Hello from Tybalt and I!

I stumbled across this forum through googling random cat things. I'm not totally sure which cat thing in particular lead me here, because before I knew it, I found myself lurking and boy did I feel embarrassed! I was lurking pretty fierce too; I bet I had a goofy, zealous look on my face! I felt like I was getting into everyone's personal business uninvited, so here's a little of my pers biz:

I'm just a disabled mom living with my 4yo daughter and my handsome pibald/tuxedo, Tybalt, whom I affectionately call 'the suit,' or just 'Tybs'- but only in casual situations, he's got to keep his composure! He's a service cat after all! Yes, he is my emotional support animal, but if cats could qualify as official service animals, he'd be one, for sure. He walks very well on a leash and harness (could be better, but I think the harness might be a bit warm on his winter coat, so I don't blame him), he sits, stays, looks directly at me, follows me right by my side even when I'm not holding his leash, and even gives me high-fives and kisses. Sorry, I had to brag on him there a bit. He's been with me for only four months, and he's already alerted and assisted me with two attacks, so I'm very emotional about him. If you or anyone you know has severe PTSD, you'll know the passage of time works a little differently for us sometimes, so it really feels like he's been with me a much longer time. It's just that we bonded so hard, so fast, and started training from day one (mainly because I wanted to see right away if he was susceptible to service training). Now, keep in mind, he was not bred as a medical alert or PTSD assistant animal, nor was he bred at all. For personal reasons, I don't support breeders. I actually took him in from my mother's feral colony.

In April, his mother, a lovely calico, joined the colony looking for food because she was ripe with kittens, ready to explode- poor thing. She still hasn't gotten spayed yet, but as soon as she can be humanely captured, my mother plans to. The kittens were easy to snag, but she's very skiddish. All her kittens were calicos, tuxedos, or torbies. So pretty! And oh so intelligent! I had actually planned to take his brother the day I took him in, but his brother wanted nothing to do with me, while Tybalt, who never had interest in me, followed me and cried the whole time I was looking for his brother in the house.

He just does so much for me, and is always right by my side, ready to please, watching intently, and wanting to know I'm okay. (He's actually laying on my feet right now- such a good feet warmer!) He nuzzles me harder than any cat I've ever met, pulls his paws around me when I hug him, and is always talking to me. He is everything I could have ever asked for in a cat and so much more. I just wish he wouldn't try to clean my hair when I sleep! :lol3:

He's so big too! Sheesh! Ten months old and nearly 9 pounds! He's not overweight, barely even fat. His muscles are just so solid. I think he'll favor his suspected older brother, affectionately known as Bagheera, who is a monsterous, panther-like cat. I say suspected, because while the mother was a never before seen 'spare cat' (or polite nickname for dumped cats- it happens a lot in the country), Tybalt and his siblings have the signature face of Bagheera and his nearly equally monsterous father, a very clever and trap evading black-coated wild cat.

Well, enough about us. The lot of you are probably gagging over my sappiness. I just have to vent how much I love this dude sometimes or I'll explode. He's really my best friend!

Gag over your sappiness?  Not on your life!  Since you've been lurking awhile, you know we can never boast too much about our feline overlords.  Tybalt does sound like the perfect cat for you - it's fantastic he's learned so much, so quickly.  Do you have any pictures of him?  I bet he's gorgeous. It's sweet how he chose you.  It's remarkable how many times that happens.  Anyway, a big welcome to TCS!  

I do have pictures of him, but this site has me flipped on my head! I somehow switched from mobile to desktop and can't figure out how to get it back. I tried uploading pictures to my album but due to the awkward layout disruption of the desktop version of the site, I can't figure out how to get back to add more! :lol3:

I feel kind of silly. I would never have problems on a computer, but cell phones make me feel so goofy! Let me see if I can add an image to this post without dropping my phone on my face!

He's gorgeous!  And what a sweet, expectant face.  It looks like he was waiting for you to drop a treat in his mouth.  

Just in case you didn't figure it out already, scroll down to the bottom of the page on your phone and you'll see two buttons side by side - Mobile and Desktop.  Just select Mobile.  Not every page can be seen in Mobile mode, but you should have no problem with this one.

I swear I looked all across and around the bottom for a button but never saw one! Thank you! That's worlds better! (Though it did breifly log me out when I switched, hm.)

I wish he was a treat eater, because I have a drawer full of them of various brands and he doesn't care for any of them. His favorite rewards for training seems to be pets and love. I've even tried cheese crumbs and meat pinches, but nothing makes him smile like a "good boy" and an enthusiastic rub down.

Oh wait, the look is probably because I had turned on the fan for the overhead light. He still stares at the fan when it's starting up as if they were nemesis in a past life! [emoji]128514[/emoji]

Either that or I sneezed. I can't rightly remember! Either way, it's one of my favorites because you can see his 'hair lip' stripe.

Welcome to the forums. I also lurked here for ages before finally asking myself, why don't you just register? Major procrastinator here. lol

Tybalt sounds amazing. That nickname is great. The Suit. I can definitely see a cat being a service animal. My cat Bodhi has totally saved my sanity many many times. I've had two cats. My first cat TIgger ( i know...so lame..lol...I was only 10 when we got her though..lol)  was a bit more aloof as far as personality, but my current cat Bodhi is very tuned in to my moods. It's almost like he can predict a panic attack before I even have it....which seems impossible, but there must be something he picks up on.  Almost like he has an extra sense that humans don't. It really helps, that's for sure. He had a feral mother also. Someone caught the mother and kittens at 5 weeks and brought them into the shelter. They got the kittens used to humans early enough that they didn't go feral too.

My sister had a cat, Leon, he would let you walk him on a leash. It was crazy. lol I mean now, you do hear about quite a few people that train their cats to do that, but this was back in the mid/late 70's. People would just stare when you had a cat on a leash walking through a park. lol They were like....what??? Leon was part dog. There's just no other way to explain it. I've never even been able to get a collar on Bodhi.

That's really nice that your mother takes care of those ferals. There's a feral cat that I've seen around my neighborhood for years. I've tried putting out food in my backyard when I see her but I think something else usually  ends up eating it. I just feel horrible in the winter when the temps drop. I'm thinking she must find shelter someplace because she looks healthy whenever I see her.

I think Tybalt is going to be huge. I'll have to see what my cat weighed at that age. He hovers around 16lbs now as an adult. Which seems heavy to me, but the vet said for his body size he is ok as far as weight goes.

Tigger is far from lame. I've had a Nermal, a Gandolf the Grey, a Tolkien, a Stollen (because he would curl up like a loaf)... And now Tybalt, named after the midieval equivalent of Felix the cat, Tybalt, or Tibert, the cat- The same cat that Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet was teased for having the name of. Yes. I'm like... 'Book nerd' levels of lame if you are 'basic lame.' [emoji]128514[/emoji][emoji]128514[/emoji][emoji]128514[/emoji]

I'm not sure what it is, but kittens from feral mothers seem to be truly unique cats. My mother has been tending spare cats since we were kids, and it was just our luck that when we finally moved to the country, we had a large enough home for all the abandonees we'd soon share our home with. Sooo many cats get left out there. We're all bleeding hearts. My whole family. We've rehabilitated and fostered so many animals, and some you might not believe!

That's a good place to look for inspiration for cat names. Those classic fantasy novels would be a treasure trove of cool names. Cats always have that otherworldly quality. I knew that name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. Romeo and Juliet.

That would have been a great way to grow up. With all the animals around. I bet you did end up caring for all kinds of different creatures. All kinds of stuff would be living out there.

Oh my gosh, I did. My life was rough and we were always very poor (I sure still am), but my books and animals really made my life worth living. Honestly, I always thought if myself as more of a dog person than a cat person, but cats just always loved me more than dogs. In fact, when I first moved into my apartment, it was with a very old grey rat named Nicodemus who was more of a dog to me than any dog I've met. I was known to the kids as "the rat lady", and they all mourned with me when he passed. He was a rescue that had been so badly taken care of that his life was nearly cut in half. When I was prescribed a service animal by my psychiatrist, I was actually kind of afraid I'd never find an animal friend like that ratter, and though I know Tybalt can't fill the hole Nicodemus made when he left, he is certainly making it easier and oh so much more. I would love to make a thread about cats as service animals go share with everyone, but I'm not sure where to put it here. Maybe I need to lurk more. Hehe.

Tybalt is a handsome dude. I love his socks and how one whisker pad is white and one is black.

Oh yeah....I hear ya on the books...definitely.

Rats seem really intelligent....I wanted a rat after seeing Charlotte's Web. I loved Templeton.. My mom put the kibosh on that though. Dad couldn't even convince her. lol...One of the neighbors sons raised guinea pigs so I adopted one of those. We made a bottomless cage that you could stake into the grass in the backyard. She was like a living lawnmower. Loved eating grass. You just had to move the cage daily into a fresh area. Definitely cut down on lawn mowing.

I would say probably the  behavior section....for a cat as service animal thread....although there might be another one where it would fit too....Someone else might read our messages and have a better idea.

Haha! I thought my family was the only one that said 'kibosh.' I feel less unusual. [emoji]128568[/emoji]

Rats take a lot of work- socializing, cleaning, dietary ethics, neotic activity, etc. I did not know what I was getting into when I rescued him. I genuinely thought he'd be similar to mice or squirrels I've reared, but I was so wrong! No wonder fantasy pins them as devious! They are really crafty creatures! You can learn a lot from them, and they can teach you a lot about yourself. Rats are a genuine experience!

Thank you for your complements! Tybalt's a dreamboat and he knows it. Spoiled rotten to the core!

You're welcome.

LOL Kibosh and "bad egg"...two of the many strange terms my parents would use. I always figured maybe it was some sort of midwestern thing or maybe something the German immigrants brought over and translated back in the day.....Most of my friends had no idea what it meant if they heard my parents saying it..lol

We say and do a lot of things that have German origin in my family, but that's because our family came from German immigrants! I never thought that kibosh had a German origin, though it could be. It also sounds Yiddish. I'll have to look that up later! Our family's culture is a unique mix of Choctaw and German with deep south tones. I'd imagine we're pretty strange to most Midwesterners, but it's good to see we're not too different! Hehe!

Same here on my dad's side of the family. .... You were right.....looks like it could be Yiddish. One site has a similar Yiddish word and another says it was first mentioned in a DIckens story...which would be English.  Cool.

Welcome!
Tybalt looks so cute it's great that he's so cue'ed into you--it sounds like you have a special partnership.

Glad you're a part of TCS! That's not sappiness, but you just explaining things as they are. Tybs is such a beautiful cat!

welcome to the site!

bodester413 said:

Same here on my dad's side of the family. .... You were right.....looks like it could be Yiddish. One site has a similar Yiddish word and another says it was first mentioned in a DIckens story...which would be English.  Cool.

Click to expand...

Ha-ha, Dickens huh? Then there's no telling. It could be an American southern-ism based off of Yiddish or German that migrated because of Dickens, but even then, who knows?! The English language has a lot of words that have seemingly no other origin than "something those crazy Americans started saying." We're so weird! [emoji]128569[/emoji]

lol So true.