I'm Sorry, But We're Gonna Have To Let You Go

My brother had two cats, Hunter and Oreo. He moved from Tampa back to California with our parents. Since he couldn't find a place for his cats, I told him we'd take them (what's 2 more, right?). However, after about 3 months of cleaning up marking (urine) all over the house and those two fighting with others (maybe we just had too many males), we kicked them outside in the backyard. I left a food bowl and water. They meowed a bunch that night. By morning, they were both gone. We saw Hunter about a month or two later, but never again. Oreo still lives outside and we continue to give him food and water. Sometimes when we go on walks, he'll come along with us like he's a dog. During the "cold" months, we leave the garage open a bit so he can sleep in there. He's a fun outside cat and Zack loves him. He'll even call for him- "O-woe!"




















Here you can see Oreo outside the window in front of our house.

Happy Mother's Day!

One of my co-workers knew someone with kittens. Her husband and good friend both told her that she was NOT allowed to give us or offer us any more cats. She discussed it with me and I told her that Amy would love a kitten. (I never let her get the kittens because no one would adopt the adults.) They were old enough to be taken from their mother around Mother's Day. She brought over the 7-week-old kitten, and in honor of my co-worker, we named her Katie. It didn't take her long to adjust to the cat house and turn into a crazy cat.
















































































































Katie still loves licking out the cereal bowls. She usually has to fight Max and Tornado for it though.

Finally- Something besides a cat

Here are some family box turtles. The top one is Boxette (Anthony's) and the other two are Box (Pat's- got him when he turned 8). These guys are so much easier to take care of than the cats. Actually, we have to fill up the sink with water for Boxette and give her food from time to time. But we don't do anything for Box- he eats cat food and drinks from their water dish also; very self-sufficient.

Number 12

Missy has a fun story. I bike to work every morning and I found a flashlight knocked down on the floor. I put it back, thinking it was a bit weird that it wasn't on its shelf. What was really weird was the next morning when the event was replayed. There had to be a real explanation and there's no such things as ghosts. Later that day, Amy had gone into the garage to get something. She came back in and closed the door. After a while, she saw the cats getting closer to the door and then she heard some meowing from the garage. Figuring one of the cats got locked in the garage by accident, she opened the door. To her surprise, this cat she'd never seen before ran into the house. She was recently spayed (as was evident by her shaved belly) and she had a tattoo there too. We looked around the nearby neighborhoods for lost cat signs, only to find none. We still have no idea how she got into our garage as we never leave it up when we're not out there. I think she might have climbed up under the car when Amy was at work and got a ride home from the hospital. We'll never know. But she enjoys being here.

Almost Lost One

We frequently let the cats out into the backyard. They love eating the grass, having a different place to explore, and catching insects (if it's the right time of year). Sometimes they get scared for various reasons (usually loud noises from cars). If they don't have a window or door open, they might try another way to escape the impending doom. We counted cats after one such episode and couldn't find Gracie. Then we heard her and Amy got up on the fence to help her down.

Feeding Frenzy

You can see the counter full of plates. Most of them aren't good at sharing, so they usually have to get their own plates. You'll also notice that there are 12 cats.

I apparently left the cupboards open too long and turned my back. Chunk felt there must've been something important in there.

Another Addition

This is Max. He came by (outside) one night. We left out some meat for him and he gobbled it down before we could even get back into the house. So we put more out with the same result. I took him into the garage and cleaned his ears out, and he was amazingly calm. A neighbor told us that some other neighbor had let him go because they couldn't afford him anymore. I talked with Amy about it, and needless to say, we upped our limit to 11 (which was to change soon). Max fit in really well with the rest of the cats.














I like to help the cleaning up process by licking the grease from hamburgers. Mmmmm, that really hits the spot. I've caught Tornado doing this too.

Here's one of many feeding frenzies. The mere sound of opening up a can caused all the cats to flock to the kitchen in hopes of getting some food.









There's nothing quite as comfortable as sleeping with two cats in front of your face.



If I had a choice, I don't ever think I'd want to sleep like this.

A Cat's Two Favorite Things

No matter how small the box, a cat will always sleep in it. Here we see Chunk unsuccessfully squeezing into a box yet sleeping in it anyway.

Yet another food to add to Tornado's list.