Remembering Carbon on his 1st Bridge Anniversary & Black Cat Appreciation Day

We've all been thinking of you so much these past few days, Carbon, with leaky eyes, fond memories, and many smiles.  How you raced around at top speed while playing, played basketball with your toys and tag with the other cats, and how you would snuggle once a day with each of your purrents.  About the bottlecaps that you stole off the counter as a kitten, your toy hoard under the couch when we moved, and your favorite battle buddy and mousie.  Your battle buddy's still around, as well as the replacement one we got you when your other one got gnawed off the wand part.  How you loved pipe cleaners, as evidenced by the top picture after your Catster Secret Santa gift from Winter.  How you were afraid of kittens until they got old enough for you to consider them the same species!  How you purred while sitting on friends' laps and sat on your stool for bites of whatever Mama Shawnee was cooking.  How you were afraid that Lydia was going to swat you (and she did) when you misbehaved as a kitten, but you realized that she was the alpha cat and loved you anyway.  How you studied things until you figured out how they worked:  automatic litter boxes that you made mountains in and then admired your own handiwork, doorknobs that you opened by yourself, the wall furnace that you body-slammed as a kitten trying to make it stop running like your daddy did.

You were one crazy cat, and we'll always remember you for that.  You were a love, when you allowed yourself to be loved on, and we'll always love you for that.  There are so many stories that will be told for decades!  It's hard to think that it's been a year already since you've been gone.  Tabby still has days when she wanders around lost, remembering you.  Most days are better for her now, but we see the look in her eyes every so often and know you're in her thoughts, as you are for us all.  You were the best black cat in the world, and it's so fitting that Black Cat Appreciation Day is your day.  We love you forever.

Happy Purrthday, Rori!!!!!!

Rori writes:

I don't feel like I'm 10 years old!  I don't feel like a kitten anymore, like I was when that picture was taken.  But I certainly don't feel like I'm 10, either.  I've slowed down a bit, and I'm chunky, so my bones creak a little.  I can still run down the hallway after my younger half-sister, Little Bit, and I still fit under Daddy's dresser.

I'm the Big Kitty of the household, the alpha cat, and everyone knows it.  Even Panther, who torments me, has to respect my position in the household.  I watch over everyone, keep everyone safe, and make sure that people are where they are supposed to be.  I love hanging out with Daddy in the chair but I sometimes sit next to Mommy when she's at her computer.

I also like to check on guests, but only after the house is totally quiet.  I don't like a lot of noise, sudden movements, or strangers.  Daddy and Mommy's friend Debbie came yesterday to visit with her cat, Henry.  I met Henry before I ventured out to check on Debbie, because he came and found me in my hiding place!  He's a sweetheart, and I don't mind having him visit at all.  After a few hours, I walked down the hallway and stood in the dining room, just staring at Debbie.  Mommy called me over, but I didn't get within range of being petted by the new person.  She's ok, and she is very nice to all of us, but it may take a few more times of her visiting for me to actually go close to her.  That's ok with her, since she and Henry have moved a few hours away from us.

It's been really hot here, so I've been staying put on a low shelf/cave during the day.  Keep cool if it's hot where you live, and you can even get your purrents to put an ice cube or two in your water bowl to play with!

Happy 7th Gotcha Day to the Twins!

Happy Gotcha Day to us!  Can you believe it's been seven years since we came to live here?  I'm glad we got a forever home together, and new names.  Freya and Heimdall are much better names than Furkins and Fonz, don't you think?  We love our home and our family, and wouldn't trade them for the world!

Thank you, friends!

The PDX pride mommy here.  Thank you, friends, for remembering Tabby & Carbon's Gotcha Day on the 15th.  We've lost so many this past year that it's been really hard, and it was Tabby's first time celebrating her Gotcha Day without her brother.  Tough on all of us.  For those of you wondering, Tabby is doing well and has been keeping up with her therapy cat visits.  Yesterday was the anniversary of Skylar's Bridge Day, so that was hard for us, for me in particular since he was my first cat and he adopted me as his person before I ever adopted him.

I'm sorry we don't post often anymore, but other responsibilities have come up that are more important than blogging.  Right now, for example, my dad is getting ready to have heart surgery.  Friends need our help, and we need theirs, so that takes time, too.

We do love each and every one of you, and your support means so much to us.  Thank you for being our friends and for reading our blog, and we hope to be posting more regularly in the near future.

Happy 12th Birthday to Tabby!

Tabby writes:

What?  You mean I'm 12 years old?  I don't feel like an old lady, but maybe I am.  I certainly am the oldest in our household!  12 doesn't really seem old to me, though.  Well, I have been grumpier than usual, and my ear has been scabbing.  Oh, that's not related to age, Mommy?  I thought it was!  I've been wanting to sleep more than usual.  Oh, and I climbed up to the bed a few nights ago to snuggle with Mommy when Daddy was at work.  I was feeling lonely.  I tried again a little while later, after I'd gotten down for a snack, but I decided to step on the metal scrollwork of the divider screen instead of directly over to the bed.  Not a good idea, because it moved and I caught a claw!  Other than that, I wasn't hurt.  It just scared me, but not enough to keep me from snuggling.

I'm going to enjoy today by snuggling, getting my ear cleaned by Little Bit, snuggling with Freya, eating, and watching our visitors.  Last night, that included our raccoon friend, who didn't know what to do with a section of orange that was given to him!  He kept looking for cat food, but all he got was the orange.  Well, he had his cat food a few hours earlier.  I guess he wanted more of a snack.

Remembering Carbon on his birthday

Happy birthday at the Bridge, dear Carbon!  We miss you and love you, and know you are taking care of Missy now, too.

Fly free, sweet Missy!

Missy, we don't know what went wrong or what exactly happened, but we know you were suffering and so we made the only decision possible.  Yesterday morning, you let the dog visiting us sniff you.  A couple hours later, we found bloody diarrhea and two solid lumps of something on the floor, with a tail trail under your daddy's dresser.  Rori went under to be with you for a little while.  Panther, Dare, and Autumn all said their goodbyes once you decided to come out of hiding, while Mommy cleaned up the floor and also cleaned you up as best she could.  You had tried, but you just didn't have the energy anymore.  Mommy sat with you and told you that it would be ok if you felt the need to leave us.  You were barely hanging on at that point.  Daddy came in and petted you for a while, then called the vet.  Our usual vet was very busy, and we knew this was an emergency, so he called the vet just down the street, too.  They were available, so Daddy put you in the carrier and he and Mommy took you to the vet.

Once there, they took you immediately into the back to stabilize you the best they could.  You were still hanging on, but barely.  The vet and vet techs were so kind to you.  They wrapped you in warm blankets and gave you fluids through an IV.  They tried to take your blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate, but the levels were not perceptible or only just perceptible.  Your heartbeat was a soft flutter.  The vet, Daddy, and Mommy knew what needed to be done, although nobody wanted to say goodbye to you this soon.  Your blood vessels were collapsing in on themselves and the vet thought that there must've been a mass on your intestines that burst.

Mommy went in the back to say goodbye.  Daddy sat and cried and Mommy cried and petted you.  You were barely conscious, and going quickly.  The vet gave you the first shot (anesthetic) and your chin immediately hit your paws.  You didn't really need the second (actual) shot, but the vet  gave it to you just to be sure.  Mommy knew you were gone already.  The vet tried to find your heartbeat but you were gone.

Mommy went to be with Daddy, and they cried for a while.  The vet brought your body in to them, and they brought you home.  Daddy dug a hole while Mommy opened the box for the rest of us to see your body.  We all knew already.  Autumn doesn't really know what death means, though, but she sniffed you and wondered why you were in a box.  She thought it was weird that you didn't respond, so she sniffed you again.  Panther sniffed you, looked you all over, touched noses with Autumn, and left the room.  Mommy brought Tabby out to see.  The others decided not to come over to sniff, because goodbyes had been said already.  Daddy opened the box and lifted your body out gently, petted it, talked to you, then set your body in the hole and covered it with dirt and a cinder block to keep raccoons away.

Your body is buried by the roses in the backyard, where we buried Miss Marble and close to where we buried Carbon.  You always loved flowers.  We will never forget you, our idiosyncratic non-feral feral who knew where to go and what to do when she needed help.  You did the first time we met you, and you did the last time we saw you alive.

Missy was between 8 and 9 years old, as near as we can figure.  She came to us at the age of approximately 2 1/2 years old and was Daddy Scott's constant companion and chief snuggler.  It took her a year to purr for him, but then she didn't stop.  She tried to climb in coat sleeves when she got petted, but would bite if she felt it was too much.  We love you, and we always will.  You are at peace now, Missy, and out of pain.

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter from all of us!  Tabby went to PetSmart last weekend with Mommy Erin, JJ, and Mommy.  She got her picture taken with the Easter Bunny and JJ!  Everyone at the pet store loved seeing and petting her, and she learned a lot about bunnies and other small animals during the scavenger hunt that JJ did.  She even brought back some Peeps toys shaped like bunnies for the rest of us!

The store didn't have the kitty-specific ones, so we got the ones with squeakers in them.  Panther learned how to squeak them first, by sitting on one, then Dare bunny-kicked one, scaring herself when it squeaked.  Freya tried her hardest to make another one squeak, but it wouldn't so she gave up on it.  When Daddy or Mommy (usually Daddy, though) makes one squeak, Dare jumps and the rest of us run towards the Peep!

Keep away from those Easter flowers, and have a safe and happy Easter!!!

HHHHHOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tigress writes:

I'm hhhhhhooooooooommmmmmeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I know it's not the best picture, but I wouldn't stay still!  I'm soooooooo happy to be home again!!!!!!!!!!  I dropped off the face of the earth last year and stayed away for months!!!  I haven't told anyone what happened to me yet, but I'm doing just fine.  I've put on a little weight, but that may be from it being so cold this winter.  I found lots of nice, juicy mousies whenever I wanted, although I had to hunt for them.  I love hunting, though, so that's never a problem for me.

Daddy and Mommy are trying to trap my buddy Niss this weekend to get him fixed, so there is that trap on the deck again.  I hate the trap, but it's one more reason I know I'm home, so I marked it with my scent by rubbing my cheek against it while I ate.  Daddy was watching the backyard, hoping to see Niss out there so they could call him over to get him used to the trap, and he saw me making my way through the back gate!  He couldn't tell from that distance who it was, so he told Mommy it was Niss, but she could tell when she looked out because I was in the middle of the yard by then.

I sat in the yard meowing for a while, then dove under the deck and came out with a fat, juicy mouse.  I ran off with it through the back gate, but then came back just a short while later.  I circled the yard, meowing, and both my purrents meowed back and talked with me through the windows.  I went under the deck to rest for a bit, and then slowly circled closer to the food that they'd put on the deck.  I was hungry, but I still wasn't completely sure if I was safe, or if I was dreaming and would wake up and not be here but somewhere that wasn't safe instead.  Also, it'll take me a while to get used to the other cats again because I automatically am distrustful of others until I can smell them and they can smell me, even if I can already tell they're my family.  That's how I was the last time I disappeared, too.

I ate while I talked with Mommy, and a couple of the others stuck their heads out the door to say hi.  One tried to climb up on the trap to say hi to me, but I ran off and Mommy put her back inside the house.  I came back within a few minutes, though.  Whenever Mommy would try to shut the door after talking with me, I would walk over to the middle of it and yell at her to open it again.  I didn't want her to go away!  She would open the door back up and talk with me again.  I didn't want her to reach out to pet me yet, though.

She eventually had to go take a nap, but she told me she would be back after a while.  When she came back to the door, I was ready!  I got more food, and reached out to ask her with my paw if she would pet me while I ate.  She did!  This is real!  I am home!  I got ear scritches, neck scritches, back scritches, and side scritches!  I haven't stopped making happy paws all over the deck and purring!  I even wanted her to rub my left ear like she used to when I was a kitten, and she remembered!  I gave her love bites every so often to make sure she was real and hadn't dissolved.  She and I even played a petting game like we used to, where she reaches for the top of my head, then I duck her hand and bump it with the side of my face, then play-bite (just a love-bite) and pull her hand closer to pet me.  She remembered that, too!

She has to go back all the way inside now and close the door for a while, so I'm going to stay right here and reacclimate myself, even if I do have to be by that trap.  I see Sherbet has learned how to play with Autumn, and things have moved around quite a bit in the house, but it's still mine and it's still home!  I'll probably investigate inside, but it'll probably take me a few more days to set foot in there and properly greet everyone and everything.