Howdy all,
My name is Mel and I'm a newbie.
Sicy from Interference (not sure what her handle is here) recommended I join after I posted my tales of saving kitties and such. Though I've been involved with many RL cat groups, I've never joined a board before... So, this is my first.
Anyhoo, I live in Los Angeles, CA but I'm from rural Mass. I have 1 husband and 7 cats.
6 of my kitties are rescues, 5 I rescued myself, and one of those 5 was a bottle-fed baby... He's very close to my heart... long story, but, essentially, well, lol... Shall I begin the tale here?
I grew up surrounded by cats. My Grammy had several farm cats and my Mum had indoor cats. After college I met & fell in love with Jeremy and we moved 3,000 miles away from home. I was very lonely here and Jeremy was working on a film that happened to be shooting in a pet shop. He brought home a tiny white kitty. Jer dropped him into my lap, but that lil bugger leapt right up and ran back and forth across the room so fast he looked like a comet, hence his name is Comet. He is now my 20 pound buddy! lol.. I'll post pics later after I figure this site out a lil better.
After Comet we brought home a beautiful adult tortie, Lucy, who, quite literally, picked us. And we thought that was it: 2 cats. However, we noticed an old Tom cat on our porch and decided to feed him. He was a Scottish fold, of all things. We had no clue how to rescue cats at the time, so we just tried to make him as comfortable as possible in his last few years roaming the streets of LA. Shortly after that a gray tiger moved in. We called her Stripe and tried unsuccessfully to catch her... She produced at least 4 litters before she left us. (She had blood dripping from her mouth. We tried again to catch her, this time with a rented trap, but she was too smart/quick.)
But we did our best to catch & foster her kittens. I accidentally caught Zoe, a fluffy gray girl. We never saw her siblings. Then, while I was back East, Jeremy caught Bastion, whom he thought was a boy, and tried to clean her eyes. She had a terrible infection. But I wasn't home and he wasn't sure what to do, so he let her back out. By the time I got home, she had learned too well how to avoid being caught, though she stuck close to Stripe the rest of her days. (We now have Bastion, thank god. After Stripe passed, Bastion was easy to catch. We tried to do a TNR, but she wouldn't leave our porch or stop crying. We opened the porch door and she came in. She hates us humans, but we love & care for her.)
Bastion was Stripe's "helper mom" and would bring us sickly kittens, as she somehow got it in her head we could save them. The first was a tiger named Tiki. I spent 2 weeks trying to save her. I learned everything I could on bottle feeding kittens and such. Spent a lot of time and money at the vet's, but her little body just wasn't strong enough. (In the meantime Bastion brought us other "kittens," but, well, there was nothing we could do for them, aside providing a proper burial... Poor things...) Anyway, on mother's day, Tiki passed. That very day, Bastion brought us another sick, but alive all black baby. I made it my goal in life to save this cat. Today he is a healthy, wonderful, smart black boy, Satchel. He's the one who is very special to me. I barely slept & didn't work during the critical first 2 weeks... *sigh* I'm so glad he made it.
After Satchel, we resolved to learn how to properly catch Stripe & fix her, but, alas, it didn't work and she had one more litter right before she passed. We did catch those kittens, took them to the vet for everything, and fostered them. One died at the vet's. Of the remaining 3, we found a home for one, and had the other 2 so long that we fell in love and decided to keep them, lol.
Wow. I did not mean to ramble on so in my first post here.
So, I'll close with that abbreviated tale of my kitties, from eldest to youngest, Lucy, Comet, Zoe, Bastion, Satchel, Larry, & Gia.
Cheers!
-Mel
PS: We are currently trying to catch a new Tom that has moved in... An orange & white little guy who told me his name was Julius, as well as another tiger that we call Owly (she won't tell me her name). *crosses fingers* Jeremy bought a raccoon trap, so we're hoping this'll be easier/better than having a limited time rental.
My name is Mel and I'm a newbie.
Sicy from Interference (not sure what her handle is here) recommended I join after I posted my tales of saving kitties and such. Though I've been involved with many RL cat groups, I've never joined a board before... So, this is my first.
Anyhoo, I live in Los Angeles, CA but I'm from rural Mass. I have 1 husband and 7 cats.
I grew up surrounded by cats. My Grammy had several farm cats and my Mum had indoor cats. After college I met & fell in love with Jeremy and we moved 3,000 miles away from home. I was very lonely here and Jeremy was working on a film that happened to be shooting in a pet shop. He brought home a tiny white kitty. Jer dropped him into my lap, but that lil bugger leapt right up and ran back and forth across the room so fast he looked like a comet, hence his name is Comet. He is now my 20 pound buddy! lol.. I'll post pics later after I figure this site out a lil better.
After Comet we brought home a beautiful adult tortie, Lucy, who, quite literally, picked us. And we thought that was it: 2 cats. However, we noticed an old Tom cat on our porch and decided to feed him. He was a Scottish fold, of all things. We had no clue how to rescue cats at the time, so we just tried to make him as comfortable as possible in his last few years roaming the streets of LA. Shortly after that a gray tiger moved in. We called her Stripe and tried unsuccessfully to catch her... She produced at least 4 litters before she left us. (She had blood dripping from her mouth. We tried again to catch her, this time with a rented trap, but she was too smart/quick.)
But we did our best to catch & foster her kittens. I accidentally caught Zoe, a fluffy gray girl. We never saw her siblings. Then, while I was back East, Jeremy caught Bastion, whom he thought was a boy, and tried to clean her eyes. She had a terrible infection. But I wasn't home and he wasn't sure what to do, so he let her back out. By the time I got home, she had learned too well how to avoid being caught, though she stuck close to Stripe the rest of her days. (We now have Bastion, thank god. After Stripe passed, Bastion was easy to catch. We tried to do a TNR, but she wouldn't leave our porch or stop crying. We opened the porch door and she came in. She hates us humans, but we love & care for her.)
Bastion was Stripe's "helper mom" and would bring us sickly kittens, as she somehow got it in her head we could save them. The first was a tiger named Tiki. I spent 2 weeks trying to save her. I learned everything I could on bottle feeding kittens and such. Spent a lot of time and money at the vet's, but her little body just wasn't strong enough. (In the meantime Bastion brought us other "kittens," but, well, there was nothing we could do for them, aside providing a proper burial... Poor things...) Anyway, on mother's day, Tiki passed. That very day, Bastion brought us another sick, but alive all black baby. I made it my goal in life to save this cat. Today he is a healthy, wonderful, smart black boy, Satchel. He's the one who is very special to me. I barely slept & didn't work during the critical first 2 weeks... *sigh* I'm so glad he made it.
After Satchel, we resolved to learn how to properly catch Stripe & fix her, but, alas, it didn't work and she had one more litter right before she passed. We did catch those kittens, took them to the vet for everything, and fostered them. One died at the vet's. Of the remaining 3, we found a home for one, and had the other 2 so long that we fell in love and decided to keep them, lol.
Wow. I did not mean to ramble on so in my first post here.
Cheers!
-Mel
PS: We are currently trying to catch a new Tom that has moved in... An orange & white little guy who told me his name was Julius, as well as another tiger that we call Owly (she won't tell me her name). *crosses fingers* Jeremy bought a raccoon trap, so we're hoping this'll be easier/better than having a limited time rental.
