A Beautiful Thing

     A friend of my daughter's moved in with her, her husband, and child.  Also making the move were more pets and her own child.  It is a beautiful thing when one helps out another in need.  All are animal lovers.  And what better way to show it than to display over the mantel place stockings.  These stockings do not include children's names or even theirs.  But it is their pet's names written on the stockings. 
     Across the fireplace mantel hangs stockings with these names:  Shadow (cat), Midnight (cat), Xena (cat), Snyder (dog), Bella (dog), Killer (turtle), and one for all the pet fish that simply says The Fish. 
     Christmas time is a time to show love not only to human kind, but to our pets.  I may not be one who hangs the stockings, but extra treats will be given to all my inside and outside cats. 

     I wish a Merry Christmas to all (human and pets alike).

Christmas

   Thanksgiving comes before Christmas.  But to retailers it seems to be passed by quickly.  They jump right into Christmas.  Even this year, Halloween seemed to be put on the back burner.  But then again, I started early Christmas shopping.  Waiting to the last minute puts a real financial burden on me.  Whether one shops early or shops late, depends on the individual.  Who cares when retailers start their ads and such?  For me, it is better to start early.  Where am I going with this?
     Christmas is truly a wonderful time of the year.  As we buy for family, friends, etc., let us not forget our four-legged member of the family.  Our cat has demonstrated all year long his/her loyalty and love for us.  At this time of year give a bag of treats.  Or better yet, hang a stocking filled with all kinds of cat toys.  After all, cats sometimes act like people, too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to cats and cat lovers!

Not As Many

     There are not as many cat stories now to share.  The reason is simple.  We feed less than ten outside; whereas there once was around twenty to thirty.  We've seen cats die.  We've seen less coming.  We simply call them missing.  Surely something has happened to them for certainly they would not pass up a free meal.  With only a few female cats, kittens are less.  And if they manage to survive weeks, then some other death cause becomes them.  Whoever said there were so many strays out there could be wrong.  There was never a census paper filled out by them.  A stray cat has such a hard life.  He becomes victim to predators from the two-legged kind to the four-legged kind.  Whatever is his demise?  Whatever?  There do seem to be less at my house.                                           A cat is a beautiful animal.  He was put on this earth for a reason.  If I could, I would bring every cat inside for his safety.  But that is not possible.  I do wish there was more love for him by all.  I wish everyone could respect and love this harmless creature as I do.  As I sit here typing, one of my indoor cats is trying hard to get my attention.  I do love the feel of a cat's hair.  If taken care of properly, they are so soft.  They love the rub as well as I love to give it.
     My cat has won.  I discontinue writing for now and am reaching over to give her that love rub.  

Nibblerz

     This story is written by my eleven year old grandson, Adam.  


     On my eleventh birthday, God gave me a kitten.  I walked outside that morning with my mom and brother.  We found a friendly orange tabby.  He was so cute and cuddly, we decided to keep him.  We saved him so he won't go in the busy road.  He meows a lot and he is playful. We call him Nibblerz because he will nibble on your fingers and toes.

Hilarious Cat Episodes (2 0f 2)

     It was Thanksgiving.  After eating, the dishes could wait until tomorrow.  The food was put up.  There was a lot of turkey left.  But even cleaning it from the bone could wait until tomorrow.  The turkey was put in the refrigerator covered with aluminum foil.  
     I walked into the kitchen early the next morning.  There on the floor was the turkey I had put in the refrigerator the night before.  And there eating on the turkey was the culprit himself, who had somehow gotten the turkey out of the refrigerator.  It was our cat, Tiger. Before attempting the cleanup job, I stood there amazed.  How did that cat get the refrigerator door open?  The door itself had suction.  How he got in the refrigerator was a true wonder.  But there eating from the floor was proof he had gotten in somehow.  I found myself changing anger to laughter.  The turkey now was going to have to be thrown away. And so, I allowed tiger to keep eating.  It may have been seen as rewarding him.  But then again, he really deserved the turkey after the hard work he must have put into getting it.  I still laugh to this day about it.  Cats can do some of the funniest things...

Hilarious Cat Episodes (1of 2)

     It was back when residents had to furnish their own trash cans. They were easily turned over by animals.  Trash was then scattered everywhere.  Today's trash cans for my subdivision are furnished by the city.  We pay for the service through our taxes.  Getting into one of those sturdy furnished cans is hard for animals to access.  But then, my story is about way back when trash cans were easily accessible.  It brings about my first of two hilarious episodes.                    
    Tiger was an indoor and outdoor cat.  We never had him neutered.  Money was hard to come by then.  It is now too. Neutering was an expense back then that would take away from feeding and clothing my children.  So, Tiger went roaming when outside.  It was hilarious one particular day the children called for Tiger.  Down the street the domestic short-haired cat came.  He was dragging behind him an entire skeleton of a turkey with what meat was left on it.  He dragged it into the front yard and commenced eating.  The dragging it behind him was so- so funny!  It looked bigger than him.  But Tiger had managed to drag it home where he was then safe to eat it.  It left a picture that remains in my mind to this day.  It was so hilarious!

Coming up in July...

I've got to get caught up on some paperwork.  When I do, I will post another cat story coming up in July.

Sticky on Vacation

     It is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  My first story back, in my absence from submitting stories, begins with a story about Sticky.  Sticky was an outside cat.  He was diagnosed with leukemia which originally kept him from becoming an indoor cat.  But his latest visit to a vet had them saying he did not have leukemia.  After several attempts failed to get the indoor cats to accept him, he was destined to remain outdoors.  In previous stories I told of the house we built for this outside cat.  He slept inside it through a harsh winter.  The warm heating pad made life very comfortable for him.  But....two weeks ago a rough thunderstorm came through during the night.  Generally I can sleep through thunderstorms, but not this one. The thunder was so loud and terrifying that it woke me from a heavy sleep.  

     When morning came and I opened the front door, no Sticky was to be found.  He generally always comes to the front door when it is opened.  He gets his treats and food off and on all during the day.  The boy never has to search for food.  But this morning, Sticky did not appear.  His disappearance would go on for a week.  He had apparently been frightened off by that loud thunder that had scared even me.  How could Sticky survive out there after being handed his food since weaned?  Since it was a week gone, I wrote Sticky off as having used up all his nine lives.  Sticky simply was no more.  

     It was one week to the day that Sticky had disappeared.  My son was outside in the front yard.  He opened the front door calling to me, "Come outside!  I want to show you something!"  

     Immediately I went out the front door following him close behind.  There, to my surprise, was Sticky.  He looked the same as always.  There was no filthy coat.  There was no apparent weight loss.  It was like he had never been missing.  He went into his usual routine.  There was one minor change, though.  A metal rocking chair for me was on the front porch.  I sat in it often while watching Sticky eat.  It had a nice cushion in it.  Now I was about to find myself sharing the chair with Sticky.  He curled up in the chair and went to sleep.  

     I am glad Sticky is back.  I don't mind sharing my chair.  I am just so glad to have him back.  He was missed by both myself and my son.  His absence made us realize just how much we love him.  

     As my son says, "Sticky was just on vacation."

     

Jealousy

     Humans know what jealousy means.  It really needs no definition.  Animals don't know our meaning of it.  But yet, they display it frequently.  I have four inside cats that I rescued when kittens.  Mother cat abandoned them in my garage.  I don't know why she did it.  But it became up to us (my son and I) to take care of them.  It will be four years this October that the four came to live with us.  At first, we closed the garage and allowed them to live there.  The three females were spayed and the one male neutered.  The plans from the start were to release them outside when we thought they could take care of themselves.  But becoming attached to them would eventually find us moving them into the house with us. 
     Before all this came about, we frequently went into the garage to play with them.  When they got tired, they climbed upon our chest and went to sleep.  Three of them did this.  The fourth one, who was a runt and named Runt, never did this though.  She started out sick and required a heating pad for warmth.  She constantly laid on the heating pad.  What they all learned in that garage, they brought with them into the house.  Runt sleeps alone.  The other three still do that climbing on the chest and going off to sleep.  They are no longer kittens, but weigh now 17 to 20 pounds apiece.  They do get heavy. 
     One cat is lying in a better place than another.  Up jumps Bugs who runs My-a off.  Was that cat getting more love?  He now lies in the exact spot that My-a once did.  On another occasion, Blossom seeks my attention and is lying on me.  Up jumps My-a who runs Blossom off. 
     "I'm hungry," Runt meows for food.  Here comes the other three meowing and pushing Runt aside to gain the attention.  Everyone of the four are meowing now in their attempt to gain all my attention.  Since I don't work, I see the antics of these cats all day long.  In their eyes, I am an important part of their lives.  They all want me......How blessed can a person be to have all that love?  I can only explain their behavior as jealousy.  They are showing a human emotion.  My son laughs it off by saying, "You're their mother."  Actually, I am.  My son and I are the only humans they have known.  We love them and they know it.  They love us and we know it.  I try not to show any favoritism.  I practice loving them all four the same........It is hard though to show no favoritism.  I do have my favorite as I think all mothers do. 

Swooping

     I don't have a bird feeder out for the birds.  The neighbor next door has one.  I see birds gather around and eat from it.  I haven't put one out since I have stray cats that come to eat.  But in a sense, perhaps I do have a bird feeder after all.  The cat food I put out has a habit of feeding different animals.  I put the food up at night in hopes of keeping opossum and raccoons away.  But forgetting sometimes to put it up, they come.  I know they came as I leave water out.  The water left not drank is always so dirty.  Cats don't do this.  In the daytime, I hope the food is safe and will become only the food for cats.  But this is not always the case. 
     When weather is permissible, I love to sit out on the back patio and watch cats eat.  They come and eat with me there.  Since they have learned me, they don't run away like they did at first.  Now as I watch, birds are coming also.  Down they are swooping to eat from the cat food.  Are they so hungry to have a meal that they risk becoming a meal?  Most of the cats continue to eat as if they don't see.  But in the corner sits the female cat, Likes 'Em Green.  She's a cat that has been known to bring mice, birds, and other small creatures for her kittens to eat.  Even Slappy, a young male, has finished eating cat food.  He now is watching the birds.  It is part of the cycle of life that the bird is the prey and the cat is the predator.  Likes 'Em Green is now jumping towards the birds.  They fly off!  Soon all the cats have full bellies.  They wander off to wash and nap.  The birds are not finished.  Here they come again swooping down and eating cat food.  They are not hindered by me.  I continue to sit on the patio watching this amazing work of nature. 
     If anything is learned from all of this, it is that I don't need a bird feeder.  I already have one.  As long as food for the strays is put out, it will be eaten.  Maybe not by a stray cat, but some animal including the bird will eat from it.  It becomes obvious to me the bird is not about to stop swooping down as long as food lies beneath his wings. 

Blue Collar

     In heading to the mailbox, I was approached by a cat meowing.  It was a solid light grey tabby.  I noticed right off that it wore a blue collar around its neck.  There hanging on the blue collar was a rabies tag.  It was someone's cat allowed outside for the day.  As I approached the front porch, the cat followed close behind.  It still continued to meow.  I shut the front door.  Upon having entered the house, I immediately grabbed a bag of treats.  Once outside, I poured treats for the cat.  As the cat turned and held tail in the air, I saw a neutered male cat.  Yes, he definitely belonged to someone. 
     When I started feeding strays, a friend said to me, "Do you realize that by feeding strays that you will also be feeding someone else's cat?"  I figured as much, but never really knew for sure.  What I saw was a cat who came to eat.  To me, they all seemed to be strays.  I responded to the friend by saying, "It doesn't matter to me if it's someone's cat or not.  The cat is hungry." 
     It's obvious to me that this cat belonged to someone.  They spent a lot of money to take care of him just to let him run loose in my neighborhood.  This is the first time that I really knew I was feeding someone else's cat.  Since he was not about to be one of my strays, I safely named him, Blue Collar.  It is not every day that he comes to my door.  But he comes often enough for treats.  I feed him and then he goes away.  At first he was scared of me, but now I can rub him.  He is a pretty cat and very healthy.  Someone out there besides me loves him.  My son Kevin commented in saying, "You have spoiled him to treats.  I bet his owner wonders why he's not eating the food at home." 
     As long as Blue Collar comes to my front door, he will not be turned away.  The treats are for him any time.  I do wish though that his owner knew the risk of letting Blue collar outside.  If he were mine, safely inside this beautiful animal would stay. 

Meow

     Here I am wishing a cat could carry on a conversation with me.  And, in a sense, a cat can.  In checking the internet, which has become a friend of mine, I find this bit of information to share.  It states there are four things a cat tells you.  One, "I am hungry."  Two, "I want to go outside."  Three, "Help!" Four, "I want attention."  There might be more.  They actually say a lot with that one word meow.  And meow is a word in Webster's Dictionary.  It means the whining sound made by a cat.  As for the human, some of us have to say a lot of words to get a message across. 
     As I sit here typing this little piece, up jumps my cat, Runt.  The little grey and white calico is talking to me, "Meow! Meow!" She's non-stop trying to gain my attention.  She's now used two words to communicate.  She's grabbing my attention and at the same time saying, "I'm hungry!"  It is time for treats so I must go!

A House For Sticky

     There's always the wish that I could bring that special stray cat in the house.  And such is the case with Curly, who we later renamed Sticky.  If one thinks about the name when they see him, then his appearance gives his name away.  The shorthaired domestic is not curly haired.  But because of his health, he is skinny.  At one time, we wanted to bring him inside.  The neighborhood kids harmed him, which resulted in our taking him to the vet.  That was when we found out he has feline leukemia.  We had no choice but to leave him outside.  He would infect our indoor cats if we brought him in.  I guess he never forgot how the neighbor kids hurt him, because he stayed in our front yard,  and slept on our front porch. 
     With approaching cold weather, what was Sticky to do for shelter?  The front porch brought no protection from the cold wind that blew across it.  We had nothing on the porch.  He lay on the bare concrete.  Would Sticky survive the winter?  We fed him on the front porch.  All the other stray cats were fed in the back yard, and Sticky wouldn't go back there.  A dominant female named Likes 'em Green attacked him every chance she got.  He had been neutered during that long ago trip to the vet.  We were giving him every chance to live.  Now with winter approaching, we did not want to be responsible for his demise. 
     There was a forecast of extreme cold weather to come.  "I need to start building Sticky a house,"  my son Kevin said. 
     A trip to the hardware store to buy wood, hinges, and various other supplies had Kevin beginning his building project.  He knew he would need to build it high so Sticky would be out of reach of stray dogs and other predators.  In the end, with material and even a heating pad for the inside, it cost nearly a hundred dollars.  We even painted it.  When it comes to the love of an animal, the money is not of importance.  The house sits high beside the front porch. There is a stool placed beside it on the front porch so the cat can jump up to the entrance. The heating pad cord goes outside the back side of the little house and through our garage window, where we have it plugged in to provide continuous warmth. 
     Although Sticky has been neutered, he still must be some kind of ladies' man.  A black stray female cat has moved in with him to share the space.  We named her Shady.  It becomes comical when we arrive home from somewhere and driving up our driveway, we see heads poking out of the house's entrance.  Down will jump Sticky followed by his girlfriend, Shady.  The house is certainly doing its job.  Unless some other misfortune takes either cat, they are set for the cold. 
     People have dog houses for their dog.  We now have a cat house for our cat.  I am so glad that Kevin built a house for Sticky.

The Disappearance

     Skillet was our favorite outside cat.  Having enough indoor cats kept us from bringing her inside.  However, we did take her to the vet a few times.  Once we took her for infected eyes.  Another time, there was unexplained bleeding that took us there.  High inside the vet office she jumped.  She was never going to be an indoor cat.  Yet, we still kept as good care of her as we could with her being an outdoor cat.
     Long periods of time, Skillet would come up missing.  A neighbor once said, "She was caught in my air vent.  She remained there until we finally got her out."  It was no doubt that Skillet was using every one of her nine lives.  This incident and others had us wondering if some day Skillet would not come home. 
     As my son washed his vehicle in the front yard one day, up came Skillet meowing.  She ate a little, but she continued to meow.  She acted as if she wanted to be followed.  My son did not feel like he could follow her across the street onto someone else's property. He ignored her and continued washing his vehicle.  Even I saw Skillet's strange behavior.  And I did nothing.  I sincerely regret not giving her the attention she was asking for.  Having taken cats previously to the Humane Society for poisoning, I have always wondered if Skillet was asking for help.  Was she poisoned?  I don't believe there was a litter of kittens involved.  It was something else.  And that was the last time we saw Skillet. 
     A cat purrs when it is happy.  A cat meows when it is hungry.  A cat hisses when it is angry.  There are so many signs it gives to communicate.  It would be so  much simpler if a cat could talk though.  I wish I had known that day what Skillet was trying to tell us.  It still haunts me. 
     My son once said, "When Skillet passes away, I hope she comes home before so I can bury her."  He really loved that cat.  She was actually more his than mine.  We are only left to wonder.  The outdoor cat we loved the most, must have gone away to die.  It's a lonely death when a human dies with no one.  It's probably the same with the animal kingdom.  There is so much I don't know about cats.  One thing for certain is that I love cats. I especially loved Skillet. 
     In my heart, there is a void.  But at the same time, there is a love that remains forever.  Skillet will be missed.  But she left some fond memories.  Also, she left us two of her children.  There was Little Tush who became an indoor cat after some neighbor kids broke her back after kicking her.  We had no choice but to bring her indoors to heal.  She still lives inside with us.  We were so glad when she tested negative for feline leukemia, otherwise she could not have come in.  Her brother , Sticky also got injured outside. Sticky, sadly, tested positive for  feline leukemia and we had no choice but to leave him outside where he could not infect our indoor cats.  We still continued to take care of him as well as we could with him still outside.  We had him neutered in hopes that other male cats would not run him off.  Hopefully, he knows to stay away from those who want to harm him.  He stays mostly in our front yard.  Still, he needs to be protected from predators and the weather. 
    

     Read in two upcoming stories about Sticky and his house.  It will begin in my dog blog entitled, "Chasing Sticky" and will end here in the cat blog entitled, "A House For Sticky."