Saturday PhotoHunt: Cat

Dare writes:

This is feeding time at our house, when we get special treats!  This time, we got tuna, but sometimes we get canned cat food or pouch food.  Everyone comes running, meowing our heads off for the plates to be put on the floor faster!  Once they're down, we all jockey for position.  We eat by pecking order, so Carbon and Rori always get plates first, also Tabby and the twins.  The rest of us get to eat with them or when they're done, unless there are more plates put down for us.  In this picture, Carbon, one of the twins, Starla, and Missy have the plates.  I'm getting ready to ask Starla if I can share a plate with her, and Tabby and the other twin have the cans.  Bit's waiting her turn patiently, and so is Panther.

I love being part of a clowder!  That's what a group of cats is called, and we have 14 in our clowder.  Some of us are fosters, some are outside ferals, and most are forevers.  Regardless, we're all part of the gang!

Are you pawticipating in the Caturday Photo Hunt today?

Dress Up Your Pet Day

Tabby writes:

Today is Dress Up Your Pet Day, so are you dressing up?  I sure am!  Unlike our friend Ava (pictured above), I actually will wear clothes.  I even was a model for a fashion show once!

Of course, I just had to get a new dress for the day!  I got this one at PetSmart.  It has an attached purple tutu and says "Best Friends are Rescued".  Yep, we are!  Mommy let me wear her pretty coral necklace, and Auntie Shawnee let me wear her headband.  I love the flowers!  I also got to use Auntie Shawnee's vanity table!

Every good model needs a great manager, so Heimdall offered to be mine.  I think he may be mixed up on what a manager does, because he acted like a bodyguard most of the time.

See what I mean?  But, hey, at least he rocked the necklace, too!

Taking the Pet Blogger Challenge!

 
This is the first year we've participated in the Pet Blogger Challenge, and we're glad to have had input from many of you over the last year and few years that we've had this blog.

Here are our answers for the 2016 Pet Blogger Challenge:

1. How long have you been blogging? And, for anyone who is visiting for the first time, please give a quick description of the subject of your blog.

 We've been blogging for about 9 years now.  We first started blogging in our diaries on Catster, then created "Furry Tails of the PDX Pride" after a few years when we realized that cat blogging was a "thing".  We blog about our daily lives around the house, which animal visitors we get in our backyard, the feral cats who come by, and Tabby's tales of being an animal-assisted therapy volunteer with Mommy at a nursing home once a month.

2. What is the one thing that you accomplished during 2015, either on your blog or because of it, that made you most proud?

 Because of Tabby's therapy cat tales series, she and Mommy were speakers for the second time at the NW Pet and Companion Fair (a pet expo).  They talked about/demonstrated how to be a therapy cat team and what training is necessary.

3. Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? (Please include a link.)

We have two favorite posts:  one that shows how smart the ferals are and another that shows what Tabby does when she's out and about.  The first one, about ferals Tigress and Little Niss, shows how Tigress treats Niss as her own kitten, even though she never had kittens of her own.  The second, about Tabby, details a typical visit and reactions when she's doing her therapy cat work.

4. A common theme from last year’s challenge was that many of us wanted to increase the size of our audiences. Whether or not we intend to monetize our blogs, it seems we’d all like to reach more people. It feels good to know that we’re connecting with others, sharing a laugh or supporting a cause, and it’s motivating to see those numbers grow! What is one thing you’ve done in the past year that has brought more traffic to your blog?

We did the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for the first time this year.  It's not specific to pet blogs, so it brought a varied new audience.  We found some blogs from it that we really liked, too!  Plus, we were blogging every day, so it was a good routine.

5. Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? Why do you think it was so popular? (Please include a link.)

Our birthday posts when they came around were high-traffic ones, but we really don't know what made Daddy's Lawnmower Monster so irresistible!  It got 321 views!

6. What is one blog that you read religiously – other than your own – and what makes you such a devoted reader? (Please include a link.)

We love reading SparkleCat, featuring Summer and also Glogirly.  We love the photography and the stories behind the photos!

7. What resources do you rely on to enhance your technical, writing, photography, social media, or other skills that improve your blog?

Mommy uses Picasa to edit the photos she takes of us, and we use NetworkedBlogs to post directly to Mommy's Facebook page (and sometimes Tabby's) as well as let our readers know when we have new posts.

8. What is the best piece of advice you can offer other bloggers?

Write from the heart.  If you don't like what you write, redo it until you like it.  Other people's opinions don't matter as much as your own, so do what you love.

9. What is your vision for your blog in 2016? Do you have specific goals?

Our goals for our blog for 2016 are the same as the last few years':  chronicling our year in words and photos!

10. You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there one blogging challenge you’d like help with, or one aspect of your blog that you’d like input on?

We would like to know what you like best and don't like about our blog, and what was the most surprising thing we wrote about in the last year.

Therapy Cat Tales: How Tabby Travels on Public Transportation

Tabby writes:

Today's Pet Travel Safety Day, so I'm writing about how I keep safe while traveling on public transportation.  When I'm in the car, I ride on harness & leash or in a carrier like the kitty pictured above.  However, when I go visiting the nursing homes and other places, I usually ride the bus or the MAX light rail train with Mommy.

This is my stroller.  It's specially-made for pets!  People think it's a baby stroller, but the top folds out and the mesh comes up so it's fully enclosed.  We decorate it for holidays, like these heart stickers for last Valentine's Day.

Heimdall also likes riding in the stroller, but usually only around the house after I get back from my visits.  He likes to roll places, mol!  Mommy is training him to go places, too, so he rides the same way I do.  Since Heimdall's in training, he isn't allowed to ride just on harness and leash.  He has to be in the carrier bag as well.  It fits right in the stroller and has mesh so we can see out.

When I go places on the bus, I have to be in the carrier bag also, because the bus rules for both the Vancouver buses (C-Tran) and the Portland public transportation (Tri-Met) say that all pets must be in carriers.  Some bus drivers don't consider the stroller an adequate carrier, so the carrier bag is taken out of the stroller and the stroller is folded down.  On the MAX light rail, I can stay in the stroller because strollers don't have to be folded down.

Animals that participate in animal-assisted therapy have to abide by the rules for pets, not the rules for service animals.  That's because we are still considered pets.  Service animals help only their owner, and with specific tasks for medical and/or psychological reasons.  Emotional support animals are pets but have specific housing regulations and airline regulations.  Therapy animals are pets that are trained with their owner to help other people in a variety of situations.  We can help random people on public transportation, but that is a side-benefit and does not grant us extra legal protection.  We are pets, first and foremost, and then we help people in specific settings like nursing homes, hospitals, schools, and therapists' offices.

These rules and laws help keep me safe on public transportation and out in public in general.  When I'm in my carrier bag, no one can pet me without my humans' approval because my carrier bag is zipped shut.  I also cannot escape from it, so if I get scared I can't run in an emergency.  I prefer to ride in my open stroller like in the Valentine's Day picture, but I also know that my carrier bag is my "safe zone" and ask to climb in it when I'm unsure of a situation or am too tired to visit anymore.

Dogs are another reason I like being safe in my stroller.  This dog actually wanted to hop in my stroller with me!  Another time, a husky actually picked me up.  When my stroller mesh is zipped, they can't get to me.  When it's unzipped, like this picture, my humans keep an eye out for dogs, small children, and other potentially-hazardous situations.  Most dogs get along well with me, but there are always exceptions.  That's why it's good to know the pet's boundaries and monitor the situation.

Safe travels, my friends!  Always follow the rules for pets on public transportation!

Happy Mew Year, Gotcha Day, and Purrthday!!! Whew!!!

Missy writes:

First of all, Happy Mew Year, everyone!!!!!!!  Purrayers for a year filled with treats, love, happiness, family, warmth, and all good things for you and yours!

Yesterday was my Gotcha Day!  Thanks to those who left messages yesterday.  I like to write a three-in-one post for all three things on New Year's, in case you were wondering why I didn't have a post up yesterday.  It was the annifursary of the day that my humans adopted me, even though I'd adopted them a while before then.  I found them at Mommy's work, a few days after a big parade there (May 17th parade for Norway's constitution day).  The parade was scary, but I realized that there were more people around than I thought.  I wanted some of them to help me find food.  I lived in an industrial area by the Franz bakery, and the bakery employees fed me sometimes, but I was getting very hungry.  I walked down the sidewalk, calling out for help.  Mommy was teaching and the whole class stopped so that she could go find me and see what was wrong!  She picked me up and held me while someone else went to get Daddy, who was inside the building talking with other friends.  They put me in the car and Mommy finished her class.  I escaped when Daddy opened the car door, and it took them a long time to catch me again, because I hid in someone's backyard behind a fence!  Finally, Daddy got me and we all drove to my new home.

It took me a long time to purr for Daddy, but now I purr a lot for him, and sometimes for Mommy, too.  Daddy's my human, though.  When they took me to the vet for the first time, they were thinking that I was a kitten still because of how tiny I am.  Nope, I was 2 1/2 years old at that point!  That's when I got my shots and got checked for diseases.  I was (and still am) a very healthy adult cat, and I sat in the vet's lap when he sat on the floor!

It took a while for my purrents to decide to keep me, but they did.  I bonded with Daddy too much to be adopted out to anyone else!  Besides, I'm a socialized feral, and we make the best snuggle buddies!

The vet had assigned me a purrthday of New Year's Day, and I'm glad, because I get to see the fireworks and hear the cheering on my purrthday!  I like looking at the pretty lights in the sky and on tv!  I'm going to snuggle with Daddy while he plays his computer game now.  Happy Mew Year!

Feral...um...Saturday?

Sherbet writes:

*YAWNS*  Pardon me while I eat my breakfast.  I guess I slept through yesterday, because we got our Christmas present and I was too busy trying it out!  Rori and Dare love it, too, and everyone else was exploring it while Daddy was putting it together.  He bought it especially for me!  *smiles*

I was scared when I was hiding in Mommy's teaching shelf, because Panther would come and get me.  I pooped in the shelf!  It's now in another room, but I needed a hiding spot.  Daddy looked online and ordered this kitty tree!  I've never had a kitty tree before, and I didn't even know what it was for a while.  I thought it was interesting, but it smelled funny.  After a while, the smell went away almost completely.  That's when I took a chance and explored it when everyone else was sleeping.

This is my hidey-hole!  This is why Daddy bought it for me!  I can look out of here and hiss at Panther when he comes in the room, and he can't get me!  Well, he could if he tried, but he's too scared after I hiss at him and the others defend me.

It has six levels, two of which are platforms with a raised edge.  Perfect for napping spots!  Then there's my hidey-hole, and the other regular platforms, including the base.  The platforms and hidey-hole are carpeted, and the posts are wrapped with sisal.  I guess it's nice to scratch on, but I haven't tried it yet.  Rori and Dare have demonstrated it, though.  None of us have tried out the roof of the hidey-hole, but our purrents are sure that we'll get to that eventually.

The other big news is that I've been letting the humans pet me!  Mommy is able to pet my back, flank, and tail with the back of her hand.  Daddy is able to pet a whisker and get a nose-touch sometimes.  Auntie Shawnee is able to pet my tail, but she accidentally pets my feet.  I hate my feet touched!  Mommy Lana isn't able to get near me, but I watch her from the floor sometimes when she's got her door open.  I do the slow blink at everyone, because I'm pretty content all the time.

Meowy Christmas and Therapy Cat Tales!

Tabby writes:

Meowy Christmas!!!!!!!  I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written a therapy cat tale, but we've had a kind of crazy few months here.  I went to H. with Mommy and Auntie Shawnee in November for their holiday bazaar, but then didn't have my November visit.  I did this month, though!

Mommy!  This notebook cover's the picture Grammy took of me!  It also has one of her kitty blankies on it!

I chose the mackerel because they looked good enough to eat.  Unfortunately, I couldn't eat a notebook cover!

Are we done already?  How much did we make?

We ended up making about $30, and half of that we are donating to the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon.  They got the profits from all our kitty-related notebooks and greeting cards!

On our December visit to H. a couple weeks ago, I wore my Christmas outfit, which you can see in the first picture on this post.  I was so excited that Mommy only got one decent pic out of the photo shoot, because I was rolling around and air-kneading!

My friends were all there, and I made some new friends, too.  The man who meows at me loved my dress, and one of my new friends had her two daughters there, so they got to meet me, too!  Another new friend wanted me to snuggle on the bed with her, so I curled up right in the crook of her arm.  I love snuggling with my friends!

No, that's not a real person standing with us under the umbrella.  It's the umbrella man statue in Pioneer Courthouse Square!  He had an ugly Christmas sweater on this year!

Have a merry Christmas, everyone, and stay safe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rori is thankful for a snuggle spot in Mommy's office room.
Dare is thankful for Mommy's licky-arm.
Sherbet is thankful for his shelf and that there is food, water, and a litter box in Mommy's office room.
Panther is thankful for Daddy's lap.
Autumn is thankful for Daddy and for Mama Lana.
Little Bit is thankful for flea medicine.
Freya is thankful for snuggle laps and fuzzies to play with.
Heimdall is thankful for flea medicine and Mommy.
Missy is thankful for Daddy.
Tabby is thankful for everyone and a tote to sleep on top of.
Carbon is thankful for food.
Starla is thankful for open windows with screens, sun puddles, and a nice day.
Niss is thankful for food and a place to hang out on the deck.

We are all thankful for YOU!

Mean Purrents!

Sherbet writes:

Auntie Rori, is this how purrents are supposed to act?  (Sherbet looks at Rori, who's sound asleep, snuggling next to him.)  Mommy, why did you and Daddy double-team me with a big blankie at 4 in the morning?  You wanted to put what on me?  Flea medicine?  I don't want them to get medicine; I want them off me.  Oh?  That's what flea medicine does?  Is that why I don't feel them crawling around my nose so much now?  Ok, I think.  I'll forgive you for putting the stuff on me, but it'll take me a while to forgive Daddy for chasing me around the room and wrapping me up in the big blankie.

Mommy writes:

This was Sherbet's first time having flea medicine put on him, and he was thoroughly traumatized, as only a true feral can get from something like this.  Rori decided to cheer him up by snuggling with him for hours; as the alpha of the household she knows that her job is to care for the others.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Happy Meowloween!!!

Happy Meowloween from all of us at the PDX pride!  We'll be celebrating while being safely indoors.  Lana and Logan got a pumpkin, and Lana's going to carve it today.  We've already been investigating it, and Autumn can't wait to jump inside!  We don't get trick-or-treaters at our house, so Mommy is going over to Grammy's house to do a "haunted yard" and hand out treats while in costume.  Tabby isn't going with her, because it will probably be cold and rainy.

Stay safe and away from that scary door, and don't forget to paw the clocks back before you go to bed on Halloween night!

Remembering Skylar and Lydia on their Birthday

Today we remember Skylar and Lydia especially, because today is their birthday.  They were Mommy's first kitties, and they were born on October 26, 1999.  Lydia lived until 2008, and Skylar lived until 2010.

They started out being part of the Rich family in Portland, who were neighbors of Mommy.  Skylar would garden with Mommy, eating tomatoes!  Lydia took a while to warm up to Mommy, but she would watch while bird-hunting.  They were inside-outside cats, a bonded pair of littermates, who would cry at the screen door if one of them was inside while the other one was outside.  They loved the Rich family, and considered the kids their people.

When the Richs had to move across the country, they asked Mommy to adopt Skylar and Lydia, because Skylar had already adopted Mommy!  Of course, Mommy said she would.  Mommy became Skylar's person, but it took a while for Lydia to choose Daddy.  At first, Skylar and Lydia lived at Mommy's boss' house, because Mommy was a nanny.  After a few months, and a few escape attempts, Skylar and Lydia were brought over to Daddy's and introduced to (then kittens) Tabby and Carbon.  Immediately, Lydia became the alpha cat of the household, although she gave her brother more leeway than anyone else.  She ruled the household with an iron paw, and could send anyone (including Skylar) flying across the floor with a double-paw slap!

After hiding and making it obvious that she despised the relocations, Lydia made up her mind to choose Daddy as her person because she wanted to help him heal.  He had just had knee surgery and was confined to the couch for most of the time.  One day, while he was sleeping, Lydia climbed up on his side and settled down.  When he woke up, she was staring right into his eyes, telling him that she was here for him and would always be.  From then on, he was her person.

After Lydia died, Skylar was heartbroken.  A few months later, we thought we were going to lose him, too, but then Starla came into his life.  She was a young cat, just over a year old at the time, and very skittish, having come from an abusive and neglectful home.  Skylar adopted her as "his kitten", and the two bonded almost like he had with his sister.

Three days after Skylar died, we adopted the "new" tuxedo twins, Freya and Heimdall, who are now five years old.  They remind us every day of their aunt and uncle, and are a constant joy in all our lives.  We know, absolutely, that our original tuxedo twins sent them to us!

Happy Birthday at the Bridge, dear angels Skylar and Lydia!  We love you and will never forget you!

Feral Friday: MOUSES!!! There are TWO of them!!!

Niss writes:

OMC, I just got a huge surprise!  All this time, I thought there was only one tuxedo cat in this house.  Now, I see there are two!  I was wondering why one cat had two names.  Now, I know that there is a girlcat named Freya who usually watches me through the sliding glass door, and a boycat named Heimdall who likes to stick his nose out sometimes.  MOUSES!!!  They had me fooled!

I asked for food at the door, and when the lady put the food outside, Heimdall stuck his nose out to sniff me.  I was surprised that he was that close, so I stepped back, but I didn't hiss this time!  I was curious, because I smelled that he was a boycat and I had thought the tuxedo was a girlcat.  Then, Freya walked over and said hi to me as well!  Wow!  Ok, there's the one I'd smelled before!  Now it all makes sense!!!  I did a complete double-take, then looked all the way up at the lady for an explanation!  She laughed, but in a good way, and explained that it was Uncle Heimdall and Auntie Freya, and that they're twins.  Wow!  Then she shut the door so I could eat and mull over the new information.

Happy National Feral Cat Day!

Sherbet writes:

Happy National Feral Cat Day!  I'm proud to say that I'm an inside feral.  Last year around this time, Mommy and Daddy trapped me and got me fixed.  They were going to let me outside again, the "R" part of T-N-R (trap-neuter-return), but I had other ideas, MOL!  I didn't want to go back outside!  I bit Mommy's finger when she opened the trap, dashed out, and hopped onto the desk in the dining room!  Here is a picture of me in the trap and then one of me on the desk:

I watched everyone for about two hours, then climbed down and ran into another room.  I found a nice cave, which now I know was a bed, to hide under/in.  I spent a few months under there, and every so often one of the other cats would come say hi to me (usually Dare, Rori, or Tabby).

After Daddy took the bed out, cleaned the room, and gave me a nice box and open carrier to call my own, I became a much happier cat!  I learned where the other rooms were in the house, learned to tolerate the humans coming into my room (although I still hid in my new carrier/house), and even touched Mommy's fingers one day!

The next breakthrough came when Mommy was away, but Daddy told her about it and she saw where I was when she came back.  I found a shelf in Mommy's office room and that became my new home!  Rori is hanging out with me in the picture.  There's another shelf, too, and I'm currently hanging out in it!  The only really scary thing in here is the door to the room, because it swings when Mommy puts her backpack on the knob or takes the backpack off.  I'm always worried that the door's going to come get me, but it hasn't yet!

I love being able to walk out into the hallway, and even to the dining room to eat with the others if I want to!  I'm not afraid of the others or worried that the humans will chase or grab at me.  If the humans get too close, I still move to safety, but I have multiple safe spots and I walk to get there instead of scoot or run!  I'm very proud of myself for the accomplishments in the last year!

Now, I'll turn the stage over to our current outside feral boy.

Niss writes:

Um, hi?  Have any of you seen Auntie Tigress in the last few weeks?  She went away and I don't know where she went.  I still smell her around occasionally, but I haven't seen her for a while, and it bothers me.  I'm hanging out closer to the food because I don't want to lose my way or miss her when she comes back.

The humans still haven't put me in a box and taken me to have a surgery done, whatever those things are.  I hear them talking about it, but they say that I'm too skittish yet and the want me to know it's safe when I come back here from the surgery.  They say that after I get the surgery done, I will calm down a bit more and not be so worried about where girlcats are.  That would be just fine with me!  I'm now just over two years old.  Last year at this time, I didn't even know where this nice place was, and now it's my home!  I also didn't have a name last year, and now I do, and a great one at that, after a fellow blogging cat.  Everyone says I look like he did, and he was a feral boy, too.  Does that mean that he celebrated National Feral Cat Day every year, too?

We all hope you have good noms today, a safe place to hang out and nap, and humans who care for you!  If you know of anyone who could use some tips on feral (unsocialized) cats, Alley Cat Allies has some awesome resources!  If you see an eartipped cat, say hi to your neighborhood feral!

Looking for a way to introduce the idea of T-N-R to children?  Check out Mommy's book, Three Feral Kittens, on Amazon!

Tabby's Therapy Cat Tales from Yesterday

Tabby writes:

First of all, our daddy says thanks for the birthday wishes from two weeks ago, and sorry we haven't been keeping up our bloggie!  We've had a busy and crazy few weeks.  Daddy had a good birthday, but his daddy is on hospice care now due to liver cancer.  I can't go visit Daddy's daddy and help him, because he lives a ways from here.  Mommy was hospitalized last week with pancreatitis, and I couldn't go visit her in the hospital, either!  Daddy took care of us while Mommy was there, but now Mommy's back home so they both are taking care of us again.  Purrrrrrrrrs.

Another comforting purr to each of the families of three ladies I visit at H.  A couple weeks ago, one lady died, and then today two ladies died on two separate floors.  I was excited to go visiting again, because we missed our visit at H.G. last week.  I knew it was going to be a special visit this time, too, because Mommy was getting out our candy-corn witch costumes!  I love my costume; it feels like a blankie!  I watched her until it was time for my "bath" with the pet wipes, then Mommy put me into my carrier bag.  I didn't even fuss, which is unusual and meant that I really did want to go visiting!

When we got to H., we went into the restroom, and that's when we met the daughter of the lady who died this morning.  She talked to Mommy and petted me for about five minutes.  I'm glad I was able to help her!  When we went to S.'s office, she told us what had happened as well, so we wouldn't be surprised.  Then we went to visit the other people on our list, with S. asking at each doorway like she usually does.  I was very sleepy today, so I didn't get out and walk like I sometimes do.  I walked on the beds, but not on the floor.  Of course, I had my harness on under my candy-corn witch outfit.

At one of the rooms, I kept on shaking my head, looking from the room to Mommy and back again.  Mommy wondered why I was doing that, but she found out soon enough.  S. had gone into the room to ask the lady's son if they would like us to visit, because the lady was in a coma and had been for most of the last day or so.  Turns out, the lady had died a couple hours before, and her son was sitting in her room having some quiet time with her before the body was moved.  S. apologized and quickly left the room.  After S. came out into the hallway again, I lay down calmly in my stroller again.  If the son had wanted to visit with me, that would've been fine with me, but I could tell what had happened.

A new friend wanted to pet me in the hallway then motioned for me to follow her into her room so she could pet me more!  Her daughter and son (I think) were there with her, and they loved that I was visiting with their mom!  The lady was almost in tears saying goodbye to me, because she loved that I'd come to see her.  Another lady in another room was telling us about their 19-year-old cat they used to have, and about the pug they have now.  I guess the pug acts like a cat and is smaller than I am, and she's full-grown!

Happy 9th Gotcha Day to Rori!

Rori writes:

Believe it or not, I was once this small!  That's Mommy Erin with me at 4 weeks old, when I was first brought in to my forever home.  Nine years ago today, Mommy Erin came running into the house, saying "There are kittens crossing the road!  There's kittens in the neighbor's yard!"  Sure enough, my brother, Knut, and I had crossed the road by ourselves at 4 weeks old and were having a grand time playing in the tires in Dale's yard.  Mommy and Mommy Erin climbed the fence and saw us disappearing around the corner of the house.  They chased us around for a bit, and my brother ran off, but I hid in a tire.  I thought they wouldn't be able to see me there, but they saw my eyes!  Mommy picked me out of the tire, which was on its side on the ground, and handed me to Mommy Erin.  Mommy Erin brought me inside and handed me to Daddy, then both mommies went out to get my brother.

They had to entice him into a carrier by putting a can of tuna in, then shutting the door while he was munching!  After we had a bath, we snuggled together and got warm, then ate some KMR.  It wasn't our mama-cat's milk, but it was pretty good!

My brother got adopted out soon after that, after he was old enough.  I became Mommy Erin's kitten!  I especially loved sitting on her laptop keyboard after she was done using it, because it was warm!  When JJ was born, Mommy Erin asked if I could stay with Mommy and Daddy because she had her hands full caring for the new baby.  Of course, that worked out just fine, and I became a permanent member of their household, then soon became the Big Kitty (alpha cat).

Eight years and a lot of household changes later, I'm still Big Kitty and loving it!  We have two other humans staying with us temporarily, and I just now am letting both of them see me and semi-interact with me.  They still don't get to pet me, though!  I snuggle with Mommy and Daddy sometimes, and keep tabs on my auntie, uncle, half-sister, cousins, nieces, and nephews.  The only one I'm biologically related to is Little Bit.  We had the same dad, but not the same mom.  My mom-cat was a feral named Rachel, and our dad-cat was a pet cat named SpongeBob.

Happy 9th Purrthday to Rori!

Rori writes:

Wow!  I'm 9 years old?  I don't feel like I'm a senior cat!  It's hard to believe that 9 years ago today in a yard in SE Portland, OR, USA, my mom-cat gave birth to my brother Knut and me.  I think we had other littermates, too, but I'm not sure because it was so long ago and I was so young (4 weeks old) when I got adopted.  My mom-cat, Rachel, was a feral, and my dad-cat, Spongebob, was an unfixed pet.  My brother's dad remains unknown.  I only know who my dad-cat was because Little Bit and I have the same dad-cat (and so do two of Little Bit's kittens).  Little Bit and I aren't littermates, though.  I'm the older sister!

Here's a picture of my brother, Knut, hugging me in our sleep.  We had just had a bath, and are approximately 4 1/2 weeks old in that picture.

Here's Knut a few years ago, playing at being a Jedi!  His mommy, my mommy's coworker Tritia, took this picture while she was folding laundry.  Our mommies like to compare notes on how we're doing, because we still have some of the same quirks and personality traits, despite having been in separate homes since we were about two months old.

Happy 5th Gotcha Day Annifursary to Freya & Heimdall!

Happy 5th Gotcha Day Annifursary to us!  Five years ago today, we were kittens at Salem Friends of Felines in Salem, OR.  We didn't know it then, but our lives were about to change drastically, and for the better!  SFOF is a wonderful no-kill shelter, and they have kitties in rooms where the public can come in and socialize with them, plus foster homes for those who need more direct socialization.

We loved being part of the kitten room clowder, but we were 3 1/2 months old and the oldest in the kitten room.  We really dreamed of a home of our own, like our other two siblings had.  They were adopted before our new purrents met us.  Instead of our current names, Freya was Furkins and Heimdall was Fonz.  Do we look like those names to you?  Our siblings also had names starting with F.

The day before we got adopted, Mommy had seen Heimdall's picture online on the Save A Cat game on Facebook.  It's a game that uses real shelter cats' profiles from Petfinder and donates ad-based revenue to the participating shelters.  She and Daddy had been thinking about getting one or two tuxedo kittens, but it was only two days after Skylar had passed and they weren't thinking about doing that right away.  Little did they know what Skylar and Lydia had planned for all of us!

Anyway, Mommy saw Heimdall's picture and noticed how much he looked like Skylar.  She went running out to Daddy and showed him the picture, then he searched for the rest of our biological family on Petfinder.  He found Freya's picture, and noticed right off how much she looked like Lydia!  The rest, as they say, is history!

Mommy and Daddy went down the next day and met us.  At first, we didn't want to interact with them, but then they found our favorite toys (a fleece wand and a feather wand) and played with us for a bit.  We were surprised, though, when Daddy came back in with a carrier and the lady who volunteered there.  The lady picked us up and put us in the carrier, with Daddy reassuring us and Mommy watching from outside the room.  We cried a bit, but once we got into the car Freya put her paws through the carrier mesh the whole way home.  Heimdall curled up against her in the back of the carrier.

We got our new names on the way home.  Mommy named Freya and Daddy named Heimdall, which is kind of cool because Daddy is Freya's person and Mommy is Heimdall's person.  That's the way everyone knew it was going to be, too, because Mommy was Skylar's person and Daddy was Lydia's.  So why wouldn't it be expected that the same would be true for us?  Freya is the Norse goddess of war and beauty, and Heimdall is the Norse god who is the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge.

Once we got home, we came out of our carrier with our tails and heads held high, exploring our new home with all the excitement and wonder that comes with kittenhood!  Our new family greeted us like long-lost friends, and we've been here ever since!

Remembering Skylar....

Skylar, there isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of you and how you lit up our lives.  I dreamt about you, and woke up feeling a presence behind me on the pillow.  No one was there, at least no one living, but I believe you came to visit us so I smiled and said hi to you.

In some ways, it doesn't seem like it could be five years since you left us.  In others, it seems like more than that because our lives have changed so much since then.  Your other mommy, Erin, and your little boy, JJ, are doing fine.  We know you loved them just as much as you loved your daddy and me.  We all tell JJ how you knew he was there before Erin did, and how you used to sit on Erin and purr at him.  I'm so glad that Erin could be with us when we said goodbye to you, hard as that was for all involved, including Dr. C.

You were one special boy, Skylar, and we cherish your memory and the memories of our time with you.  You were so full of life, even at the end when you were so sick.  You kept your word, sending us new twins in the form of Freya & Heimdall, who inherited the same respect from the others as you and Lydia had.  We see your influence in their lives every day, even though you never actually met them.  There's a reason we gave Heimdall your name as his middle name, because his personality matches yours in so many inexplicable ways.  He's sleeping on the computer desk as I'm typing this, dreaming away.

Carbon took over your role in the household when you left, and has become just as much the "bouncer" of the family as you were, keeping peace between the others, although always deferential to Rori, who is still our Big Kitty (alpha).

I'm sure you greeted my mom last year and are taking good care of her, along with the other furries she knew in life.  That gives me some comfort.  I know you're with your beloved sister Lydia, and the others who went to the Bridge.

We miss you so much, dear Skylar, but we're glad to have had the gift of knowing both you and your sister while you lived.  Thank you.

Love,

your mommy Karen.

Happy 10th Gotcha Day, Tabby & Carbon!

Happy 10th Gotcha Day to Tabby and Carbon!  This is a picture of them when they were just a few weeks old, after they came to live with Daddy.  They were in a free kittens cage in Clatskanie, OR, where Daddy grew up.  He and Mommy were driving through on their way to Long Beach, WA, for their first beach trip together, and Mommy saw a sign on the feed store billboard:  Free Kittens.  All the way down and all the way back, Daddy kept asking Mommy to help him remember to stop.  Sure enough, there were two little kittens in the cage on the porch!  Carbon was 5 weeks old and Tabby was 4 weeks old.

Needless to say, the rest was history!  Daddy picked up Carbon while Mommy picked up Tabby, then they switched after a few minutes.  Carbon threw up on the way home, but Tabby loved the trip, even looking out the side window and trying to climb on Daddy (who was driving).

Once at their new home, the little house in SE Portland, Tabby dove headfirst into Mommy's cake while Carbon curled up in Daddy's work boot for a nap!  Later on, after playing, eating, and using the litter box, it got really quiet in the house.  Daddy and Mommy noticed and started looking for the kittens.  They looked everywhere, to no avail, until Daddy had a brainstorm.  He opened the top two drawers of his dresser, and four blinking, sleepy eyes, along with two big yawns, greeted him!  The kittens had climbed up the back of the dresser using the drawers as stairsteps!