(Pics) Some Hard-Knock Cats Joining the Team

minionofpandora

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Hey guys.

I'm the underling of three (soon to be five) cats. Not a single entity in this household has had it easy, but we do our best to make each others' lives easier. Mostly.


This is Azuma and Lily. We refer to them as "the black team," as they've been together the longest and both have black fur.


Azuma, the big fluffy Norwegian Forest cat... was found in a tree as a kitten around a college. The kids there were throwing things at him, so my partner's brother took him away. Unfortunately, his asshole friend kept intentionally scaring him. He's skittish around people as a result, but a sweetheart once you get to know him. He's 8 years old, gigantic, and we're still not entirely certain he's done growing.


Lily is a squawky mackerel tabby. She is a cheese and starch enthusiast, and despite her size also the stealthiest cat of all. Azuma's human adopted her from the local shelter in 2007 to keep Azuma company. Lily had been tossed in a dog pen when they found her, and for years was obsessively pursuing attention. She's calmed down a lot since, especially after this household became two-human. There was one (ONE) incident where a fellow extrovert was able to give her all the patting she needed and more. She turns 9 either in late February or March.


Dorian Gray was the most recent addition. We bought a house. He came screaming down the street as a kitten. Poor guy had a cigarette burn on his neck. After frantically looking for something to feed the then-stunted skin and bones kitten, it only dawned on me that we'd been adopted after he finished... and just stared up expectantly. He looks skinny, but he weighs a ton. He turns 2 in July.


Last (and certainly not least) is Pandora, this account's namesake. She was a spitfire cat through and through - by far one of the most graceful and spacial-gifted cats I've ever witnessed. There was no learning period: she was just born flying. She's also the tiniest cat we've ever known - I suspect she was the "runt" of the litter.

The other cats often tried to imitate her: she was the softest, most well groomed, and a trendsetter. Dorian has flung himself accidentally off many a narrow ledge; Azuma tried to imitate her Olympic catbox-ridge balancing act (she slapped him and he knocked the entire box over); Lily flings her leg up in the air now when she cleans; they all clean much  more frequently now. Azuma and Lily didn't really jump before her: I remember Azuma deliberating for a solid two minutes whether to jump over the recycling or not, and then spending another 20 seconds amping himself up to the decision. He can now jump onto a desk.

She was keen and wise... and also enjoyed frightening the living **** out of the others. When she chased them, Azuma would make the "I'm going to puke" meow. It took five vets to hold her down for an exam.

She taught Dorian how to clean his butt after terrifying him by doing it for  him. Dorian has never been that still before or since. We are forever grateful.

She enjoyed being a cat gymnast, keeping everyone else in line, being the Meow Queen, eating ham and cold cuts out of the other end of your sandwich, angel food cake (seriously, first time I had some in the same house of her she came RUNNING a floor up, screaming for it), and being around people on her terms.

Unfortunately, her origins were from an indoor smoking household - and like every single other cat in that household, met her end with cancer. She would have been 15 in April.

________________

We're still grieving Pandora's loss. We planned to save one cat from the shelter after her passing (getting the proper vaccinations this weekend)... but, seeing that said cat has a friend (and that those cats seriously need adopting), we're going with the buddy system and bringing two to their forever homes. Their need is urgent, and one of those cats I'm pretty sure Pandora would approve of - she's tiny, graceful, and has an impossibly high voice.
 

rickr

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What beautiful cats and amazing photos.  So sorry to hear about Pandora; she sounds like a wonderful cat that brought you and your family much joy. Welcome.
 
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minionofpandora

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Thank you, Rick. She is exactly as you described her.

Speaking of photos, we should probably take more of those.
 

Mamanyt1953

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PLEASE MORE PICS!  What a beautiful fur family you have, and what wonderful stories to go with them.  It's stuff like that that keeps me believing in humanity.  But yes, MORE PICS!!!
 

rickr

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<snip> Speaking of photos, we should probably take more of those.
Most definitely.  Sadly, I learned that lesson the hard way.  My girlfriend was always nagging me to take pictures of our chocolate brown, Mr. Bosco.  I kept putting it off.  There didn't seem to be any rush.  Although elderly, Bosco was in good health.  And I'm fundamentally lazy.  Then suddenly, Bosco passed.  Besides sadness, I was filled with regret for not taking the time to photograph him to help preserve his memory.  

On a more positive note the experience led me to taking many pictures of my current companions, Archie and Lucy.  Please don't make the same mistake that I made.
 

mommawolf

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Isn't it funny how gray cats weigh one million times more than they look?! You'd think they were made of steel! [emoji]128568[/emoji]
 

kittywooo

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Oh such beautiful cats and wonderful photos and text! Your descriptions of them are really enchanting. They sound like such characters. So sorry for the loss of Pandora she sounds like one in a million.
 

kittywooo

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Really interesting the comment about the cats from a smoking household all ending up dying of cancer. There's alot of info about danger of passive smoking to other humans but nothing really about the dangers to domestic pets.
There really should be media campaigns and more awareness of the dangers of smoking around animals. I have been concerned about this issue for years.
Although I am a smoker, I only smoke outside my house because of my two cats. I'm sure it must be harmful to pets esp with their smaller lungs and lung capacity. Also I hate the smell of stale smoke indoors.
I know someone who smokes like a chimney indoors and has house cats and dogs and the poor things seem to hate it. They dart away as soon as cigarette is lit in the same room. I dread to think what the tobacco carcinogens are doing to their bodies...
 

mommawolf

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Really interesting the comment about the cats from a smoking household all ending up dying of cancer. There's alot of info about danger of passive smoking to other humans but nothing really about the dangers to domestic pets.
There really should be media campaigns and more awareness of the dangers of smoking around animals. I have been concerned about this issue for years.
Although I am a smoker, I only smoke outside my house because of my two cats. I'm sure it must be harmful to pets esp with their smaller lungs and lung capacity. Also I hate the smell of stale smoke indoors.
I know someone who smokes like a chimney indoors and has house cats and dogs and the poor things seem to hate it. They dart away as soon as cigarette is lit in the same room. I dread to think what the tobacco carcinogens are doing to their bodies...
I couldn't give up my nicotine, and smoked outdoors, not just because it was an apartment policy, but because I too hated the stale, acrid smoke left behind- even as a smoker. I discovered electronic vaping, and now, I feel so much better, not to mention it's safer for those around me and I can vape indoors when it's cold or there's bad weather. I get over colds so much faster too, because it's like having a tiny vaporozer- well, that's what it is. Not to mention the research has proven that the nicotine exhaled is so negligible that it's nearly untraceable, even to very sophisticated machinery, and even then, because it's attached to glycerin particles, the nicotine molecules degrade almost immediately in the air. This would be very important for people who care for birds, as birds are most damaged by nicotine and the other chemicals in cigarette emissions. I can't imagine what the damage to cats could be, but I have rescued kittens born in households of several indoor smokers who all had URIs, and even nearly sealed eyes. So sad... I can't imagine what their AC filters looked like, or even if they changed them at all!
 
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