I'm very relieved that Introductions has been introduced to this forum - thank you! I searched in vain for something like it when I first joined. I'm just learning (I'm an old dog, so it will take a while) to use images and hope to post some pictures of my cats soon.
There was a time when I had 13 but now I have 7 and, given the behavior problems we are dealing with, I want to stay at that number. They are:
Ginger, 20 in June, last of my first feral litter, deaf but otherwise healthy (she's my avatar at present). Sits on the end of the bed and SHOUTS at me when I'm on the computer because she wants me in bed and fussing her.
Macduff, about 15, an adult feral when I scooped him inside. My vet's office still has the gouge marks on their plaster wall from when I took him in for his first appointment! He has long golden red fur and adores having his tummy rubbed. I can even put my face into his tum now. An incredibly loving and gentle cat who never tried to bite me even when first wrestled into a cat carrier.
NewCat (I MUST name her properly soon), probably in her teens, adopted as a Senior from Purrfect Pals last year when her caregiver became too mentally ill to take care of her. Siamese. Independent but loves attention. Very fond of high-speed cat laps. Reacts with fear to raised voice, perhaps echoes of the past.
Big Ted, 12 in April, last of a foster litter whose mother had died and who the shelter couldn't take care of since they were only 3 weeks old. Later, two tested FeLV positive. Roo, the runt and always weak and sick though with an intense desire for life, died at 8 months. Sesat died just before she turned 7 years and nearly broke my heart. Ted is, of course, large, a real silly softie who loves to lie in my arms and prefers to be stroked on his tummy rather than his back or head - so either he goes on the bed or I lie on the floor. He sprayed a lot when I first adopted her, a behavior he's been prone to since his sister died, but now he keeps trying to befriend NewCat who ignores him. Ted has had multiple health problems over the years. He has one functioning kidney but the ureter and part of the kidney does show calcification and he gets UTI's quite often. He's just been diagnosed with a minor heart murmur also.
Taranis, 5, grey and chunky, adopted 3 years ago from the Humane Society and a really difficult cat. She was taken in as a stray kitten by a guy that passed her on to his mother when he moved state. The mother brought her to the shelter because Taranis (Josephine then) bit and scratched when children played with her. She was adopted to a large family who returned her when she bit and scratched children when they played with her and started peeing out of the box. Even when her UTI cleared up, she still peed in the sink, on furniture, blankets etc. But I couldn't take her back to the shelter, she's pretty much unadoptable. She comes after me for attention and then growls and turns on me when I give it - no matter where on her body, stroking, massaging, scratching, nothing is to her liking. The only thing she loves to do with me is sit under my knees with a blanket over us. She's now on Clomicalm and, amazingly, tilts her head back for me when it's time to pill her. I really, really like her but I wish I could read her better.
LOS (Limb of Satan), 3, totally black with round eyes, adopted at the same time as Taranis. Small, and looking and sounding terrified, she's actually hell on wheels and dominates the downstairs cats - Macduff, Taranis and Tom. I'm in the process of introducing her upstairs, now that I have lost 4 of my upstairs cats over the past few years, and she loves the extra attention. Funnily enough, she's terrified of Ginger who did give her a good pasting when she first saw her upstairs. It was like watching great-granny wacking an adoloscent.
Tom (must come up with a better name for him), about 3, a stray that I found snatching at food I'd put out for a neighbor's cat because they'd gone away on vacation leaving him outside. The way Tom snatched and gulped at the food, his torn up ears, ragged coat, oversized head, skinny body, told it's tale. I was going to wait until he got comfortable with me stroking him before I scooped him up but when he turned up more torn up that ever, I trapped him. Now he's big and glossy, though his ears will always be scarred. He's hilarious, trotting around with his back legs splaying out as he runs, and he's just getting used to really enjoying lap time. Although the young, strong male, he's not dominant and I think that's why he sprays. Not much at this point, but I may have to put him on Clomicalm also.
If you have read all through this long post, thank you for taking the time.
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Huney, Bon & Simba-missed so very much
Originally Posted by jenluckenbach
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