Special girl!
Aug. 8th, 2005 06:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sugarplumkittyIt's so funny how cats seem to unfold their personalities over the years. Miss Cactus was feral when I caught her at about 6 weeks of age. She tamed pretty quickly, especially since we had to keep her indoors until her medicine was finished. Poor little thing was at death's door from upper respiratory and eye infections. We didn't take any pictures of her until she was allowed out of the bathroom and that wasn't until her eye had cleared up.
My Boo cat was her substitute mama. He was a neutered male who had been "tom-catting" around before he found me and had his surgery. Until we moved in with Eric, Lee-Roy and little Scamperdoo, a rescue from our dating days. Boo went where he pleased and disappeared for days during mating season, even though his equipment was broken. Poor guy! lol
He bonded with Scamperdoo right away, having all the charms of a gentleman cat Lee-Roy had never acquired since he'd been neutered while quite young. After a five-year incarceration with repeated jail breaks, sometimes working in tandem with "the Brain" of the house (Lee-Roy) to defeat screen latches and the like, he convinced his jailers that he HAD to go outside to be happy and then he taught the other two the joys and dangers of the outside world. It was a calculated risk because we live in a "dead-end" neighborhood where there is very little traffic.
It was a couple of years after this that he brought a very sick little kitten to my attention, meowing at me and leading me to her. He knew I would help her, and I did. I set her up in Boo's medium sized carrier. She was so tiny I was able to include a little potty box, a bed and food and water. We had just given away a troublesome rescue who never should have been around other cats, because she hated other cats with a passion. Eric had stated, "NO MORE CATS!" so I was apprehensive about his reaction when I woke him with the news that I had rescued a kitten who needed a vet. Silly me, he sat up in bed and said whimsically, "OOOH, let me see!" and he peeked in at her and said, "Awwww."
We got her healthy and Boo finished teaching her everything she needed to know. One of the first things he did was to catch a sparrow for her. That was quickly taken away and scolding happened. He knew it was forbidden, but he was willing to take the heat to bring her food she was used to. She was his little shadow. She copied him in everything he did. When he got sick three years later, she stayed by his side instead of playing wildly with Lee-Roy as she usually did. Two days before he died, she caught a sparrow for him. She hasn't caught any other birds that I know of. I didn't scold her very much, because I knew where it was coming from. She desperately wanted him to eat something and keep it down. She grieved for months after he died, moving into his spot on the bed so I could fall asleep with my hand on fur. Then she attached to Lee-Roy and copied everything he did. She got closer and closer to me, verbalizing "mem" when she came up for loves. When she looked at Eric, she'd trill a deep chesty trill at him. Those seem to be her sounds for us. All on her own, instead of bumping noses with me for kisses, she noticed I bump my mouth on her and she started bumping her mouth on mine. Isn't that sweet? I don't mind so much unless she's drooling or tries to lick my lips, then it's Yeeeech! No Frenching!
A few years ago, she started coming up with unique behaviors of her own. Over several months, some neighbor lost an entire bag of long thin balloons clowns use to make balloon animals. We weren't sure which cat was bringing them at first, until we heard Miss Cactus caterwauling over one. Then used latex gloves began to appear. Saturday night, she was carrying on under the bedroom window for the longest time. It woke me up but I was too sleepy to see what she was going on about. Eric came to bed about then and commented, she's probably killed another latex glove. Sure enough, I looked the next morning and a dead latex glove was lying beneath our window. LOL
This morning I was very surprised when ten minutes after my alarm should have gone off (I forgot to set it), she jumped up on the bed and walked onto my chest with determination while meowing loudly. Lee-Roy has always been the alarm clock cat. Now Miss Cactus has learned the schedule. There was no indication that this was a Monday. She lets me sleep on the weekends. Somehow she has learned that I need to get up around 6AM on Mondays! I've only been working for a month after a year and a half of unemployment and she's already up on my schedule! She knows what day and time it is!
Wow! What a smart cat! She's 8 years old. I wonder what is in store for us as she ages?
My Boo cat was her substitute mama. He was a neutered male who had been "tom-catting" around before he found me and had his surgery. Until we moved in with Eric, Lee-Roy and little Scamperdoo, a rescue from our dating days. Boo went where he pleased and disappeared for days during mating season, even though his equipment was broken. Poor guy! lol
He bonded with Scamperdoo right away, having all the charms of a gentleman cat Lee-Roy had never acquired since he'd been neutered while quite young. After a five-year incarceration with repeated jail breaks, sometimes working in tandem with "the Brain" of the house (Lee-Roy) to defeat screen latches and the like, he convinced his jailers that he HAD to go outside to be happy and then he taught the other two the joys and dangers of the outside world. It was a calculated risk because we live in a "dead-end" neighborhood where there is very little traffic.
It was a couple of years after this that he brought a very sick little kitten to my attention, meowing at me and leading me to her. He knew I would help her, and I did. I set her up in Boo's medium sized carrier. She was so tiny I was able to include a little potty box, a bed and food and water. We had just given away a troublesome rescue who never should have been around other cats, because she hated other cats with a passion. Eric had stated, "NO MORE CATS!" so I was apprehensive about his reaction when I woke him with the news that I had rescued a kitten who needed a vet. Silly me, he sat up in bed and said whimsically, "OOOH, let me see!" and he peeked in at her and said, "Awwww."
We got her healthy and Boo finished teaching her everything she needed to know. One of the first things he did was to catch a sparrow for her. That was quickly taken away and scolding happened. He knew it was forbidden, but he was willing to take the heat to bring her food she was used to. She was his little shadow. She copied him in everything he did. When he got sick three years later, she stayed by his side instead of playing wildly with Lee-Roy as she usually did. Two days before he died, she caught a sparrow for him. She hasn't caught any other birds that I know of. I didn't scold her very much, because I knew where it was coming from. She desperately wanted him to eat something and keep it down. She grieved for months after he died, moving into his spot on the bed so I could fall asleep with my hand on fur. Then she attached to Lee-Roy and copied everything he did. She got closer and closer to me, verbalizing "mem" when she came up for loves. When she looked at Eric, she'd trill a deep chesty trill at him. Those seem to be her sounds for us. All on her own, instead of bumping noses with me for kisses, she noticed I bump my mouth on her and she started bumping her mouth on mine. Isn't that sweet? I don't mind so much unless she's drooling or tries to lick my lips, then it's Yeeeech! No Frenching!
A few years ago, she started coming up with unique behaviors of her own. Over several months, some neighbor lost an entire bag of long thin balloons clowns use to make balloon animals. We weren't sure which cat was bringing them at first, until we heard Miss Cactus caterwauling over one. Then used latex gloves began to appear. Saturday night, she was carrying on under the bedroom window for the longest time. It woke me up but I was too sleepy to see what she was going on about. Eric came to bed about then and commented, she's probably killed another latex glove. Sure enough, I looked the next morning and a dead latex glove was lying beneath our window. LOL
This morning I was very surprised when ten minutes after my alarm should have gone off (I forgot to set it), she jumped up on the bed and walked onto my chest with determination while meowing loudly. Lee-Roy has always been the alarm clock cat. Now Miss Cactus has learned the schedule. There was no indication that this was a Monday. She lets me sleep on the weekends. Somehow she has learned that I need to get up around 6AM on Mondays! I've only been working for a month after a year and a half of unemployment and she's already up on my schedule! She knows what day and time it is!
Wow! What a smart cat! She's 8 years old. I wonder what is in store for us as she ages?
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Cactus loves Daddy |
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Cactus on my elbow |
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Date: 2005-08-08 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:56 am (UTC)Now he says Mocha would fit her better, but she can be cranky so Cactus still fits sometimes. :)
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Date: 2005-08-11 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:13 pm (UTC)i think you have to have loved a few cats in your lifetime to really understand what you mean. i too am watching my cats grow up around me, their little quirks, their uniqueness.
<3
no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:31 pm (UTC)Thnx for sharing
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Date: 2005-08-08 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 03:11 am (UTC)jack is our oldest cat....he is 2....(both our cats are orange tabbies)....and jack was the only one of his kind in the tank at the humane society....and was sound asleep....funny because the other cats were "working" the window tank....trying to get people to adopt them....not jack...."if you want to adopt me....you can pick me....i'm going to lay here and nap !"
it breaks my heart....but jack was marked as "aggressive"....if he hadn't gotten adopted....he would have been put down in 24 hours. we snatched him up right away....and i swear to you....it seems as if he had lived in our house forever....he is an amazing companion....i just can't tell you what a blessing he is.
i got a job....and it broke my heart to watch jack looking at me out the window....when i'd return in the evening....he'd be there (i'm sure, i know....he wasn't there the whole time....but it FELT like it)....so we got miles....as a 5 week old kitten....and they're the BEST of friends.
and my husband....who was a dog person....is now a cat person also. we are SO enamoured by them both. *sigh*..........ahhhhhhhh kitten love !
no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 01:45 pm (UTC)