Childhood Cats

After spending about 1/2 an hour on my initial post and me showing up as not signed in after I hit "submit"...argh, WHAT??? ARGH....here I go again.

I recently found my old cat album that I made in college. I scanned a few pix of my most memorable childhood cats. Sadly these were all outdoor cats. With the exception of Duffy who lived a remarkable 18 years, the others all had shortened lifespans.

This one was Skipper. He showed up as a kitten with his litter sister. We had him a rather amazing 8 years, for being a Tomcat (look at those cheeks..bad owners!).


Here is Freddy our Maine Coon-alike. He wandered into our lives by showing up as an adult neuter. We started feeding him and the rest was history! He was a big SWEETHEART of a cat; he chirped and chattered and his meow sounded like this: "Ngeng!" so cute! He is probably my all time favorite cat. We had him four years. I have a feeling he was already an older cat (more so than we realized at the time).


We got Jesse from my sister's high school friend. He was a great cat also. Here it looks like I wanted to take him, my new kitten, to school with me in my purse!


Freddy and Jesse were the BEST of friends...slept together and played together and were wonderful pets. I only wish they could have been together longer. They still break my heart. We only had Jesse about a year. Something terrible happened to him involving some neighborhood teenage boys THAT was a terrible grief for me which I'll never forget.


This was Duffy our beautiful but later rather cantankerous brown classic tabby and white DLH. He had Cattitude! And..he lived the longest..a remarkable 18 years. He stayed with my parents after I moved out and was their cat for several more years.



It was the 70's back then. I wanted the cats to stay inside, but I was a kid and dems was da rules. Later I taught my parents to keep cats inside. Things change. My dad is now a BIG MUSH re: HIS cat...a Himalayan whom he carries around and baby-talks to... He loves that cat.

My family did not have a cat until I was about 11 or so. Before that I had a lot of small pets (hamsters, etc) and we had a dog (and then 2 dogs after my grandmother died and we took in her dog.)
Then when I was 11 or so my sister's friend had to find a new home for her cat. She had moved in with her fiance and one of her cats Sylvia did not get along with his cat, since Sylvia was the "more recent" one they decided to find her a home, so my sister said we'd take her. Sylvia was a stray before they got her, she actually walked in my sister's friend's house one day when her own black cat was missing!
Sylvia somehow ended up being primarily my brother's cat though. She did not like other animals, hated our dog and later when I rescued some stray cats she really hated them too... She was friendly with us but most people didn't even know we had a cat because she would not come out of hiding if any guests were over. Sylvia was a really pretty black cat, she looked somewhat like a panther or wildcat. We had Sylvia for about 10 years, she passed away of mammary cancer when she was maybe 15-18, since she was a stray no one knew her exact age.






Then the summer before I started high school, a friend called me and told me her neighbor had brought her a litter of kittens, they had been born under their garage but abandoned. Of course since I was the "animal expert" in the neighborhood she brought them to me. It was a litter of 3 kittens. I ended up raising them, bottlefeeding and all. That was how I started high school, with a litter of kittens (luckily for me our school's start was delayed due to construction so by the time it started the kittens didn't need as frequent feedings!)
These are the kittens. I named them Simba(orange), Nala(pointed) and Christine(brown tabby). I really wanted to keep the Siamese-looking (pointed) kitten Nala but my mom wouldn't let me.

Awwww, I love looking at people's childhood cats. I don't have any pictures of mine, unfortunately. All the childhood babies look super sweet!

Those were great pics and very nice stories of your kitties. I wish I had a way to scan pics of my Sydney into the computer. He was my love.

ETA I found a couple more pictures.

We always had one or two cats around when I was growing up. Now my mom claims to hate cats. *sigh*

Tam was the cat my mom had when I was born. Sometime when I was very young, like two or three, Tam never came back home. I don't remember her at all.


Then we had Skeeter. Skeeter was a black and white male cat.




Skeeter sitting in my doll highchair.


I can't remember what happened to Skeeter, but after he left/died we got Mitzi. Mitzi was a tortie.

Mitzi had a few litters of kittens. One of her kittens was a flame point that my mom named Lola (a male). Lola was MY cat. When Lola was about a year or two old he was hit by a car and my mom found him in our driveway. My dad rushed him to the vet but he died. I was devastated and cried for days.
You can see Mitzi's feet in this picture, Lola is white with one of his litter mates.




Here I have Lola dressed up in a dolls outfit and have him in my baby sister's carseat. lol




Here he is a bit older


I can't find any pictures of Mitzi, but I have a few of Tina, who we got after Lola died. Tina was a torbie. Tiny had allergies and licked all the fur off of her legs b/c they itched so bad. Mitzi and Tina both lived long lives.
Me, my sister, and our cousin. I'm holding Tina.


Tina hated it when I played the violin.




When I was in 8th grade I went with my friend to visit her grandmother for the weekend in another town. While we were there we found this mangy stray kitten, who was maybe 4-5 weeks old? He was covered in fleas, had an upper respiratory infection, a double ear infection, ear mites, and was very under weight. I convinced my friend's parents to let me bring him home, and he puked in their truck on the way back. This is all without asking my mom first. We get home and she is very mad but lets me keep him. We got him all fixed up and he turned out to be a gorgeous cat with almost chocolate colored, thick soft fur. His official name was Scooter, but I called him Baby b/c that's what he was, my baby. He had horrible allergies though, and was constantly sneezing thick green snot all over everything. When I was 19 he developed an abcessed tooth, and started loosing weight b/c he couldn't eat. The vet wouldn't remove the tooth until he gained a bit of weight and energy, but we couldn't get him to eat ANYTHING. I even tried syringe feeding him but he wouldn't swallow it. It was a terrible catch 22. One day while I was at work my mom took him and put him to sleep without telling me. I was so mad and so upset. I cried and cried.

Awww what adorable pictures. ^_^ I hope it's okay to share some of mine! Although they are mostly horror stories, I still loved them to pieces!!

My first cat ever was a stray, and a beautiful calico if you'd believe it!

Snickers:
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...ory-1-23011767

Milky came a few months later from one of those "Free kittens" signs
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...ory-2-23011658
Named for her milk moustache.

A long while after Snickers and Milky my parents let me adopt Xerox
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...Xerox-23010171

But about a year or so later my mother also made me get rid of her and an entire litter of black kittens. She was tired of the kittens... (Although it was her fault for not getting her spayed and letting her outside!! What did she expect to happen?)

What eventually became my brother's cat Noodles, that also went away with Xerox
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...odles-23112640

Of course, me being sneaky as ever and unbeknownst to my mother, I kept two kittens from Xerox's litter

Goober, who became the sweetest most affectionate cat ever
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/art/Goober-38513888
And his sister Gumdrop
http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...mdrop-38688260


Alas I don't know what happened to Gumdrop as she became my brother's cat too which automatically meant that she was ward to my Mother's wrath.

But let me tell you... I wasn't having anymore of her nonsense. When I moved out at 19 I took the cat with me. My heart still breaks when I think of Goober, I still cry for him because he was the first cat that was really mine, and it was so hard to give him up.

There is a very long backstory as to why Goober had to go, and I've never ever cried so hard in my life. I think our roommates thought I was insane when they heard me crying for my kitty.


Of course now I have the Bean, who is a great cat! And never ever ever going anywhere. Because I think it took the heartbreak that Cody had to see me go through with Goober to teach him just how much of a connection I have with my cats.

It's not the same though, does anyone ever feel that? Goober was like my best friend and what I thought would be my lifelong pal! I loved him. Like really really loved him. Bean Bean will never live up to that legacy, and I don't think any cat I ever have will.

http://necromania001.deviantart.com/...y-Fur-48109945

Ok first I want to say that not only do I love the photos, but you have to love the 70's floor coverings!

I'll scan in photos of my only 2 child hood cats when I get home, but Smokey can be seen in my Avatar.