Sad News

About noon today, Thursday, June 30th, our little Sadie was run over. Words can’t express the loss and the emptiness that pervades this house, our lives and our hearts. When we have recovered enough (one never recovers fully from these kinds of losses) we will tell the whole amazing story of her amazing life, though it’s ended far too early.

Who are these people…?

What?! Who…?! Why are all these strangers coming into our house? Mommy and Daddy are saying “relax..they’re from the Housing Dept, here to check on some complaints the upstairs neighbors made”….

Well, we don’t care why they’re here….we don’t recognize any of them.  And first they send over one guy, then two more a few hours later..then the same thing happens the next day..then two days later?!!  No no no….we don’t like this.  We don’t like this one bit.  So here’s the plan: Bob is going to freeze up, go completely stiff..then look around as if a bomb is about to explode, then take the shortest route to anywhere else…like under the sink as seen here:  

Dopey will stay on his cat tree perch and try and sneeze on them as they pass by…

 

Sadie will catch their eyes then yell at them, swiping at their clothing as they come near…

Huxley will jump up, hit the floor in a panic and jump out the window….ooops, gotta wait it for it to open…ow, my nose…c’mon..someone..mommy, daddy..OPEN THE DA…ok, thanks..bye…be back hours and hours later…here he is getting ready to make a break for it! 

Lola will chirp and chirp, and hope that they will make the obvious translation: “play with me” and follow through..but they’re working, sweetie…they don’t have time to play…

Mr. Magoo will sidle right up and try to get some scratchin action from them…

Jazzy and Hennessey are nowhere to be found..as usual…they’ll be by later for some nourishment…

Addie and JoJo will continue to sleep undisturbed.  If there’s a fire (and only if it’s one of those raging, out of control, gettin’ real close fires), a black hole forming or an F4 or bigger tornado coming, we can try to wake them, otherwise, they can’t be bothered.

Here they are wondering what all the fuss is about! (Addie’s on the left..u can tell by the white on her chin)

And that’s pretty much the “action” at Chez Feline Family!

Some Funny Pics of Bob Just for the Fun of It (which is why we’re here!)!!

 

 

 

This just in….warm weather wreaks havoc with kitty kat attendance

 Summer’s here and the time is right…for disappearing!! Hours on end!!  Every night it seems one of us is asking the other: “have you seen Jazzy?” or “when’s the last time you saw Hennessey?”  Since the weather pulled its dramatic 360 about a week ago, shifting from winter to mid-summer pretty much overnight, (most of) our little furry ones are taking advantage. They head out and stay out at every chance. 

There are still a few homebodies…Lola stays close.  So does Bob – but that’s for the food. Huxley doesn’t wander too far, but that’s because he needs to be picked up and talked to like a baby every two hours or so.  Otherwise, let’s see, yesterday it was Hennessey, who popped in once at 8 am and then managed to stay away for another twelve-plus hours!  She finally hopped in when it was dark, grabbed a few mouthfuls of crunchies, then out the window she went again!

The day before that we lost track of TWO of the brood: Mr. Magoo was nowhere to be found, but we couldn’t help but laugh when he appeared not from outside but from under the bed!!  Addie was another story.  We had just about convinced ourselves she must be under the bed too.  But soon we were just about out of our minds with worry after checking there over and over and taking a few quick trips around the neighborhood to no avail.  Then, BOOM! suddenly, she appeared like a horse clearing a steeplechase as she leapt gracefully through the window, meowing and running to both of us for some mushing, finally making her way to some much needed food.  What had happened? Was she trapped in someone’s house? She’d been gone for over twelve hours.

Once it gets dark, Bob likes to go out for a few hours later at night.  He especially likes to go out the back door of our building. There’s a deck and small garden.  Bob likes to cross the deck and stop just before the steps down to the garden. He stops, looks around and then plops down for a rest!  An hour or so later, he’s sitting in the little front yard, watching life go by, enjoying the breeze (if there is one!).  Generally, the cats go in and out through the window into our front room.  Not Bob, though…if he can help it.  He waits, hoping one of us, (it’s usually Scott), opens the front door and he can saunter in, pride in tact. He much prefers this to hauling himself up and scrambling in the window, a maneuver which is rather humiliating and strips poor Bob of all grace and elegance. Bob only takes these little trips outside in the warm weather.  Fall and Winter finds Bob inside, the closest to the outdoors he gets  is staring out the window!

Mr. Magoo….we love you…

 We thought we’d introduce you to one of our “unsung” l’il guys…Mr. Magoo.  He came to us completely by accident, and wasn’t even meant to stay.   It happened about three years ago.  We received a call from a friend/colleauge at an animal rescue site, informing us there was a fire at a nearby apartment.  The old lady who lived there was put out, unable to take care of her cat.  Would we mind fostering him?  Well, at this point, I think we had “only” six or seven, so we said “why not?” and took him in.

    Later the next day, a young man came by with a cat carrier and opened it up.  A thin but otherwise healthy looking tabby came out, looked around, and immediately made himself a home in the corner of the bathttub!  It was pretty apparent he was scared, reluctant to come out even to eat.  We were told his name was “Sleepy”, but we soon learned that was a HUGE misnomer.  More on that later. Still, we didn’t like Sleepy so we called him Eliot for the moment.

    Scared and confused, it was only a few days later the poor guy escaped. We stayed one step behind, last hearing Eliot was spotted in a neighbors’ stairwell.  Where said neighbor promptly soaked the cat with a bucket of water.  Nice, eh?  What a jerk.  Eventually we were sadly resigned to the fact Eliot was gone and wasn’t coming ba…oh wait, here he is!  Seriously, he came back and was like a new cat, as though he’d realized after only a few days he had it pretty good here, and better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

     We bandied about a few names for our new tabby, because Sleepy just wasn’t gonna cut it and Eliot just didn’t fit. Especially when he was one of the most playful cats we ever knew.  He never missed an opportunity to chase a string or watch the birds out the window.  We figured he must have had nothing to do at his previous address, so maybe all he did was sleep.   So once we tossed those names out, we focused on his most obvious physical characteristic.  His big, super crossed eyes!!  Mr. Magoo just seemed like a natural fit after that.  And he’s so sweet.   An absolute love who can’t get enough of Amy’s lap or my back if I’m laying on me tum-tum.   And he has a wonderful little “inside” meow that sounds like a pigeon cooing. I’m sure many of you have cats that make those kinds of sounds rather than outright meowing. Mr. Magoo makes his sound a lot and sometimes he’s quite loud and goes on cooing and trilling for a long time…especially in the middle of the night when we’re trying to sleep!

 He’s also become quite sociable with the other cats, especially Lola.  Many nights find him and Lola cleaning each other on the bed in the space between my legs.  And it’s all nice nice until cleaning time turns to play time, then all of a sudden my legs have become a wresting mat!  But seeing as Mr. Magoo is really the only cat who can come close to matching Lola’s energy, we’re not about to let things end a moment before they need to, giving them every opportunity to tucker themselves out!

Of course, no cat is “normal”, and Mr. Magoo is no exception. We got him fixed years ago, but he still, on an almost daily basis, has “relations” with one of the little decorative blankets we keep on the bed. It’s kind of funny, really, as his little body moves in circles, his hips thrusting with spastic intensity!  It’s a little weird and funny as all get out, and we have no idea what makes him do it!

    Often I pass Mr. Magoo while he’s sleeping on one of the beds on our fireplace mantle and mutter “oh, to have all Mr. Magoo’s”.  He’s never fussy, never asks to be fed, just finds and eats what’s there and is happy to have it. With a few exceptions. If you’re eating potato chips or Doritos or drinking coffee or (heaven forbid) enjoying ice cream or anything chocolate, he’s on you like white on rice! Of course we don’t let him have any chocolate, but we occasionally indulge his sweet tooth with some vanilla ice cream. Mr. Magoo seems to have a real hankering for carbohydrates: he adores pancakes, won’t leave if there’s any pound cake in the vicinity and thinks there’s nothing better than a baked potato! It’s all he ever asks for, just a few carbs!  What it is about coffee that makes him try and stick his nose in our cups is just another one of those cat mysteries, we reckon!

It didn’t take long for us to realize Mr. Magoo was no foster cat. He was one of ours, no ifs ands or butts! He’s the most easy going, loving and quiet cat that you just might overlook him.  That’s why we make it a point not to.

Whatever Lola wants…

When I (finally) awoke this morning, (it is Saturday.  I might add I had a little “help” from the Mrs. as women require, by my informal studies, 25% less sleep than men), the first thing I saw was my little Lola looking at me from the floor next to my side of the bed.  Her look wasn’t so much one of sweetness or even a “feed me, daddy” kind of pleading. No, it was more “if I don’t get something to play with soon I’m going to explode like so much dynamite”.  I could’ve sworn she was shaking with energy.

For a few moments I was transported back in time, to when she was a truly tiny kitten, surrounded by three brothers.  She’s the only one of our cats that was born here and not rescued off the street.  (She carries on the memory of her dear mother, Betsy, who we lost way way waaay too soon, but that’s another story for another time).  The first few times their mother allowed them out from under the bed where they’d been born, Lola showed the most independence, drawn right away to the scratching post, which then towered over her.  Every outing saw her try to climb it, each time coming up short.  About a month later, as her siblings tried to get in on the act, she finally scaled it, reaching the summit first!!  She sat there a moment or two, surveying the world below from her new perspective, and just like that decided she was bored and lept off as if she’d been doing it every day!

At the time, we thought she was a wall flower, content to watch the boys go nuts.  But once the boys were adopted out to good homes, she allayed our fears that she’d be lonely and lost without them.   She EXPLODED with energy, playing with anything she could get her paws on, whether it existed or not!! She turned garbage pails into toys (see photo!).  She would look at me and plead with this heart-wrenching chirp to go downstairs where there’s lots more space and play with “the toy” (it used to be something, maybe a mouse or a bird, but it’s been  through so much and is so worn out we can’t really identify it anymore!

 For a while I truly believed she was keeping me young, but it’s been about a year now since the boys left and I’ve aged a decade.  Meanwhile she’s still bounding down the stairs if it looks even remotely like I might be heading down there! I don’t give in to her as much as I’d like, but I try to compromise. That involves a little $1 red laser light.  She watches me when I reach into my nightstand drawer and if her hopes and prayers are answered, I’m clutching it when I take my hand out.  Then she begins chirping, unable to contain her anticipation and excitement.  From there it’s “everybody clear the way” because Lola’s gonna be running around like the Energizer Bunny!   Another unique “Lola-ism” is when she’s not sure what to make of us, when we start cooing to her, she will tilt her head to the side, then bring it down degree by degree.  The angle will go from 45 degrees, to perpendicular to the ground, and eventually the right side of her face will be facing her leg!!  It’s adorable and a little werid in an Exorcist sort of way!

Since JoJo and Addie (“the girls”) have been added to the family, they have provided a feline outlet for Lola, not only giving her new playmates but helping her find her “inner cat”.  Before them all the cats pretty much kept to themselves, but after the girls were fixed, they came back all lovey dovey, cleaning themselves and other cats., So now there are these cleaning sessions with all kinds of combos:  Lola/JoJo, Addie/Lola, Lola/Mr. Magoo and so forth!  Bob even got in on the action the other day, giving Lola a few quick strokes of the tongue along her head and ears!  Bob!! Inconceivable!, to shamelessly steal  from the Princess Bride!

Lola’s always been small…and if you didn’t know any better you’d think she was still a kitten, but she’s amazingly healthy and hearty.  She’s definitely Mommy’s little girl as Amy still thinks of her as a kitten!!  I guess it’s because she was born here and is the only one from that family still living here.  She’s thin with long legs and all black fur, save for a small white patch just below her neck.  She doesn’t like to be held but loves all other forms of attention.  We’ve never seen a cat that goes from 0 to Mach 1 like her!  Our other cats seem to take time to wake up…they stretch, they seem to contemplate whether or not they actually want to “activate” (often they decide against it and just curl back up and close their eyes), but not her.  If we get up to go to another room, BOOM! she follows us (whether she’s doing something else or in the middle of a dead sleep) in case there’s something, anything, happening!  In conclusion here’s a few pics to show her flexibility and all around sweetness. We can’t wait to see how she’ll enrich our lives in the future!

THE RETURN OF SADIE…and who knows…maybe some sleep!

First off, we want to thank EVERYONE for their heartfelt comments and prayers.  Each one meant so much and we were very touched.  Anyway, here’s the story of how we JUST got Sadie back…(she just finished eating and is now running amok!!)…Oh, and note the pink coloe for the princess that Sadie is!

Yesterday afternoon I (Scott) began handing out fliers.  I met a couple of kids from the block and they directed me to a street two LONG blocks away. There I found some more kids (three girls around 8, 9, 10…? who can tell anymore?!)  who said that Sadie was definitely in that area and maybe in their building’s basement.  This was after they saw the flier AND told me, without prompting, that the cat in question had a big fluffy tail and walked funny, just like Sadie.  So I told them, after looking and coming up empty, that when they see her again, get her in a room where she can’t get out and call me.  There’s a cash reward involved.  (They then asked if they could get the reward if they gave me a different cat.  So, right there my hopes took quite a hit).

Later that evening, after dinner, I decided to walk back to that area and have another look.  Of course I came up empty as far as Sadie was concerned. But I did see some adorable cats running about. I’d have “rescued” them if they needed/wanted it, but my focus was elsewhere at the time. Perhaps I’ll get back there soon.   Anyhoo, it began to rain, so that was my cue to head back because even if Sadie was there, she wasn’t about to go running around in a downpour. Well, I got to my door and was stopped dead in my tracks by a LOUD, PLAINTIFF meow.  “HOLY Cow! Is that….??”  I stuck my head in the window of my apartment and said “AMY…..get out here!”  She huffed and puffed a bit…this has all been so stressful…  but realized there was something to my urgency.  We traced the meow, which Amy INSTANTLY realized was our little lost fuzzball, to the basement of the apartment building RIGHT NEXT DOOR!  Sadie went in through an open window but, apparently, the leap from floor to sill was too much for her.  Of course I saw at least three other cats go in and out, but I guess not Sadie.  She’s little and her back legs are slightly deformed so she might not be able to jump as high as other cats.  I tried shaking bags of food, I put two planks in there to serve as ramps, each longer than the prior, but she was not going to leave unless it was through the door.  I learned from another neighbor who does construction and was so kind in providing the wood for one of the planks that the house had recently been VACATED by the tenants.  So, the good news was we knew where Sadie was, safe and dry and now plied with food – I dropped I don’t know how many Meow Mix cups down there, dry food, etc!!!  What a mess!

Suffice to say it was a sleepless night as Amy and I tried to figure out how we’d find the owner…what we’d do if we didn’t…a Hammer to the door knob?  Did I really want to do a “B&E” for this?  Well, morning came (a few hours ago, but it was an eternity from late last night to this moment!) and Amy got on the internet and harnessed all her search powers and she tracked down not only the name of the owner, but his place of business.  I, in turn, began calling the number every 10 seconds or so!  Finally, to my amazement, someone answered!!  And just like that the owner was on his way, sympathetic to Sadie’s plight or worried what she might be doing to his basement, I couldn’t say!  When he arrived, parking his van in the street, I stood there trying to contain myself with my plastic bags, little broom, paper towels and a bottle of 409.  He got out of the van and instead of going to the basement door, he opened the gates of the driveway then got back in the van and backed it in.  I thought I might faint. What kind of cruel torture was this?  Finally he got to the stairs, began fumbling through his keys, dropped a few (“Let me get them for you..” “No, no, that’s ok”  “MMMGGRRHHHHAAHHHH YER KILLING ME!” that last part was just in my head) but eventually got the door open.   I walked in behind him and there she was, looking up at me with those big eyes and wailing away with her big mouth.  “Sadie, go out the door!  Go see mommy”  I got a ?? look so I had to gently tap her butt in the direction of the door.  When she saw daylight she realized this was her chance to regain her old life, and I’m happy to say we are reunited, relieved, and dead tired.   The next time one of our cats goes missing, I AM NOT, I repeat, AM NOT walking beyond the four houses immediately next to or across the street from us.  Harumph. 

Again, thank you EVERYBODY for all your support. It means so much to us. As soon as we’ve all (Me, Amy, Sadie, and I guess that’s it..the other cats didn’t really seem to put out) calmed down and got some much needed rest we’ll be back to visiting your blogs and posting more here.

And we have to check on the homeless cats we now know are wandering the streets a few blocks away.

Sadie, Come Home…Please

Dear Friends,

 We have not posted recently because all our time has been devoted to trying to find Sadie. She went missing sometime on Sunday the 15th.  We found no evidence of anything “bad” (after looking up and down along the road, etc…I don’t think I need to be more detailed/graphic than that), but neither have we found any indication of what happened to her.  Maybe she just went on an adventure and will return when she’s bored?  We keep waiting for her little body to pop up on our window sill, hear the little happy chirp sound she makes and watch her hop in and go over to the food bowls, but so far nothing.  It’s been raining off and on for the last two days, too, which isn’t good. It may hamper Sadie making her way home and it impedes our search for her a little bit.

     I (Scott) have been staying awake past 2 am in hopes of seeing her return.  Eventually exhaustion takes over, especially after traipsing around the neighborhood on my bum legs three or four times a day.   But I need to do something, even if it doesn’t make sense to do it.  Today we created a flier and have begun passing it around.  If and when the bad weather stops, we will post them on telephone poles, etc.  If we still need to, though of course we are hoping that won’t be the case.

    Amy’s gone to Craig’s list and other web sites, but we welcome any other suggestions anyone out there might have.  It may be hard to imagine in a house that has nine cats already, but without Sadie, there’s a very tangible vaccum.   A pall hangs over this house, a sense of urgency and helplessness, a sadness and frustration that comes from not knowing.  From what happens when your mind goes to places you wish you could keep it from exploring.  We wouldn’t wish this kind of emptiness on anyone. It’s engulfing our usually lively spirits like a black hole. 

We spend so much time trying to make Sadie happy – and it isn’t easy.  We try to anticipate what food she’ll like on any given day as her tastes are always changing!  What flavor treats she’ll want because if you give her the wrong kind, she’ll be insulted and start covering it up like she would in her “sand box”!  We’ve come to call it the “litter dance”!  If she wants to sleep on Amy, it’s imperative that Amy’s legs be covered with the quilt or Sadie will find somewhere else, and heaven forbid Sadie should have to settle!  So Amy will bow to her wishes and wind up with a happy Sadie as poor Amy sweats through the night!

Why would anyone let a cat dictate so much of how they live? Shouldn’t it be the other way around, or at least not nearly so severe?  Well, we’ll tell you: it’s not just because Sadie is probably the cutes adult cat we’ve ever seen (her photos do NOT do her justice, for some reason). It’s not because she’s 10 pounds of crazy in an 8 pound sack -she’s fearless and has so much cat-itude it defies reason!  For example, she has decided that whenever Bob is nearby (and you could, literally, fit THREE Sadies into Bob) that he is to be tortured, yelled at and whapped until he flees for safety! No, we think the real reason is because Sadie has taught us more than any other cat the joy and satisfaction that comes from animal rescue. 

When I found her on the sidewalk, she was half dead, almost eaten alive by fleas. Within twenty four hours of taking her in she seized up twice and fell over.  But she has so much fight in her, so much spirit, she refused to give up.  Every day for the next few months when I came home from work, she made it a point to curl up in the crick of my arm and fall into a peaceful dreamless sleep.  She let us bathe her and medicate her.  For a long time it seemed like her life would basically be one of inactivity until one day she just “woke up” and lived every day like a kitten, running, playing and eating as if everything around her was to be taken advantage of and utilitzed.  That became something we would not only always remember, but  forever feel in our hearts.

See Sadie Sleep!!

Here is Sadie sleeping on the cable box. Here is Sadie sleeping on ……To understand Sadie is to know the mind of the cat goddess who decided to put everything strange and wonderful about felines into this little fuzz ball. A watermelon with fur. A football with a tail. She’s been described in as many different ways as there are people in our neighborhood who she has befriended.

To go back to the beginning will use waaay more space and time allotted for here. We will be posting the amazing story of Sadie’s rescue in due time. For now, let’s just focus on one aspect, her sleeping habits, out of the many that make this ten pound nut job stuffed into an eight pound package so beguiling, charming, frustrating but always wonderful.

When the day is done, and Sadie has done her rounds, it’s time for bed. Sadie’s day begins at about 4 am when she takes a walk with our neighbor as he heads down the street to the store for coffee. We never thought it too unusual because Paul is a genuine “cat whisperer”, so for Sadie to have taken as shine to him seemed perfectly natural. But we’ve been coming to learn, slowly but surely, that Sadie has befriended a lot more people, duping them into giving her fawning attention and snacks, if available.

A great example is our neighbor Vivian, one of those self-proclaimed “afraid to death of cats” person. But Sadie found a way to exploit Vivian’s weakness for all things cute. Sadie, you must understand, is a small cat. She has a compact body with tiny, stubby legs. On top of that she has very large eyes so that she looks like, for all intents and purposes, a large kitten, as opposed to a small cat!! Unfortunately, her photos don’t do her justice. Maybe we need a better camera. Maybe we need a better camera-man!! Regardless, we’re gonna do our best to improve Sadie’s public persona!

So Vivian has taken to calling her Ms. Moots (??!!) and instead of being afraid, is compelled to put her hand out and let Sadie do all kinds of rubbing! We were amazed! Things became clearer, however, when Vivian confessed to providing Sadie with leftover bits of “soul food” whenever Sadie “happens” to be on the porch to which Viv’s apartment opens up!

We’ve also come to discover Sadie has manipulated boy twins who pass by our house after school. There’s also Paul’s wife. We’re sure there’s more and we’ll let you know after we’ve assembled the whole cast of characters!

Anyway, you can imagine how busy Sadie is between four in the morning and bed time. Which is when things get interesting for us, anyway, as we’re always in a state of suspense, wondering where she will sleep. We’ve recently started paying attention, added to which our recollection of her sleeping habits and have discovered there’s a pattern. Sadie sleeps somewhere new about every week and a half to two weeks. For example, starting the middle of last week, my wife was “chosen”. Sadie decided her lap was deemed worthy. However, Sadie insists that my wife’s legs have the comforter over them. So, in order to please little miss perfect, my poor wife is covered from toe to chest with a winter blanket AND a ten pound fur coat. A ten pound fur coat that, if God forbid Amy needs to get up for anything, will swipe, gripe and guilt you into thinking you’re evil for having inconvenienced her. This usually means that by morning my wife is a sweaty mess with a bladder ready to explode!!

Other places Sadie has claimed are the top of the cable box (see photos), the shelf where we (used to) keep our coffee cups in the kitchen, a bag of clean laundry that needs to be unloaded but better not be touched because it’s now Sadie’s bed, and other places that she has to know make our lives difficult when she chooses them. Why else would she??!!

We can go on and on about Sadie, because she drives us crazy and we love her more and more each day, either in spite of it, because of it, or some combination! We would love to hear your stories about any daily “battles” that go on with your cats, claiming what’s yours, in any capacity! And the more pics the better!! Thanks for listening and if anyone has a cat bed they think we can trick Sadie into thinking is good enough for her, please send it on!!

Cutes pics of kitties past and present

Addie and JoJo, together again! (I mean, as usual!)

MOSES cleans his own FOOT!!