just a cat

This is a rare moment of morning Zen with our three boys. Lenny Bruce Lee Ninja Troublemaker (Black Bombay) was adopted almost 9 years ago when my uncle passed away unexpectedly. He also answers to Lenny, Boo Boo, or E36 M3head. Where he used to be a feisty boy, he has now turned into a middle-age Dad bod.

Mr. Bones (Brown Tabby) is the old man of the house. We found him drinking water out of my parent's pool in 2018. He was a thin, ratty-looking hot mess. We showed him how good the indoor life could be and while he is not a lap cat, he will come by for copious amounts of chin love. He is often called Mr. B, Butt Butt, Cranky Pants, The most handsome man in the house, or tall drink of water.

Louis (Tuxedo) is a current guest in the house. His owner needed to move home with her parents who had a new puppy that tormented him. We're boarding him until that changes. He's the kid in the house and is wearing Lenny out (a good thing). Louie, Louiekins, Lou Lou, or Fuzzy Potato has never had siblings so he is having good fun with his new brothers/uncles. We jokingly call him Cousin Oliver after the character of the same name from the Brady Bunch.

hobiercr said:

In reply to ShawnG :

Drool makes the biscuits better.

I am totally stealing that.

This thread has made me miss my garage cat, Leo, we lost him after 19 years this February. He loved to hang out int he garage when we were working on cars, grinding, welding, loud noises didn't bother him as long as he was hanging out with the guys. If we didn't bring him out he would go tot the corner or our patio and meow loudly wanting to be a part of the group. 

After discovering, feeding, and rescuing 2 different feral cats over the last few years during the winter, and finding another one last winter, I decided to build an insulated and heated feral cat house. Two nesting totes from Menards, R-11 friction fit fiber glass insulation, and a rabbit heating pad from Chewy.com. The latest guy is a shaggy older cat that I can barely catch a glimpse of let alone get any pictures of, but he comes around every night for some cat food I put inside the house. Mr cat won't move into his new home and prefers to live down the alley in a neighbors junk wood pile. 

You can't see it but I covered the gap between the holes of the two totes with guerilla tape and covered the opening with a doubled up towel. It is quite warm even at -20F. I also built one for my daughter in law.

"Luke", lookin like he's had enough of today's crap.

this could really be in either thread, but these are cats and this is the cat thread. Two of my three being absolutely adorable after a week away. Not pictured, the small one- probably causing some sort of mayhem somewhere. Or sleeping in the cat scratcher house. 

Our time with the children is coming to an end. They had their last cage match in Percy's crate.  They're getting acclimated to their forever dog and will be leaving in the morning to head for their foever home. 

Kirby the 6 million dollar cat has been starting to hang out with them, so probably best rhe move on now before he transfers all of his accumulated bad habits on to them.

He does like kittens, maybe he remembers that he was once a foundling as well..

The children on the big road trip, somewhere in central PA

Sorry to hear about your loss. It's never easy. My condolences. 

My better half and I work with a rescue. We also took in 6 more kittens that needed a home as a foster, and we have another guy we are rehabbing, that we took in as an injury.  That's in addition to our 3 permanent dogs and 3 permanent cats.

This guy is Stirling (Moss).

This little rowdy guy is Colin McRae. 

And here's the rest. In no particular order...we have...

Tommi Mäkinen, Walter Röhrl, Jackie Stewart and our females are Sabine Schmitz and Michèle Mouton. 

Nice naming :)

Our vet thinks our cat "Jenson Button" has a super cute name. We haven't explained.

Sing to the tune of "Wasted Time"

I could have done so many things, baby

if I could only move my cat!

"I could have done so many things, baby

if I could only move my cat!"

This only gets me the stink eye from SWMBO when Crackers happens to be in the exact same position

Keith Tanner said:

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

We got her a 15 pack of them and she is mildly curious about them, but prefers to attack my hand when I roll them towards her. Right now her favorite toy is Kevin's best buddy Skippy (who was alongside Kevin when he brought Miso home).

Skippy looks like he may have some regrets. 

Try throwing them, they're fun to chase. 

Miso is doing great. During the first week she needed hand feeding and there were times that we weren't sure that she was going to make it. Now she is a full-on playful happy kitten. She totally owns the dogs, continues to favor Skippy for play, but loves the springs now too.

For naps, she prefers Lilo.

Kevin still watches over her, but he's not a 'player' like Skippy and now keeps a little distance except when they nap.

This is my pal Drax. He says, there are no "just cats". You get outta them what you give 'em, just like so may other things..

The setting is almost always ruined the second I bring a camera, but here's what's going on now: Miso has advanced to the 'Dog Boss' level.

My wife took this picture of one of our barn kittens yesterday. 
 

This is The Goblin. She can really pose for the camera. 
 

Goblin is one pretty cat.

Sebastian Vittles has had about enough of Lewis Hamilton's yapping and would like moar cats, plz

I had never heard of Feline Vestibular Syndrome until this week. Wednesday morning Miso could not walk more than a few steps without going sideways or falling over. At first we thought she was injured, but there were no signs of pain. Worried it was serious, we brought her to the vet. Almost immediately he noticed her eyes rapidly darting side to side and gave the diagnosis saying that she would most likely fully recover in a few days. Now, Saturday evening she is almost back to normal except for her head still listing slightly to one side. She's an awesome little kitten and it was hard to see her having so much trouble.

Miso with her boys:

Napping with Kevin.

Sharing secrets with Skippy.

I came home from work one day, and there was a little black kitten on the floor of the living room. At the time, we were between cats. I was informed that she had been in the crawlspace under the house, crying. My wife heard her and opened the door to let her out. When she came out into the daylight, she blinked at my wife who responded, "Where did you come from, sweetie?"

The kids were there, and immediately latched onto that as her name. So, then I come home and I figure that I'm going to take a peek at her teeth and try and figure out how old she is. She immediately went into DEFCON one.

Her official name is Sweetie Slasher.

When we got her spayed, company policy at the time was to not allow us to work on our own pets. One of the other doctors did the surgery, and I warned them to wake her up in her carrier, not to put her back in a cage. No one in their right mind was going to put their hands in there after she recovered.

Fortunately, my wife worked about a mile away, so she could get her out of the cage and into her carrier again. 
 

She's actually a nice cat to live with, but she's always on the alert for danger.

One of my classmates from vet school is a board-certified behavior specialist. The first paper she published demonstrated that cats get their personality from their father. There's been a feral tuxedo tomcat roaming this neighborhood for the 10 years we've lived here, and he's like a ghost. Very feral, and whenever there's a litter of kittens in the neighborhood, they look like him. I'm sure there's a connection there.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

That would have been a scary situation, I'm glad to hear Miso is on the mend.

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

I have to say that I find the term "feral tuxedo tomcat" pretty amusing. Sweetie Slasher has that aristocratic look that my wife just loves in a black cat.

Goblin with her cousin/bunk mate Orla out in the jungle of the fence row. 
 

They weren't supposed to be pets, just barn cats. Total fail on that account. I spend a lot of time carrying Orla around when I'm at the barn-- pretty sure she has me doing it so I'll feel more secure walking out across the horse pasture. 
 

Also, not possible to get them both to look at me at the same time. 

I have seen three. They are very alert and reclusive. Miso's former family.

Black Eye is the mother.?

Black Ear and tree Miso are her siblings.

A month ago I almost captured tree Miso. A can of food and a pet carrier. When I advanced, it alerted and moved too fast. Lost in the brush. I have only seen it once since - at dawn darting across the street with the other two.

I put food out for them a few times a week to supplement their diet. I wasn't sure that it was them leaving the bowl empty in the mornings until I observed Black Ear in overwatch and Black Eye running away from the bowl as I approached. 

Sightings are rare. I have to walk softly and see them from about 50 yards away. Easy to go a week or two without seeing them, but I'm pretty sure they watch me.

I have four dogs and two cats. I'm not taking in any more strays. I am inspired to provide some care, but still count them as wild creatures. I talked with our vet and we decided that the best I can do is to eventually trap them to have them spayed and neutered and released back to their habitat if there is no home for them.