The Cat Saga

[Silinai]

I don't know what to say, and honestly, I don't think I have to. This just reminds me of all the good times I had thanks to cats, and also the pain I felt, and still feel, for the times when they decided I could carry on without them.



Silinai,
Muse of Xegony

[Aelanor Dreamspirit]

You made me cry...

I have my own two - Fred and Ginger. My brother (he & his girlfriend are dancers... hence the names!) appeared with them one day a couple of months after I had to put Samantha to sleep at the ripe old age of 20 (she would not tolerate other cats in the house). Both had been found as very young kittens abandoned on the streets of Philadelphia.

They have quickly become members of our family, and we now plan our lives around them. They will soon have additions to the family when our neighbor adopts a couple of kittens which will be our "step children"... she travels a lot

There is nothing quite like cats... they bring never ending joy to your life. They cuddle, purr, share your joy, heal your sorrows. I wouldn't trade them for the world!

[Grenoble]

Let's see, my cat Jason has also...

...has fallen in my bubble bath....

...kicks out the fresh litter onto the floor and rolls in it like a dog every day when I come home from work (and if I don't IMMEDIATELY go and watch this ritual, he cries like he's being beaten)....

...thinks rug fuzz tastes better than chicken any day....

...waits til my coffee cools off then scoops some onto his paw to drink....

...bites my elbow when he wants a little more petting....

Oh, yeah, who says they don't have personalities? Glad to see other cat lovers out there and Mum, I'm utterly touched by your tale. All animals are a blessing we should revere.

[brial]

In my house we call it good kitty karma. About a year ago a handsome grey cat adopted us. It was obvious he was lost or had been abandoned. He even had a collar. We did everything we could to find the past owner, but alas we had no luck. And no luck with finding him a new home. For months he hung out outside the house, never wandering far. At the time, and due to already having 4 other cats and other reasons I wont go into, we were unable to formally adopt him. But he was watered and feed, and during specially bad weather (cold, etc) we would sneak him into the garage.

Well, for months this continue to be the routine.... until one day my partner (the one with the great kitty karma) noticed he was looking ill. Lo and behold she loaded him up in a carrier and took it the vet. Well, poor kitty cat turns out his urinary track was completely blocked. according to the vet he would have died.

Now Smokey sits by me, the $600 mangina as we call him, since the procedure to save him required that he be give a new urinary track basically (he does it like a girl now-- hence the mangina)

Moral of the story: We firmly believe that kitty cats know who they "adopt" Perhaps momma cat "knew" that the kittens would be taken care of by you.

All the following knew that: Black Shadow, Big Head, Smokey, Tigger, Pixie.

[Akelan]

friends for life

We have been "staff" to a number of cats through the years (Dogs have Masters, Cats have "Staff") and every one has made my heart larger and my laugh heartier for whatever time they have shared with me.

While some have pointed out the obvious issue that there may be too many unwanted cats around, it is not a logical choice, but one you make with your heart, and I smile through a little mist to see your story here. From a 22 pound black tom that was born into my hands and I bottle fed and hand raised along with his 5 siblings when the mother was injured and unable to support the kittens at the same time she was healing from surgery, to a beautiful little white temple princess that had been shuffled around from place to place among some elderly folks that did not always remember to feed her, who asked us how long she was staying this time a few days after we brought her home, the cats in my life have deserved all the love I can give, and given more than I could ever deserve.

/salute, M'lady. Well done.

[Doomspark Deathfire]

Cruelty is the Devil's Trademark

/hug Denmother

As others have said, you did what you could, and what was best considering the circumstances.

All three of my cats were strays or abandoned.

We found Shadow tied up in a pillowcase in a dumpster - and may Innoruuk help the fiend in human form who did that if I ever find out who he/she is! WHY do people do such things? My wife heard her crying, and I spent ten minutes crawling through the dumpster till I found her. Six years later, she is still extremely shy and skittish with strangers.

Merlin was one of an abandoned litter left in a box at our vet's office. His eyes hadn't even changed color when we got him... he was a little ball of fluff with four enormous feet. Now he's my "little kitten" who weighs nearly 20 pounds and craves attention from us. He doesn't like strangers either, but will come out to make friends after an hour or so.

Mischief is a recent addition to the family - she's only about a year old according to our vet. We got her in February when we were helping some friends move into their new apartment. She was hanging around the building and crying. We asked around, and it turns out that her former owners moved 3 weeks earlier and left her behind. Even in Florida, it gets far too cold at night in February to leave an animal outside with no shelter.

WHY do people do such things? Is it SO difficult to take a now-unwanted pet to a shelter? At least they'll be looked after there!

*stops before he goes off into a full-fledged rant*

/hug Denmother again.

Ya did the right thing, Niami.

[Lydja]

/hug Denmom

I have 2 cats, and they mean the world to me. My tubby boy Zeek had been abandoned as a kitten, and found by a vet's office (by a Little Caesar's dumpster no less). What my luck! When I went to take my Emma to the office for her check up, they showed him to me, as they knew I wanted Emma to have a playmate. They said he'd been with them for a few weeks, and no one had shown up for him. The moment I held him, and he started to purr and actually hugged my neck, I was in love. Emma and Zeek are now inseperable, and Zeek seems to have an intense liking for pizza and all things with tomatos.

All things turn out right in the end.

Lydja Sylverleaf
Trophied Fletcher
Amazon Storm - The Seventh Hammer

[Nhin Impious]

/ya-did-the-right-thing-hug

I've known my Four-Footed Son would be mine from the moment I saw him, when he was small enough to hold in my two hands, and his eyes were still shut. His mother was dumped off, pregnant, at my parents' house, and he and his brother were my fiancé's and my wedding gifts to each other.

Eight years later, after living in houses, apartments, on streets with neighbor children who had to be taught "we don't dress kitty up in dolly clothes and if we do push him around in the buggy we let him out when he likes"-- the marriage is toast; other than a few dishes and a sewing machine I have no possessions from that time. The Boy is my only living souvenir. (We lost his brother to a car five years ago, and he's been Inside Kitty since then.)

I have a new partner; he has a little girl. The Ravenlet knows not to dress kitties in dolly clothes, and we don't have a buggy. She does toddle him around by the middle sometimes, but his feet touch the ground and he seems to be okay with that (she's 4, but he's a big cat). And he purrs like a washing machine with a half dozen sneakers in it, and sleeps on her bed.

What we say in this House is "Kitties don't live forever--all you can do is love 'em while they're here."

Corrvin
who will be devastated when the Only Misbegotten Son moves on...

[Whizbang_Dustyboots]

/hug Niami

[Anaxamandra]

/hugs

Good job rescuing the kittens. I don't know what I would have done myself being a cat lover.


8)

[Letah]

My story starts kind of sad... but i promise it gets better...

Last October my son was given a kitten by a neighbor who's cat gave birth to 6 and his parents said he had to get rid of them all... my son (6 years old at the time) named the kitten buddy.... 3 days later we took the kitten to his soccer game and while it was fun for all the kids to have the kitten there, it was distracting for the players on the sidelines so we decided not to take him to any more soccer games. the following saturday we asked my sister (who lives with us) to keep an eye on Buddy while we were at the game... when we got home a few hours later we found that my sisters dogs had killed him ( luckily i got in the house first and my son never had to see the body... but it broke my heart when he cried that we had to go look for buddy because i didn't do very well when explaining to him that buddy "went away".... but i didn't want him to hate the dogs...

the next day my father took my son to the animal shelter to adopt a cat, they looked at all sorts of kittens and finally my son decided on an all grey 5 year old cat... he named him Bullet hehe... bullet was quiet and just wanted to be held.... a few days later we found out why.... while my son was sleeping, bullet crawled off of him and went under the bed and died... when we took him back to the shelter they said that it was a respitory infection that had been going through the entire cat kennel.... many many cats and all of the kittens died from it ( (

i never told my son that bullet died... i couldn't bear to see him cry again, he knew that bullet was sick, and that i was gonna take him to the shelter's vet services.... so i lied to him... i still can't believe i lied to my own son.... i told him that bullet's other family was there when i got there and wanted to take him home... i know, i'm a bad mother (

I promised him that we would get him another cat if he still wanted one, and he did, so while he was at school i went to the shelter again, they said all the cats they had now were healthy with no sign of the disease that had been plaguing the kennel.... so i looked... i wasn't gonna get him one that looked like buddy (orange long hair) or bullet (short grey hair) i thought about white, but he didn't like any of the white ones before when he picked out bullet, so i just wasn't sure.... so i gave up and thought i would just bring him back to pick his own....

on the way out the door i saw some little tiny kittens... 4 weeks old and eating semi solid food... i asked about them and was told their mother was hit by a car while pregnant, the kittens were premature but 4 of them survived and were being cared for by the vets themselves and were NEVER put in the kennel... i decided that one of them was perfect for Erik (my son)... they were all black and white with a little bit of brown, i picked the one with gray eyes and took her home.... she could fit in the palm of one hand... When Erik got home from school he fell in love with her... we bought a cat cage for her to sleep in and be in while people were out of the house so she would be safe from the dogs, and my son hehe... he saw her gray eyes and decided she should be named Gracie.... but with his first grade mind it got spelled Graysee LOL... she even has a tag that says "Graysee Erik's Cat" he loves her so much, and she sleeps on his back all night every night... she even comes when he calls.... he'll go outside and yell "GRAYSEE" and she'll come running from wherever in the neighborhood she's been hiding... but her most favorite thing to do is come and lay on the keyboard when someone is playing EQ or doing homework or just about anything... because then she gets "her pettings" as Erik calls them....

i never was one to be a cat person, but i do like them more than dogs... but Graysee and Erik have changed my mind... i know you did the right thing DenMom, you helped those kittens to have a chance at a life full of love with people who care about them tending to their needs instead of having a life full of strife and hardships on their own <huggies the denmom>

[RedSonja]

Well done

Being staff to two kitties and about to take on two "stepkitties" for a family member who's moving and not sure when he'll be in cat-friendly housing again, I totally understand you wanting to help Mama cat and kittens there. Have done the same many times and would again in a heartbeat. I just want to add the caution that anyone handling cats or kittens you are unfamiliar with, wear heavy gloves and avoid saliva contact as I recently had a scare with possible rabies exposure in one feline assistance. Kitten is fine, I'm fine but it was a stressful few days and could have been avoided with more precautions taken. Our two cats were both given to us, Moonchild as a young kitten (and he was named by Andre Norton! after she saw the pix of him on my website the day he came to us. He is named after the new name Bastian gave The Childlike Empress in NeverEnding Story. He is a Siamese mix, blue lynx-point with very pale blue eyes and four white feet. Gorgeous cat and darn well knows it.) Samwise we got at unknown age, by size the vet said a year old. Whatever age he is he is still growing a year later. (The folks that fed and tamed him from feral called him Sam because at first they couldn't get close enough to tell if he was tom or queen and figured Sam fit either. We of course had to have a fantasy-related name for him and extended it to Samwise He's an orange tabby with white chest and four white feet and a blaze of white up his nose almost identical to the one Moonchild has, strangely enough. Samwise is still skittish but once he's sure you're not going to eat him or anything he's very affectionate. He has the most gorgeous pale sea-green eyes I've ever seen on a cat.

I could tell the stories of the many other rescues but this is getting long. This thread dragged me out of lurking, have used eqtraders for 3+ years now and never read the boards before. Thanks for the wonderful resource!

Sonja
aka: (on The Nameless)
Sweetleef Fairyboots 51 wanderer
Gammage 36 cat shammy (named from an Andre Norton novel about cats in the far future! "Breed to Come")
Lapidaria 27 enchanter
and lots more on Nameless and other servers.

methinks I need to make a sig

[Vdalin]

The cat that owns my family came to us by luck and change. Early winter, and my sister some how convinces the school bus driver that this stray cat should be allowed on the bus so she could take it home. It had already snowed once by then, so she thought the cat would not be able to survive on it's own. 1 year old, maybe, black and orange and a few white spots. She brought it home, gave it a bath, and convinced it to nibble on sandwhich meats.

Now, we couldn't keep it. Dad is very allergic, and told her to find the cat a good home. Too bad he didn't tell the cat this news. Years later, she has adopted a few neighbors as her owners as well, and has taught people that they must stop their cars at all points in the road where she might want to cross. She's never been hit by a car, a friends dog will chase her out of the street just in time. She's earned her name Lucky, even if my baby sister thought it was just because she rescued her from an early snow.

[Drakane]

...

Figured I'd start out my posting career on a good side here.

I, too, am a cat lover. I have 4 at home (2 kittens, 2 full-grown) and although they are a handful, my biggest concern for them is splitting my affection evenly between them. ops:

[eqgilethan]

Great story Denmom! Honestly, you did all you could and bless you for what you did accomplish. Too many people wouldn't have done half as much.

I have a happy one from about 10 years ago. One late night I had the urge to go outside for a breath of fresh air and upon doing so, heard a faint mewling coming from near the cars in the driveway. I sat down and started softly calling in that direction and was rewarded with a loud purring, but honestly didn't see the kitten even after he brushed up against my hand. Carrying him to the light I could see he was a coal black male, seemed well fed, but obviously lost. Having no other animals at the time (rare for me) I kept him. Well, the best came about a month later. I had him out on the front porch with me, enjoying an evening when two young women appeared walking up the street. Now, Morpheus, as I'd named him, had always been friendly toward people, but this was different. He heard their voices first, perked up, and upon spotting them tore out across the yard at them. The woman who saw him first went wide eyed and even looked a bit startled at first but cried 'Oh my God! Where have you been!'. Turned out he had slipped out of their house up the hill from me one night (probably the same night I found him) and just disappeared. With the number of stray dogs around here (as well as pet dogs. My current cat Sheba was rescued from the jaws of the neighbors Rottwielder thankfully unharmed) I doubt he'd have lasted long. So, off he went back to his first home with me a bit sad to see him go, but happy about seeing them get him back. I was certainly happy about his reaction, he was purring up a storm as they carried him off.

Gilethan 62nd Druid of Lanys T'Vyl
of much baking, brewing, and tailoring and therefore a wee bit short on sanity