- Joined
- Mar 29, 2016
- Messages
- 5
- Purraise
- 1
Hi, my name is Kim and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a member of TCS! I've often arrived at the site in my Google hunt for answers to my kitty questions. I have always received such wise and helpful advice from loving cat people, like myself! And for that, thank you!!
So I guess I should tell you all a little bit about my petting zoo. At the moment, it's just my mum and I plus 2 dogs, 6 cats, and a turtle. You may think that's a lot, but just 5 years ago, we had the 2 dogs, 9 cats, , 1 turtle, 1 fish, and 1 tortoise! But we also had my 2 brothers, (do they count as animals lol), who helped out with the shelled critters. But sadly our 3 old lady cats and Fish have passed since then and not a day goes by that I don't miss them. But the rest of our furry family do keep me busy! With the exception of our beagle and the two shelled family members, all of our pets are rescues. And i still wonder who rescued who? [emoji]10084[/emoji]
Here are our feline furrbabies starting with the oldest: Sterling has become the resident old lady since her momma, Angel, passed away last year. While she didn't inherent Angel's calm and quiet nature (Sterling is quite a noisy talker!), she did get her momma's soft, silky coat and loves to be pet! Then there is some debate whether Squirrel or Willie-bean come next in age because both were originally outside cats that we rescued and brought with us to California from Florida. Squirrel is still timid around people, unless of course you've got treats or lactose-free milk.
And Miss Willie-bean is our one-eyed stray that decided one day back in 2008 that she would adopt us. She is the sweetest little rollie-pollie kitty i've ever met. Even through her recent medical problems that have required twice daily ear cleanings and a shot of bubblegum flavored antibiotics for the past week and a half, she still likes to snuggle up in my arms and purr us both to sleep. Then of course there's my boys, Bradley & Zeus - my life and soul, my reason for being, my loves - a pair of Maine Coon/ Bengal mix brothers that I personally helped bring in to this world. Their mother was a very young, tiny, malnourished stray Bengal that, like the others, decided we would be her new people.
When River, the boys mum, first came to us, she was covered in dirt and fleas having been living in the alley behind our apartment complex. She was obviously not a feral cat, but more likely a sad biproduct of a declining economy and increase in local housing and living expenses. It has become a heartbreaking norm of America these days. Luckily for River, she found us. Once we took her in, fed her and gave her a good scrub and flea treatment, we realized she had a little bit of a bulge in her tummy area. As the days passed with our new housemate, the bulge slowly grew bigger & bigger. My brother and I took River, named after River Phoenix by the way, to the vet to get spayed only to discover we couldn't because the newest member of our feline family was soon gonna have a little family of her own!
Sure enough, soon after, River went into labor, December 31, 2005. Because she was such a young small cat, we were all skeptical that she'd have any live births. And because I had fallen for this little thing, and overly worried about her wellbeing, I decided to stay at home while the rest of my family went out to ring in the new year. I remember phoning my mum throughout the night as River struggled through her labor, one tiny baby kitten after the other. As the clock ticked to and through midnight, I sat there, an astounded and proud midwife. River gave birth to 7, yes 7 healthy kittens! I couldn't be more thrilled! I wanted to keep them all, but because we were living in a tiny two bedroom apartment, that simply wasn't an option (to my dispair). We found all the little kittens good homes, including the runt whom my then fiance decided to take and named Paris, after Paris Hilton.
But sadly, after having her babies, River turned against our other cats and even against her own two kittens that my brother and I were allowed to keep. She was a lover and sweetheart to people, but could not be around other animals. Because we feared for the kittens' safety, we had to put River up for adoption. It was indeed a sad day. But out of that heartache came the biggest joys of my life, my boys. My brother named one the kittens Zeus, thinking he would grow up to be a God, and I named my little ball of fluff Bradley, after the singer of the band Sublime. Funnily enough, Zeus soon chose me as his person, leaving my brothere room for some quality time with his brother. The two have been inseparable since.
I could honestly go on and on and on about these two, but I should probably mention the last member of our kittycaboodle, Annie, or as we refer to her " Little Orphan Annie" who found her way into our home and into our hearts during Tropical Storm Fay in Florida. My family and I have now come to believe that this tiny little rug rat that arrived on our doorstep, crying and soaked to the bone that stormy night is most likely Squirrels offspring. We believe he led her to our door because he knew we'd take care of her. She was obviously the runt of his feral litter. But as the quote goes "She may be little, but she be fierce." And we know she's happy with us by her occasional love bites as she buries her little pink nose into our arms or curls herself up right behind our legs, making sure we don't try to leave her. And of course we never would. We love all of our 4 legged family members, because that is what they are, family. And they have deemed us worthy to be their humans, so we better not let them down.
So I guess I should tell you all a little bit about my petting zoo. At the moment, it's just my mum and I plus 2 dogs, 6 cats, and a turtle. You may think that's a lot, but just 5 years ago, we had the 2 dogs, 9 cats, , 1 turtle, 1 fish, and 1 tortoise! But we also had my 2 brothers, (do they count as animals lol), who helped out with the shelled critters. But sadly our 3 old lady cats and Fish have passed since then and not a day goes by that I don't miss them. But the rest of our furry family do keep me busy! With the exception of our beagle and the two shelled family members, all of our pets are rescues. And i still wonder who rescued who? [emoji]10084[/emoji]
Here are our feline furrbabies starting with the oldest: Sterling has become the resident old lady since her momma, Angel, passed away last year. While she didn't inherent Angel's calm and quiet nature (Sterling is quite a noisy talker!), she did get her momma's soft, silky coat and loves to be pet! Then there is some debate whether Squirrel or Willie-bean come next in age because both were originally outside cats that we rescued and brought with us to California from Florida. Squirrel is still timid around people, unless of course you've got treats or lactose-free milk.
And Miss Willie-bean is our one-eyed stray that decided one day back in 2008 that she would adopt us. She is the sweetest little rollie-pollie kitty i've ever met. Even through her recent medical problems that have required twice daily ear cleanings and a shot of bubblegum flavored antibiotics for the past week and a half, she still likes to snuggle up in my arms and purr us both to sleep. Then of course there's my boys, Bradley & Zeus - my life and soul, my reason for being, my loves - a pair of Maine Coon/ Bengal mix brothers that I personally helped bring in to this world. Their mother was a very young, tiny, malnourished stray Bengal that, like the others, decided we would be her new people.
When River, the boys mum, first came to us, she was covered in dirt and fleas having been living in the alley behind our apartment complex. She was obviously not a feral cat, but more likely a sad biproduct of a declining economy and increase in local housing and living expenses. It has become a heartbreaking norm of America these days. Luckily for River, she found us. Once we took her in, fed her and gave her a good scrub and flea treatment, we realized she had a little bit of a bulge in her tummy area. As the days passed with our new housemate, the bulge slowly grew bigger & bigger. My brother and I took River, named after River Phoenix by the way, to the vet to get spayed only to discover we couldn't because the newest member of our feline family was soon gonna have a little family of her own!
Sure enough, soon after, River went into labor, December 31, 2005. Because she was such a young small cat, we were all skeptical that she'd have any live births. And because I had fallen for this little thing, and overly worried about her wellbeing, I decided to stay at home while the rest of my family went out to ring in the new year. I remember phoning my mum throughout the night as River struggled through her labor, one tiny baby kitten after the other. As the clock ticked to and through midnight, I sat there, an astounded and proud midwife. River gave birth to 7, yes 7 healthy kittens! I couldn't be more thrilled! I wanted to keep them all, but because we were living in a tiny two bedroom apartment, that simply wasn't an option (to my dispair). We found all the little kittens good homes, including the runt whom my then fiance decided to take and named Paris, after Paris Hilton.
But sadly, after having her babies, River turned against our other cats and even against her own two kittens that my brother and I were allowed to keep. She was a lover and sweetheart to people, but could not be around other animals. Because we feared for the kittens' safety, we had to put River up for adoption. It was indeed a sad day. But out of that heartache came the biggest joys of my life, my boys. My brother named one the kittens Zeus, thinking he would grow up to be a God, and I named my little ball of fluff Bradley, after the singer of the band Sublime. Funnily enough, Zeus soon chose me as his person, leaving my brothere room for some quality time with his brother. The two have been inseparable since.
I could honestly go on and on and on about these two, but I should probably mention the last member of our kittycaboodle, Annie, or as we refer to her " Little Orphan Annie" who found her way into our home and into our hearts during Tropical Storm Fay in Florida. My family and I have now come to believe that this tiny little rug rat that arrived on our doorstep, crying and soaked to the bone that stormy night is most likely Squirrels offspring. We believe he led her to our door because he knew we'd take care of her. She was obviously the runt of his feral litter. But as the quote goes "She may be little, but she be fierce." And we know she's happy with us by her occasional love bites as she buries her little pink nose into our arms or curls herself up right behind our legs, making sure we don't try to leave her. And of course we never would. We love all of our 4 legged family members, because that is what they are, family. And they have deemed us worthy to be their humans, so we better not let them down.
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