just a cat

Would you mind if we turned your thread into the cats on cars thread in his tribute?

VolvoHeretic said:

Would you mind if we turned your thread into the cats on cars thread in his tribute?

Given what has already been shared here and the ambiguity of the title, I'd be happy to see the thread go on.

Thanks, where should I begin...In tribute to G-Man,.. when I was a mear lad,  I told my mom that I was sick of gold fish for a pet and that I wanted something better, and she said, "You can have any pet you want as long as it doesn't have fur or feathers." Our local drug store had an aquarium section and I showed up with Wally, the 12" alligator, I sure showed her... lol. Fast forward, 10 years or so later, I pulled into my driveway in my 68 Firebird and as I was getting out of my car, I heard this faint meowing coming out from under my car. Low and behold , there was this 8 month old kitten hanging on for dear life off of the rear axle, I think that I named him Chevy.

Jon,

Sorry for your loss.  I had to put my old cat Riley down two and a half years ago, she was 18, so lived a decent life.  She used to keep me company in the garage. A fond memory of her was when I was building my Lotus 7 clone, she saw me under the rear axle and decided that she should come sit on my chest and fall asleep.  I can't recall how long she stayed on me, but I recall I didn't get much done that day.  

About a year later, Moira came into my life.  She's not an outdoor cat and doesn't really hang out in the garage, but she does enjoy going for car rides:

She's been to a few Cars and Coffee, but for some reason doesn't like American V8's, and prefers Porsches over Lotus and MG's.  

In addition to the three we have indoors, SWMBO thinks we ought to feed the neighbor's cat as well.  Since he gets fed in the driveway, that apparently makes the driveway and garage an extension of his property and fair game for napping.

Then, the cat across the street figured out the game.  Now he greets me with a subdued and polite scream of "FEED ME, SEYMOUR!" when I get home..

Working together, there's no clear coat that is safe in our driveway....

Sorry to hear this, there is no such thing as "just an X" in my view.

This little guy joined us via car. Janel was driving to the gym at 5:30 am and saw a tiny black kitten under a bush by the side of the road. She has excellent kitty radar. She turned around and he was sitting in the middle of the road. A chase ensued and she captured him and wrapped him up in her jacket, then drove him home. So his first moments with us were in a car. He's not such a big fan of them now because the last time he went for a car ride important parts got left at the vet's office. 

Following our theme of cats named after F1 world champions, meet Lewis Hamilton. He is shown here demanding attention because he is easily bored. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Reminds me of our little black cat - Reginald Eustace Cumberbatch III, Vicar of Dorcester. Except he's more quietly calm about insisting on attention.

Here he is as a scrawny little thing after we brought him home from the shelter:

He is a sweetheart. We're pretty certain he is the only one in the house who knows what they are doing.

We were running late, getting ready to head to my grandson's 11th birthday party. I went out to the fenced yard to bring the dogs in. Kevin, our Dachshund was proudly trotting down the street to our gate with something black in his mouth. I felt dread. He had brought me a dead kitten a year ago, but he had obviously not been the killer - it had been torn by talons and when Kevin kills a creature (mouse or mole) it is a quick bite and shake, no shred. He calmly, gently released the kitten to me at the gate.

It was limp for a second,  then had one soft cough. Looked up at me, then claws came out and it attempted escape. I calmed it and it quickly nuzzled into my arm.

He or she is in a box with a blanket. My wife named it Pepper. I am at Pet Sense waiting in my car and the store just opened. More later....

Wow, I generally don't believe in fate, but this seems like a sign.

It seems that Kevin is requesting that you have a kitten. Good luck Pepper!

Wow, he looks almost identical to one of the kittens my son rescued from work!

As found 4/7 inside of a truck wheel. The mom took the other 3, so the were squawking all day and he couldnt bear to cone in and see them dead the next morning.

We didnt think the orange guy was going to make for the first week or so.  This was last week:

Earlier this week.  they have converted the dog's crate into their Kitten Fight Club Cage Match Arena.. 

They'll be going to their forever home with my parents this weekend.  It was a huge amount of work, but they're a blast to have around now.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

Beautiful.

'Pepper' is doing well still, but does some sneezing from time to time and is difficult to feed so far. I think She is a she and is about three weeks old. Tomorrow morning we will bring her to see Bill, our vet.

I have heard that there is a national shortage of Baby Formula right now. That doesn't seem to be the case with kitten formula and at $55 for one can of formula and some bottles, I don't think that the stock will run out any time soon. This one can should be enough to get her onto soft food.

Before going to get the food, I searched for the mother cat and any more kittens. None found, but I did see a large hawk (likely a Red Shouldered Hawk) riding the thermals above the back yard. Hawks gotta eat too, but I'm glad it didn't have kitten for breakfast this morning.

I went to the birthday party, an hour drive away, and Mrs AAZCD stayed at home. By the time I got back Mrs AAZCD had renamed Pepper, 'Moses', then 'Misu' and had identified her most likely female. I'm not committing to any more renaming until after Bill gives her a check-up, but I'm tending towards 'Mosey'. She's had a good bath with pet-wipes and occasionally shows some energy and curiosity about the aliens that have abducted her. Mostly she curls up in the blankets and sleeps.

Im thinking she is a bit older like 5-6 weeks based on the children's development? When they arrived their ears were pretty small. This was 4/17 so maybe 3-4 weeks.

Live pic of Leo in the habitat, ears look abit bigger than Pepper's ears so my SWAG is 5ish (?) Its been preety amazing watching them develop the past few weeks. Their fight club has gone vertical the past two days, and they've been much more interested in toys as well as the other cats and Percy the dog.

Edit: Kevin needs extra treats and snuggles for being an awesome foster dad!  Ive put this up before, but Orion the greyhound loved kittens... Kevin is channeling him.

Dammit, it's still dusty in here.  Happy endings....

I'm not going to turn this into a build thread for a cat, but here's an update. Her name seems settled now as Miso. Dr Bill confirmed what XLR99 said about age, she is probably near six weeks now, malnourished, but generally healthy. He gave us some special canned food and recommended using goat's milk for another couple weeks to build her up. No more 'Kitten Formula'.  We noticed in our pictures that her eyes were runny and crusty. Mrs AAZCD gave her a good eye wash.

We have four dogs and they all have adjusted to their new cat. I still supervise them closely when they are together with her, but there is no sign of predator/prey or hostility. Kevin runs to check on her when she wakes up meowing and I did have to stop him once from trying to pick her up, but only once. I think that she may grow up socially as a dog more than cat.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

The best cat my family ever had was raised by our golden retriever.  He was pretty much a dog in a cat's body.

It looks like Miso has improved greatly since you found her. Good job. 

What a difference a few days have made. At first she could barely walk and only ate if we put food in her mouth with a syringe. Now she is chasing the dogs, eating canned food on her own, and totally using a litter box.

Love those blue eyes on a black cat. They're fun at this age, completely nuts.

BTW, this is the best cat toy we've ever used. Lewis Hamilton loves to chase them and fetch them and play goalie with them. They're light and fast and unpredictable and cheap at about 15 cents each.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XD9CMZ8?psc=1

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

She is awesome!

It's been a long time since a thread took this kind of turn. The Fiata and the Unicorn are about the only ones that come to mind, and this one went the better direction.

Never just a cat.

This is the latest addition, she was a barn cat where my wife works and was getting badly mauled by something on the property. 

Wife unit patched her up and dragged her home. She's so cuddly you would never think she was a barn cat.

I'm no longer allowed to sit or lie down alone. 

This is Em, purring and drooling.

In reply to ShawnG :

Drool makes the biscuits better.