week) he finally got the surgery that removed his penis so blocking would no longer happen and endanger his life (if they can’t pee, toxins build up in the body).
Then there’s Mario. He came from a friend who was best friends with his original owner. The OO died in a freak car accident and Mario was okay with his dad and human brothers. Then the guy married a woman who did not believe that animals belonged indoors and he was kicked out. Just as they moved to the foothills in Rancho Cucamonga, coyote country. My friend called me in tears about Mario. We took him in. A few weeks after he got here, his dog brother, still with the guy who married the bitch, let the dog out into their backyard late at night and didn’t listen to the people around him that coyotes have no problem with six foot fences. He found out the hard way, they knew what they were talking about.
Then there’s Rocky. A lady who used to live across the street moved with her husband, they got divorced, she lived by herself with her little dog, her dad got really sick and was in hospice and she took her mom and dad in to live with her. Rocky belonged to her mom. The landlord said “the cat goes or you go”. And here he is. We had an understanding if she moved and was able to take Rocky back, we would give him back. Never happened.
@moonhat Thank you. We have never actively looked for a cat to bring home, they just kind of show up or really need a new home.
Fortunately, there haven’t been any in probably ten years that was left behind when someone moved or was dumped. And the vet’s office knows that we aren’t taking any more in. A few years ago there were a couple of kittens that needed homes at the vet’s office, someone had removed one eye from each kitten, broke my heart, but sad stories have a way of people more easily opening their hearts. I knew they’d both find good homes.
I’m 64, I’d be surprised if any of our current cats are around in ten years. The youngest one is ten. We don’t want to be like my mom, being in bad health and not being able to take care of them and they need to be rehomed.
So, thank you for understanding and not judging. It’s not the life we chose (well, maybe a little), but it was handed to us and I like to think we’ve done right by these guys.
For all of you who shared video of your cat(s), I’d like to send you some of our homegrown catnip. Our vet has referred to it as “black tar catnip” because cats really like it.
Whisper me your address and your kitty names.
Just one thing. I don’t know how your cat(s) react to catnip, but this is pretty strong. Cats even like the envelope it comes in. People have come home to messes. So, keep it in a safe place. I store ours in the freezer.
@lisaviolet thank you so much! It’s definitely stronger smelling than the regular OTC/petstore variety and cats all went wild for it!! Yikes, I didn’t know I had 3 junkies on my hands. Thank you!! That was really sweet!
@lisaviolet Thanks! Mine came yesterday. One cat indifferent, one had a rubfest and the other three haven’t seen it yet as they were in my room and I didn’t want it on the floor there for them to decide to go nuts in the middle of the night.
@lisaviolet Thank-you sooooo much: Received today and they are enjoying it so much! It smells awesome, too! If you ever sell it anywhere or have seeds to share, please let me know and thank-you again.
Eh, I tried to frame the videos to avoid the weird cropping the program uses, still failed. It also cut off my cats names even though it let me type it all. They are Zoomer and Orion, if anyone cares.
@Kidsandliz Zoomer came with his name. He used to be really quick and run funny chasing the laser light. Not sure if they named him because of his run.
Orion is named after the constellation, but moreso, the cat from Men in Black, even though he doesn’t look like him.
/image the Galaxy is on Orion’s belt cat
Not so fun fact, most people think his name is pronounced Or-eon.
@lisaviolet@RiotDemon I’ve had one like this too. High was 17, low was 7 and 3oz last week. With hyperthyroid med increased he is up a tiny bit. They look so frail and skeletal at that low weight if they were intended to be a normal size and weight cat. His litter mate just recovered from being 6ish pounds, now up to 7 and looks a lot better (again thyroid med increase helped). But they both have that bird bone, light as a feather, old cat feel when you pick them up. It is so sad when they start looking like that as we know they are nearing the end of their life. And will be missed.
I don’t have any cats, but I’m currently feeding five*. Last year i managed to trap all the ones still around, so there were no kittens this year. It’s a little sad, because i like kittens, but that was the goal.
Over the past five years I’ve trapped and had neutered twelve. Six quit showing up before I had them fixed (two would not go in the trap and had seven kittens between them, but they are gone now).
The first three were Mama Cat, Bashful, and Bubba. Then there was Goebbels, the first one i trapped and had neutered.
Then was Bob, the oldest one still around and the most feral of the lot. Then Willie B, Spot, and Greyfoot. Willie B is still around. I last saw Greyfoot a couple of months ago, but she just shows up once in a while.
The next litter included Holstein, Junior, Smoke, and Mirror. Smoke and Mirror were identical solid gray cats and female. They would sit by the traps but not go in. The first week of June 2016 they both had kittens. smoke had hers where i could reach them, so they (Nancy, Jane, Smoky, and Clorox) were all socialized and found homes. And new names. One of Mirror’s two kittens didn’t live a week. The other, Cyclops, I couldn’t socialize or treat his infected eye. It was removed when i trapped him and took him in.
Mirror disappeared at the end of the summer.
Smoke had another litter in the Spring of 2017. I didn’t see them until it was too late to socialize them. Fortunato was reportedly hit by a car, but Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether are still around.
Smoke got very aggressive when these kittens came out. All the other cats but Bob and Willie B disappeared in a month. I think she ran them off. Then Smoke herself disappeared at the end of the summer.
Cry-baby arrived this Spring already neutered and with his ear tipped. He’s scarred up and is missing part of his tail, but his behavior suggests he was once a pet. I think he was probably dumped or got lost and spent some hard time on the streets before someone trapped and neutered him.
All that are left are four black cats (Willie B, Cry-baby, Tarr, and Fether) and Bob (tabby with no white).
A fifth black cat, Lamont, has been wandering in, at a distance, every couple of weeks. I need to figure out how to trap him, but he’s unpredictable, and the other cats are about. I trapped Greyfoot twice after she’d been spayed, so I know they forget what traps are for.
@craigthom That’s good that you feed them and vet them. I know it’s a hard thing to do. We had to trap the Friend’s mom and we used her kittens as bait.
I know the socialization thing. Joey is just now letting me pet him at dinner. And he’s been here for fourteen years.
We don’t have any more stray/feral cats in our neighborhood anymore, haven’t had them for years.
@lisaviolet Bob no longer sprints out of the yard when he sees me. He’ll hunker down and just stare at me as long as I don’t move toward him.
Three of the other cats I’ve been feeding since they started eating solid food. If I sit inside the doorway i can pet them at meal time, and they enjoy it. If I move quickly or stand up they scatter. If I’m outside they’ll come into the yard but keep their since. Some will talk to me, but they’ll run if I get close.
Cry-baby will let me approach him slowly and pet him as long as he has turned away and can’t see me coming. If he looks at me he’ll run. That’s why I think he grew up around people but was abused.
Over time I have had 14 cats and fed 13 or so ferals.
Currently I have Lucky who is 17.5. She had been left by her momma under the house of a fellow PhD student and cried for a day and a half. Firemen got her out. I had just had a cat die of cancer (and was down to no cats) and my friend handed me a squalling infant and some formula. It was between written and oral exams so feeding a baby every couple of hours 24/7 was not exactly what I needed to be doing. I fed her right before orals, put her in my t-shirt pocket and she slept through orals. Not sure what my committee would have thought/done had they known I had a cat in my pocket (a jacket hid the kitten lump). Known as Lucky as she was luck to live. The vet had given her a 50/50 chance. Other than being hyperthyroid she is still doing well, and has lived well past the typical life span of maine coon cats. She is brown tiger and white.
Three months later Max and Paige wandered in, also now 17.5 - they were a couple of months old, clearly not feral but abandoned. They were named by my then second grade daughter who wanted to rename herself some crazy cartoon name. I told her grownups name kids, kids can name animals so they promptly had their names changed. These guys had a bunch of medical issues and are likely not all that much longer for this world. Both have kidney failure. Max stage 3, Paige stage 1 (close to 2), Max’s diabetes in remission (although possibly not anymore - hard to tell as cats can test high when stressed at the vet but his “stress” vet levels have been going up and are close to calling it again) and hyperthyroid, Paige has asthma (got when we lived in the shed - the mold got her as she often was under the bed and it was worse on the floor - the others hung out on the bed and cat tree) and is also hyperthyroid. The new vet here nearly killed her by cutting her thyroid med when it should have been increased (drew the level about 4 hours too soon), as a result she lost a lot of weight, had a small stroke, but has more or less (finally) recovered from this. I had to syringe feed her on and off for the better part of 2.5 months. Max is orange tiger and white. Paige is white with spots of orange tiger and black. Max is my best cuddle, velcro cat and I will really miss him when he dies.
Lizzy (aka goat cat) was a stray I found in the median strip of the highway on the way to work. It was pouring rain and she was very hypothermic. She was about 6 weeks and feral. Turned into a big love bug and loves to hang out on top of doors, top shelves, etc., the cat tree or any chair I plan to sit in. She is lynx siamese.
Thing is a stray - around 2.5 or dumped on campus last December. Clearly not a feral cat and would prefer to be king of the world which does not sit well with the other cats and gets jealous when others are getting attention when she was planning to cuddle. Sweet cat who has never bit nor scratched me even when I snatched her up on campus. She is waiting for a space in the no kill shelter rather than staying with me until she is placed because she is stressing out two of the 17 year olds. Mixed lynx siamese.
I had 3 my neighbor abandoned when they moved who were darling darling cats and I so wish I had kept one of them. Then when I was living in the shed that family took me out for a birthday dinner, there was an about year old dumped calico color main coon looking cat in fur type hanging out by the restaurant (they fed ferals too) coming up to people and kept getting inside. They were going to shoot her with a shotgun since she wouldn’t stay outside so we took her. Sweet, calm, delightful thing - didn’t even struggle in my lap in the 25 min car ride home. She bonded with the lynx ragdoll (so they were placed together) - she a petite little thing at 6 pounds, he was 19 pounds and huge, very polite, calm and loving (he nearly died from being homeless due to parasites including whipworm which was very difficult to get rid of and illness). The other two were a swirl type orange tiger and a tonkinese. Both were incredible love bugs and I will always regret I had not kept the tonkinese one. They were placed together. I had this bunch close to two years before the no kill shelter placed them.
Current ferals feeding (along with a neighbor and the church across the street). I’d do a catch and release but I can’t afford to fix them all (no discounts around here to fix ferals - it would cost $7-800+ which I just don’t have). The source of all these cats is the neighbor on the corner who doesn’t fix their cats. If I dared (and had the money) I’d catch and fix their two indoor/outdoor cats. They might be fixed now though as we can account for where all the adults came from.
Yellow cat - long haired likely of part main coon heritage and clearly was never feral and appears to be fixed. Nice guy who is fed by those of us mentioned above and a student who just moved in 4 houses away has started to feed him too so he is hanging out in her yard. According to neighbors he is about 10 and been homeless for about 8 years.
Momma 1 - she had 5 kittens last year none of whom lived, and 3 this year. She seems to have at least one 3 legged cat each year.
Momma 2 - daughter of momma 1 from 2 years ago, had three kittens, now has two (one was killed by my car - I checked under the car, didn’t see her, likely she was in the engine or on the axel somewhere)
Black and white kitty - the likely daddy to all of them.
@Kidsandliz I took my neighbor’s cat in as if she was a stray after she had her third litter. I don’t think he even noticed the ear tip. She immediately forgot and resumed meeting me every day when i got home from work.
I borrow traps and get vouchers from a local TNR group and haven’t paid a dime to have the cats fixed. Maybe there’s a similar organization in a nearby city you could work with?
@craigthom I have called around and there is only dog societies around here, none for cats. I could borrow traps but no sense if I can’t afford to get them fixed. If I hauled them 180 miles I could get them fixed at $25 each but that isn’t practical.
@Hussypants Cute little kitties. I know that when my kitties have died in the past they leave a hole in my heart. I have one who is 17.5 and is clearly not that much longer in this world. I dread when that love bug dies. Sounds like George was a well loved cat.
Ok…17 cats? Do you employ a full time pooper scooper? Seriously, thats way too many kitties. I mean just the cost of food and litter has got too be huge, but the Vet bills??? God bless ya if you can do it
@raconnelly23 Our vet’s office is super and works with us on the money thing. Scooping isn’t that bad if I do it every day, because the cats have access to our backyard and do a lot of their business outside.
We’ve had them for so long we just learned to adjust. Get their food from Chewy, Costco and Walmart. And the occasional case of A/D from the vet’s for kitties who are under the weather.
I still haven’t figured out how to add pics lol. I have one cat. I got her from my ex’s mom in june 2003 when she was a month old. She is a grey and black tiger like Lucy but she is super skinny. I worry but the vet says she’s fine. She’s old and cantankerous and hates other animals so she is our only cat. I’ve feed atrays for years but she won’t allow them in the house. Last time one came in the house through the cat door she cowered in fear and peed in the floor. I can’t have that. My husband loves cats thankfully but she tries even his patience with her hateful acting. She is very destructive sometimes and likes to chew on cords. He also catches her laying on his laptop all the time. Lately she’s started laying behind it and pulling out the ac adapter. She sleeps on top of me and some mornings, she likes to stick her nose in his face while he’s sleeping. Nothing like waking up to cold wer cat nose on your nose or cheeks.
I love her but good lord she’s an angry old bitty sometimes with the swatting, biting, and all that lol
@ivannabc My Mr. W is kind of the same way. He was clipped and snipped a long time ago in Florida. Front and back claws are all gone. He doesn’t tolerate other cats at all. He’ll get along with dogs, but daddy (me) is too lazy to take ownership of one for him.
I might get him a teacup dog of some sort but I don’t know if I’m responsible enough to keep a little doggie alive for him.
The vet gave him a “snap test” which said he had pancreatitis. That was three years ago. He’s still alive. He’ll climb up on me most nights. I used to think it was because he loved me.
Now I know it’s because he want’s to keep his food bowl filled. He always want to have fresh food.
I dump his food out nearly every morn and replace it in a clean bowl.
@therealjrn our cat drinks a LOOOOOT of water. Our vet checked her several times to make sure she’s ok cuz I’m paranoid about it. He rolls his eyes and takes my money lol
@ivannabc I’ve got a girl doctor vet. She doesn’t have trouble taking money either. But she has a wonderful, caring heart. Her name is Doctor Rawlings (no relation–I checked)
This is Dummy. Real name Dumbledore but we never call him that. He’s a Maine Coon mix who weighs in at an airy 20lbs.
Fufu is an asshole but everyone loves him best. He will maul visitors for attention and is fearless.
Neena is a tubby yet tiny little North American House Seal. She’s afraid of everything.
Oreo! We call her Otter. She’s a total Muppet, not afraid of shit and really quirky and floppy. She’s a real trash panda. My favorite.
And last is Boogie. She’s our 7 month old polydactyl tortoiseshell. Hates being held or picked up, and is obsessed with fetching. She’ll do it for hours.
It’s odd though. In the originals I made their heads weren’t cut off and in the other video of them eating (at my mom’s) the meh bag completely showed. I’ll have to remember that if any more are done where we have to use this program. @matthew you might want to warn folks it does this on occasion.
@therealjrn It was a horrible summer. He just kept blocking, one time he spent the night at the vet’s office, with a catheter in him, they call, he can come home, within hours he’s crashing, I take him back, the vet said “he’s been like this for a while” and I said back “I just picked him up from here this morning”. Thank God there wasn’t any organ damage.
Then when we’d finally done all the the surgeon demanded before he’d do the surgery (diet, water, etc), stuff and surgery was scheduled in October, when we were called into the office when he spoke to us, he warned us if the urethra was too short, he couldn’t do the surgery. Which meant a death. We were on pins and needles until we got the call that afternoon that the surgery went well. I have pictures.
Here’s a little video of him that summer, you can see how uncomfortable he is.
@therealjrn Feed them what? Cat food? Spiders? Possums and squirrel? You were also planning to torture them in the basement with bees. As @sammydog01said there will be a video (Likely starring you) next week. Good thing for you that you have already been goat or you’d seriously be at risk.
@RiotDemon Other conditions such as temperature, humidity, and proximity will contribute to the presence of a detectable smell. Also possible his nose works better than most.
My kitties. I counted almost sixty that we’ve had since we lived here. The inn is closed, we have no intention of taking in any more. The most we had at one time was thirty eight. The last time we lost a cat to something that wasn’t a disease, was December, 1993. In January 1994, the fence was modified to keep our cats in our yard. Other critters could get in, but it was pretty damned hard for them to get out. We kept a few of these cats. We had a lot of ferals and we kept food out for them. That’s how we got many of our kittens.
Opie and Sammy are brothers, born in June 2001 (there were six kittens in total).
Sagwa came from our old pet sitter. She worked at my vet’s office and she and her husband moved to a new house and her landlord said “no, not all of those cats”. In all, we rescued six or seven cats from her. Sagwa is the only one left.
Next come the Friends cats. Ross and Rachel are littermates. One day short of four months, their mom had another litter. We got them all, as well as mom, on Sept 11, 2004. The second litter are Monica, Joey and Phoebe. The morning after Phoebe was spayed, the vet called early early in the morning. Phoebe had pulled her stitches out and eviscerated herself. He put everything back in and stapled her closed.
Then we got the Gilmore girls. Mom Lorelei and daughter Rory. And Ronnie. Unbeknownst to us, our ex-pet sitter invited friends over when she pet sat. One Sunday morning there was a knock at our door and this woman was in tears, her neighbor moved out and left his cats behind, could we take them. We did. Turns out, they were her cats, she got Lorelei from the petsitter and never had her fixed. Nice.
Charlie came from the vet’s office. The office manager had rescued him, but he had never been properly socialized with other cats and he kept fighting with her cats. She didn’t want him to live a life drugged out, so she asked if we’d take him. We did. He’s calmed down a lot over the years, but he can still be an asshole.
Then Pancho just showed up one day. We put food out for him (by this time, the ferals were pretty much gone, coyotes) and one night I just grabbed him. The week before the kitten he hung out with got caught in a car engine. I was working so hard to get her, was gone overnight with a friend and came home to the sad news. I knew he couldn’t stay out there on his own.
When my mom started showing strong signs that there was something not so good going on with her, we took her to the doctor, she was placed in a residential care home. We took her two cats in because we didn’t know how long it would take her to recover (she didn’t, the doctor told me alcohol related dementia, only time would tell and she had a heart attack six weeks after going in). Mystie lived until she was twenty-three and we still have Bobby. He’s a real lover of a cat.
Spot was one of the cats who breached the fence. He stayed. He is a male calico, he has one black spot on his side. He also had a problem with his body making crystals so he kept getting blocked and he couldn’t pee. After months of doing everything requested by the vet (he was at the vet at least once a week) he finally got the surgery that removed his penis so blocking would no longer happen and endanger his life (if they can’t pee, toxins build up in the body).
Then there’s Mario. He came from a friend who was best friends with his original owner. The OO died in a freak car accident and Mario was okay with his dad and human brothers. Then the guy married a woman who did not believe that animals belonged indoors and he was kicked out. Just as they moved to the foothills in Rancho Cucamonga, coyote country. My friend called me in tears about Mario. We took him in. A few weeks after he got here, his dog brother, still with the guy who married the bitch, let the dog out into their backyard late at night and didn’t listen to the people around him that coyotes have no problem with six foot fences. He found out the hard way, they knew what they were talking about.
Then there’s Rocky. A lady who used to live across the street moved with her husband, they got divorced, she lived by herself with her little dog, her dad got really sick and was in hospice and she took her mom and dad in to live with her. Rocky belonged to her mom. The landlord said “the cat goes or you go”. And here he is. We had an understanding if she moved and was able to take Rocky back, we would give him back. Never happened.
And there you have it. Our kitties.
TL;DR We have a lot of cats.
@lisaviolet I just have the one…I feel like an underachiever.
@lisaviolet YOU have such a good heart, I wish there was more like you. Those are 17 very very lucky cats!
@moonhat Thank you. We have never actively looked for a cat to bring home, they just kind of show up or really need a new home.
Fortunately, there haven’t been any in probably ten years that was left behind when someone moved or was dumped. And the vet’s office knows that we aren’t taking any more in. A few years ago there were a couple of kittens that needed homes at the vet’s office, someone had removed one eye from each kitten, broke my heart, but sad stories have a way of people more easily opening their hearts. I knew they’d both find good homes.
I’m 64, I’d be surprised if any of our current cats are around in ten years. The youngest one is ten. We don’t want to be like my mom, being in bad health and not being able to take care of them and they need to be rehomed.
So, thank you for understanding and not judging. It’s not the life we chose (well, maybe a little), but it was handed to us and I like to think we’ve done right by these guys.
@lisaviolet oh you’ve definitely done right by them all! They’ve all stumbled into the perfect household and are all so lucky. And you are too!
For all of you who shared video of your cat(s), I’d like to send you some of our homegrown catnip. Our vet has referred to it as “black tar catnip” because cats really like it.
Whisper me your address and your kitty names.
Just one thing. I don’t know how your cat(s) react to catnip, but this is pretty strong. Cats even like the envelope it comes in. People have come home to messes. So, keep it in a safe place. I store ours in the freezer.
@lisaviolet That’s very nice of you to do this.
@Barney I liked seeing everyone’s cats. They made me smile.
@lisaviolet my Orion loves catnip. My other cat never cared. I heard it was a genetic thing.
@RiotDemon I’ve had people who said the same thing and their cats loved it. YMMV. I’ll send this stuff out next week, let me know how it goes over.
@lisaviolet thanks very much!
I sent the catnip out today. I stamped the envelopes with my company stamp so the post office doesn’t think it’s something other than catnip.
I hope they enjoy it.
@lisaviolet
/giphy happy dance
@lisaviolet thank you so much! It’s definitely stronger smelling than the regular OTC/petstore variety and cats all went wild for it!! Yikes, I didn’t know I had 3 junkies on my hands.
Thank you!! That was really sweet!
@lisaviolet Thanks! Mine came yesterday. One cat indifferent, one had a rubfest and the other three haven’t seen it yet as they were in my room and I didn’t want it on the floor there for them to decide to go nuts in the middle of the night.
@lisaviolet Thank-you sooooo much: Received today and they are enjoying it so much! It smells awesome, too! If you ever sell it anywhere or have seeds to share, please let me know and thank-you again.
![My baby girl, Molly][1]
This is my sweet senior girl, Molly. I call her puppycat because she acts a lot more like a dog than a cat most times.
[1]:
@brendles Sweet
Eh, I tried to frame the videos to avoid the weird cropping the program uses, still failed. It also cut off my cats names even though it let me type it all. They are Zoomer and Orion, if anyone cares.
@RiotDemon Had the same problem with it cropping and cutting off heads. Is there a story behind those names?
@Kidsandliz Zoomer came with his name. He used to be really quick and run funny chasing the laser light. Not sure if they named him because of his run.
Orion is named after the constellation, but moreso, the cat from Men in Black, even though he doesn’t look like him.
/image the Galaxy is on Orion’s belt cat
Not so fun fact, most people think his name is pronounced Or-eon.
@RiotDemon guess they didn’t pay attention in science class when astronomy was introduced.
@RiotDemon Zoom owns my heart.
@lisaviolet here’s Zoomer forever ago before he started looking old.
@RiotDemon That old cat body just breaks my heart. Opie and Sammy are seventeen.
Pancho is our youngest, he came here in 2008, probably five or six months old.
@lisaviolet he’s been on both ends of the spectrum. His highest weight around 20lbs. He looks normal around 14. Lowest is around 7.
@lisaviolet @RiotDemon I’ve had one like this too. High was 17, low was 7 and 3oz last week. With hyperthyroid med increased he is up a tiny bit. They look so frail and skeletal at that low weight if they were intended to be a normal size and weight cat. His litter mate just recovered from being 6ish pounds, now up to 7 and looks a lot better (again thyroid med increase helped). But they both have that bird bone, light as a feather, old cat feel when you pick them up. It is so sad when they start looking like that as we know they are nearing the end of their life. And will be missed.
Squeeeee kitties!
I don’t have any cats, but I’m currently feeding five*. Last year i managed to trap all the ones still around, so there were no kittens this year. It’s a little sad, because i like kittens, but that was the goal.
Over the past five years I’ve trapped and had neutered twelve. Six quit showing up before I had them fixed (two would not go in the trap and had seven kittens between them, but they are gone now).
The first three were Mama Cat, Bashful, and Bubba. Then there was Goebbels, the first one i trapped and had neutered.
Then was Bob, the oldest one still around and the most feral of the lot. Then Willie B, Spot, and Greyfoot. Willie B is still around. I last saw Greyfoot a couple of months ago, but she just shows up once in a while.
The next litter included Holstein, Junior, Smoke, and Mirror. Smoke and Mirror were identical solid gray cats and female. They would sit by the traps but not go in. The first week of June 2016 they both had kittens. smoke had hers where i could reach them, so they (Nancy, Jane, Smoky, and Clorox) were all socialized and found homes. And new names. One of Mirror’s two kittens didn’t live a week. The other, Cyclops, I couldn’t socialize or treat his infected eye. It was removed when i trapped him and took him in.
Mirror disappeared at the end of the summer.
Smoke had another litter in the Spring of 2017. I didn’t see them until it was too late to socialize them. Fortunato was reportedly hit by a car, but Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether are still around.
Smoke got very aggressive when these kittens came out. All the other cats but Bob and Willie B disappeared in a month. I think she ran them off. Then Smoke herself disappeared at the end of the summer.
Cry-baby arrived this Spring already neutered and with his ear tipped. He’s scarred up and is missing part of his tail, but his behavior suggests he was once a pet. I think he was probably dumped or got lost and spent some hard time on the streets before someone trapped and neutered him.
All that are left are four black cats (Willie B, Cry-baby, Tarr, and Fether) and Bob (tabby with no white).
@craigthom That’s good that you feed them and vet them. I know it’s a hard thing to do. We had to trap the Friend’s mom and we used her kittens as bait.
I know the socialization thing. Joey is just now letting me pet him at dinner. And he’s been here for fourteen years.
We don’t have any more stray/feral cats in our neighborhood anymore, haven’t had them for years.
@lisaviolet Bob no longer sprints out of the yard when he sees me. He’ll hunker down and just stare at me as long as I don’t move toward him.
Three of the other cats I’ve been feeding since they started eating solid food. If I sit inside the doorway i can pet them at meal time, and they enjoy it. If I move quickly or stand up they scatter. If I’m outside they’ll come into the yard but keep their since. Some will talk to me, but they’ll run if I get close.
Cry-baby will let me approach him slowly and pet him as long as he has turned away and can’t see me coming. If he looks at me he’ll run. That’s why I think he grew up around people but was abused.
Over time I have had 14 cats and fed 13 or so ferals.
Currently I have Lucky who is 17.5. She had been left by her momma under the house of a fellow PhD student and cried for a day and a half. Firemen got her out. I had just had a cat die of cancer (and was down to no cats) and my friend handed me a squalling infant and some formula. It was between written and oral exams so feeding a baby every couple of hours 24/7 was not exactly what I needed to be doing. I fed her right before orals, put her in my t-shirt pocket and she slept through orals. Not sure what my committee would have thought/done had they known I had a cat in my pocket (a jacket hid the kitten lump). Known as Lucky as she was luck to live. The vet had given her a 50/50 chance. Other than being hyperthyroid she is still doing well, and has lived well past the typical life span of maine coon cats. She is brown tiger and white.
Three months later Max and Paige wandered in, also now 17.5 - they were a couple of months old, clearly not feral but abandoned. They were named by my then second grade daughter who wanted to rename herself some crazy cartoon name. I told her grownups name kids, kids can name animals so they promptly had their names changed. These guys had a bunch of medical issues and are likely not all that much longer for this world. Both have kidney failure. Max stage 3, Paige stage 1 (close to 2), Max’s diabetes in remission (although possibly not anymore - hard to tell as cats can test high when stressed at the vet but his “stress” vet levels have been going up and are close to calling it again) and hyperthyroid, Paige has asthma (got when we lived in the shed - the mold got her as she often was under the bed and it was worse on the floor - the others hung out on the bed and cat tree) and is also hyperthyroid. The new vet here nearly killed her by cutting her thyroid med when it should have been increased (drew the level about 4 hours too soon), as a result she lost a lot of weight, had a small stroke, but has more or less (finally) recovered from this. I had to syringe feed her on and off for the better part of 2.5 months. Max is orange tiger and white. Paige is white with spots of orange tiger and black. Max is my best cuddle, velcro cat and I will really miss him when he dies.
Lizzy (aka goat cat) was a stray I found in the median strip of the highway on the way to work. It was pouring rain and she was very hypothermic. She was about 6 weeks and feral. Turned into a big love bug and loves to hang out on top of doors, top shelves, etc., the cat tree or any chair I plan to sit in. She is lynx siamese.
Thing is a stray - around 2.5 or dumped on campus last December. Clearly not a feral cat and would prefer to be king of the world which does not sit well with the other cats and gets jealous when others are getting attention when she was planning to cuddle. Sweet cat who has never bit nor scratched me even when I snatched her up on campus. She is waiting for a space in the no kill shelter rather than staying with me until she is placed because she is stressing out two of the 17 year olds. Mixed lynx siamese.
I had 3 my neighbor abandoned when they moved who were darling darling cats and I so wish I had kept one of them. Then when I was living in the shed that family took me out for a birthday dinner, there was an about year old dumped calico color main coon looking cat in fur type hanging out by the restaurant (they fed ferals too) coming up to people and kept getting inside. They were going to shoot her with a shotgun since she wouldn’t stay outside so we took her. Sweet, calm, delightful thing - didn’t even struggle in my lap in the 25 min car ride home. She bonded with the lynx ragdoll (so they were placed together) - she a petite little thing at 6 pounds, he was 19 pounds and huge, very polite, calm and loving (he nearly died from being homeless due to parasites including whipworm which was very difficult to get rid of and illness). The other two were a swirl type orange tiger and a tonkinese. Both were incredible love bugs and I will always regret I had not kept the tonkinese one. They were placed together. I had this bunch close to two years before the no kill shelter placed them.
Current ferals feeding (along with a neighbor and the church across the street). I’d do a catch and release but I can’t afford to fix them all (no discounts around here to fix ferals - it would cost $7-800+ which I just don’t have). The source of all these cats is the neighbor on the corner who doesn’t fix their cats. If I dared (and had the money) I’d catch and fix their two indoor/outdoor cats. They might be fixed now though as we can account for where all the adults came from.
@Kidsandliz I took my neighbor’s cat in as if she was a stray after she had her third litter. I don’t think he even noticed the ear tip. She immediately forgot and resumed meeting me every day when i got home from work.
I borrow traps and get vouchers from a local TNR group and haven’t paid a dime to have the cats fixed. Maybe there’s a similar organization in a nearby city you could work with?
@craigthom I have called around and there is only dog societies around here, none for cats. I could borrow traps but no sense if I can’t afford to get them fixed. If I hauled them 180 miles I could get them fixed at $25 each but that isn’t practical.
My current catholes. Rocket (black) and Groot (grey) on adoption day, 1 year ago 1
And this was my prince kitty, George. I had him for 20 whole years. He crossed that rainbow bridge 2 years ago. I still miss him. 2
Hmm…I’ll work on getting the pictures to post correctly.
@Hussypants aww. Sweet things.
@Hussypants Cute little kitties. I know that when my kitties have died in the past they leave a hole in my heart. I have one who is 17.5 and is clearly not that much longer in this world. I dread when that love bug dies. Sounds like George was a well loved cat.
17 kitty cats omg
Jesus! What in the hell does pretty Lucy do all day?? Eat every freakin bird, mouse, rat, small child…? She’s a big girl!
@raconnelly23 Big girls need love too!
Ok…17 cats? Do you employ a full time pooper scooper? Seriously, thats way too many kitties. I mean just the cost of food and litter has got too be huge, but the Vet bills??? God bless ya if you can do it
@raconnelly23 Our vet’s office is super and works with us on the money thing. Scooping isn’t that bad if I do it every day, because the cats have access to our backyard and do a lot of their business outside.
We’ve had them for so long we just learned to adjust. Get their food from Chewy, Costco and Walmart. And the occasional case of A/D from the vet’s for kitties who are under the weather.
I still haven’t figured out how to add pics lol. I have one cat. I got her from my ex’s mom in june 2003 when she was a month old. She is a grey and black tiger like Lucy but she is super skinny. I worry but the vet says she’s fine. She’s old and cantankerous and hates other animals so she is our only cat. I’ve feed atrays for years but she won’t allow them in the house. Last time one came in the house through the cat door she cowered in fear and peed in the floor. I can’t have that. My husband loves cats thankfully but she tries even his patience with her hateful acting. She is very destructive sometimes and likes to chew on cords. He also catches her laying on his laptop all the time. Lately she’s started laying behind it and pulling out the ac adapter. She sleeps on top of me and some mornings, she likes to stick her nose in his face while he’s sleeping. Nothing like waking up to cold wer cat nose on your nose or cheeks.
I love her but good lord she’s an angry old bitty sometimes with the swatting, biting, and all that lol
@ivannabc My Mr. W is kind of the same way. He was clipped and snipped a long time ago in Florida. Front and back claws are all gone. He doesn’t tolerate other cats at all. He’ll get along with dogs, but daddy (me) is too lazy to take ownership of one for him.
I might get him a teacup dog of some sort but I don’t know if I’m responsible enough to keep a little doggie alive for him.
The vet gave him a “snap test” which said he had pancreatitis. That was three years ago. He’s still alive. He’ll climb up on me most nights. I used to think it was because he loved me.
Now I know it’s because he want’s to keep his food bowl filled. He always want to have fresh food.
I dump his food out nearly every morn and replace it in a clean bowl.
@ivannabc oh, she’s lucky she has you two! It sounds like there’s quite a bit of love under the crankiness.
@therealjrn our cat drinks a LOOOOOT of water. Our vet checked her several times to make sure she’s ok cuz I’m paranoid about it. He rolls his eyes and takes my money lol
@ivannabc I’ve got a girl doctor vet. She doesn’t have trouble taking money either. But she has a wonderful, caring heart. Her name is Doctor Rawlings (no relation–I checked)
What? A guy can’t check?
Here’s something I have an abundance of!
This is Dummy. Real name Dumbledore but we never call him that. He’s a Maine Coon mix who weighs in at an airy 20lbs.
Fufu is an asshole but everyone loves him best. He will maul visitors for attention and is fearless.
Neena is a tubby yet tiny little North American House Seal. She’s afraid of everything.
Oreo! We call her Otter. She’s a total Muppet, not afraid of shit and really quirky and floppy. She’s a real trash panda. My favorite.
And last is Boogie. She’s our 7 month old polydactyl tortoiseshell. Hates being held or picked up, and is obsessed with fetching. She’ll do it for hours.
@KittySprinkles Oh my god
People have a bunch of sweet cats!
It’s odd though. In the originals I made their heads weren’t cut off and in the other video of them eating (at my mom’s) the meh bag completely showed. I’ll have to remember that if any more are done where we have to use this program. @matthew you might want to warn folks it does this on occasion.
:meow:
I think I love you.
@therealjrn It was a horrible summer. He just kept blocking, one time he spent the night at the vet’s office, with a catheter in him, they call, he can come home, within hours he’s crashing, I take him back, the vet said “he’s been like this for a while” and I said back “I just picked him up from here this morning”. Thank God there wasn’t any organ damage.
Then when we’d finally done all the the surgeon demanded before he’d do the surgery (diet, water, etc), stuff and surgery was scheduled in October, when we were called into the office when he spoke to us, he warned us if the urethra was too short, he couldn’t do the surgery. Which meant a death. We were on pins and needles until we got the call that afternoon that the surgery went well. I have pictures.
Here’s a little video of him that summer, you can see how uncomfortable he is.
But I do collect humans. Does that count?
@therealjrn A clipisode called introducing Meh basement slaves is next week.
@sammydog01 Hey! I feed them!
@therealjrn Feed them what? Cat food? Spiders? Possums and squirrel? You were also planning to torture them in the basement with bees. As @sammydog01said there will be a video (Likely starring you) next week. Good thing for you that you have already been goat or you’d seriously be at risk.
I wanted to send this to my sister-in-law but my wife thought it might be a little too on-the-nose
A fuckton of cats
@macromeh I finally watched this just now. Ha. Lair. Ee. Us.
heh.
/youtube mediocre cat piss
@medz someone needs to clean the litter box more often and invest in a better brand.
@RiotDemon Other conditions such as temperature, humidity, and proximity will contribute to the presence of a detectable smell. Also possible his nose works better than most.