Why we love our cats! Valentine's Day Special Giveaway

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DeeDee is for today! our petite DeeDee is a gorgeous almost all black cat -- she's got a white spot on her chest, a white bikini on her lower tummy, and a few white hairs in each kitty armpit! i affectionately call her my little spitfire. when we, Dude and i, adopted DeeDee (and Punky, together) she was wearing a pink collar with a bell on it. we quickly figured out why she wore the collar with a bell, which was because she's a very high-spirited girl! as a kitten (5 1/2 months on up to almost 1 year old), DeeDee earned herself the middle name 'Trouble'. She's a very curious girl, and has gotten into all sorts of trouble......   both DeeDee and our Punky are chewers, and DeeDee was the one who chewed through the phone system adapter/power cord. she also knocked over a 12 pack of soda pop, causing a couple cans to rupture......spraying sticky, sugary soda pop all over one room of our home......   -- that took a while to get cleaned up. she's much less into trouble now that she's an adult kitty, but still runs and plays with happy abandon! but Dude, Punky, and i love that our DeeDee is so very high-spirited. 

our petite DeeDee is also an incredibly loving and affectionate girl! she's never more happy and contented than when she's snuggling and/or being given pets, scritchins, grooming from our Dude and Punky, or simply being held in any of our arms. 

i think what i love the most about our petite girl is that she has filled the void for our Dude that my little Snick left in him.

I love Robin because he's Kind, and thoroughly devoted to using his rare vocals to my getting to bed on time and getting up on time. He runs my house like a master sargeant, ha, but it's great because I think he helps ground me. He's not so much a cat as he is a comforting family member.

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Cinnamon. The Roommate Cat of my life. He came into our lives by accident and stuck around for 17 years. He was an odd one.

He came into our lives as a scrawny mistreated kitten. My brother and I were visiting our Grandma eating ice cream at a little parlor in the middle of a closed strip mall. A guy came walking towards us playing with a hackey sack (for those too young, it was a small ball people hit with their legs and arms to keep in the air as long as possible). He kicked the ball in the air with his knees and feet, occasionally using his arms to control its motion. Then he missed it hit the ground and it ran into a corner.... it wasn't a hackey sack it was a kitten. The man approached my Grandma and asked if she wanted a kitten. She said no and he shrugged looking around. When he saw no one else he tossed the kitten into the street with a flick of his wrist and walked away. My brother ran out to get the kitten and that was how Cinnamon came into our lives.

When he was about a year old he came into the house and ran straight into my closet. Since he normally munched on his way in the door we knew something was up. Somehow he had fractured his femur. After surgery to install wire , screws and a plate in his leg he came home with a cast on. It was the funniest thing to see him walking around with a neon pink cast. The best part was he shook it off a few days before it was to come off. We took him into the vet and my Dad put the cast on the counter saying, "We have a problem." The receptionist jumped up, "Oh my GOD! The cats leg fell off!" lol. Other than the leg incident Cinnamon lived the rest of his life relatively healthy, he never even needed to get his teeth cleaned and yes we checked every year. Although he did limp every winter and you could feel the wire through his skin.

I've always assumed that Cinnamon had brain damage from being treated like a ball plus whatever else happened to him before he came into our lives. He got along okay with Chance. He ate and drank in our home. He would come when we called him. Demand petting from time to time but he never really seemed super attached to us. He wouldn't recognize you if you came in with new shoes on but that only lasted a few seconds until his nose caught up with his eyes. He was a stable constant in our home for many years. But he loved being in a room with us or hanging out where he could watch us when we were outside. I think he loved us in his own way and enjoyed his life with us.

As he got older his mind seemed to go even more. That last year he started meowing outside and one of us would say his name. He'd come in looking very confused and then seemed to remember before eating. One day he was gone without any signs of illness or disease. He was 17 years old and had lived a nice life. It was just his time to go.

Did I love him? Yes. He was our Cinn-a-min-a-min. The constant presence watching our family as me and my brother went through school. He was there when my niece was born and watched her go through her toddler years. He was unshakable, reliable and ever present. No matter what was happening in our lives or how crazy the house got there was always Cinnamon quietly watching in the background. While he didn't seem to outwardly interact with us much I think that he loved our family as much as we loved him, in his own way.

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One more reason I love Carleton - he's a sun worshiper! View media item 404009

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She is there when no one else is

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LOL...and WHERE no one else is, come to think of it...

ENTRY Friskies, this is the one that I raised from a little newborn on a bottle with his sister. He is a momma's boy and proud of it, he is the only one to talk to me, chirping and mewing. I'll see if I can a picture of him to put up.

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I love how they make sure I never sleep alone.  If I lay down by myself, I always wake up to at least one - usually more than one - kitty curled up against me.

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My Moms bottle baby Nightfury is today's entry.

Almost 4 years ago we went to the shelter only to get there and realize they were closed for the holiday weekend. As we walked back to the car we passed the animal abandon area. Our shelter has doors that you can open and put animals in so they aren't in the elements and the workers can get them without coming outside. Someone had decided to leave a box on the ground next to that area. In the box were two tiny kittens barely moving.

The grey one was chewing on a paperbowl that had been left with them. The black one was huddled in the corner not moving. No blankets or towels were in the box and we could guess they had been there overnight since there were crumbs of wet food in the bowl. We grabbed them both and ran to the pet store to get bottles. The grey one started drinking right away and ate when we got the KMR mixed. The black ones mouth had to be pried open but he started perking up once he got fluids in him.

We weighed them when we got home and they were under 10 ounces each. Based on eyes and ears open we guessed they were about 4 weeks old. We started bottle feeding them and offering a slurry of kitten food with KMR. In about a week they switched on their own to slurry only. We had to seperate them because they were trying to nurse on each other. The black one ended up staying with my Mom almost all day while the grey one spent more time with our adult cat.

Eventually we rehomed the grey one but my Mom was attached to the black one who would become known as Nightfury.

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I am pretty sure Nightfury considers himself human sometimes. He never figured out how to play right. When he plays he chases for a little but when it is his turn to be chased he runs to my Mom. He will jump on her lap and cry at her until the other cat turns away. As soon as that happens he jumps down and starts chasing them again. The othwr two cats have mostly decided to ignore him at this point and just play with each other. Which he seems fine with and will watch from a higher position with the occassional dash past them.

He loves cuddling. Loves being under covers when you make the bed. Loves being craddled. Has no problem being picked up whenever. You just have to look at him and he starts purring.

When my Mom is home he will follow her from room to room just waiting for her to sit so he can curl up on her. I love the look he gives her every time he gets on her lap. He settles in then looks up at her like nothing else matters in the world. If she doesn't look back he will pat her cheek until she looks down at him.

I love how happy he makes my Mom. I love that he is always ready for a cuddle when you want to squeeze some fluff. He tolerates Rockets demands for grooming and allows her to snuggle up with him. He is a little just a little love.

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I love Carleton because he is my couch potato.View media item 404233

Neely said:

 He came from a horrific hoarding situation where 23 Persians were kept in a garage with no food - severely malnourished, dirty water, no litter boxes - covered in feces, and no air or ventilation.  

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People who do things like this should go straight to execution without trial.

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She talks to me all day long now.  She never used to, but in the last few months she's become Chatty Catty.

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Connor gets this one because of last night.  My sister was here and she was really upset and crying.  A lot of people know the situation - it's not a secret but this isn't the thread for it.  Anyway, Connor went in and snuggled her and gave her lots of loves.  He's such a sweet, precious boy.  She was sad so she didn't kitty comforting.

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Why I love Oberon


Oberon appeared on my porch around Halloween three years ago. He wasn't fixed, but what is called a friendly feral that I could coax into the trap to take care of that. I thought he could make a nice living on the porch and made him a shelter including an outdoor heater, but he preferred to come in. Oh, did he want to come in! So I let him. Because I needed help raising the Rogue, and also because he was quite mangy at the time and I wanted to put  ointments on him (I've used emu oil, no idea if that helped or the good food or just being with the Rogue). And he was severely depleting the population of small snakes living in the yard. 

Oberon had tremendous fun using all the Rogue's toys. He had never had toys before. Now, with the Rogue gone, he doesn't go for toys much but he loves running up and down cat trees, wrestling with Grisou and sitting on me.

Whenever I sit down, he comes running and sits on top or next to me (This is difficult if I want to write something on a laptop and Grisou squeezes in, too, but we manage). He doesn't purr, but he vibrates a bit. That's ok. I think he is the only sensible one in the household. He is cautious and will run outside through the cat door at the first threatening noise, then watch through the screen door whatever goes on and come back when it is safe.

He is terrified of the vacuum cleaner and will flee if he notices me picking up things to clear the floor for vacuuming. Usually, his fur is the reason I do most of he vacuum cleaning...

His fur is now thick and soft as a mole's. He is now the first one to greet me when I come home, which is his clue to run up to me and then fall on his side and roll around making running motions. This is then my clue to pet his belly.  He then will politely sit by his feeding spot waiting for something to show up. He also knows his name and will come for food.

He is beautiful. He is on the smart side. I love him very much.

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I've had a strong bond with Foxy since the moment I took her home as a tiny kitten.  Even though she was so scared those first few days, as soon as I picked her up she would instantly start purring and knew everything was going to be alright.  She's not much of a lap cat these days, but she loves head butting my hands every chance she can get and will purr nonstop. She greets me at the door every day when I get home from work and will then follow me around the house for the rest of the day.  When I have to shut her out of a room, like the bathroom, she will cry until I open the door!   She is also endless entertainment- from the way she is obsessed with the Netflix navigation icon on the TV screen and chases after it, to the way she "plays goalie" with me and will show off her athletic skills by blocking or catching every shot of her toy that I throw at her. 

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Primula said:

People who do things like this should go straight to execution without trial.

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I did some follow-up research since the shelter told us it was on the news and in the papers - the people were fined up to $1,500 per cat with possible jail sentence but I could not find out if they ever served time in jail. 

Carleton was actually adopted out after being treated and received a clean bill of health from the vet but on top of everything else he had been through the people returned him a year later - their reason was they didn't want a pet anymore!!    So after being at the hoarders he finally got a new home and the people returned him.  I couldn't let this happen again, I fell in love with him on the spot, filled out the adoption papers and told him he had found his forever home. How a cat could find trust in humans again and be so forgiving is unbelievable but he has proven that animals are resilient.  My husband and I said he will never want for anything, he will have a warm house, plenty of food, lots of toys and most of all, endless love.  I truly love Carleton with every bit of my heart and soul.   

Neely said:

I did some follow-up research since the shelter told us it was on the news and in the papers - the people were fined up to $1,500 per cat with possible jail sentence but I could not find out if they ever served time in jail. 
Carleton was actually adopted out after being treated and received a clean bill of health from the vet but on top of everything else he had been through the people returned him a year later - their reason was they didn't want a pet anymore!! :angry2:   So after being at the hoarders he finally got a new home and the people returned him.  I couldn't let this happen again, I fell in love with him on the spot, filled out the adoption papers and told him he had found his forever home. How a cat could find trust in humans again and be so forgiving is unbelievable but he has proven that animals are resilient.  My husband and I said he will never want for anything, he will have a warm house, plenty of food, lots of toys and most of all, endless love.  I truly love Carleton with every bit of my heart and soul. :heart2:  

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I am also horrified when people return a cat to the shelter, but I am grateful they have this option. Believe me, it would be so much worse for cats if people were not allowed to return them.

ENTRY:  I fell in love with Milo when he picked me out at the shelter.  He was being held by a volunteer and he reached out to me as I walked past.  Once in my arms, he snuggled under my chin and started to purr.  Although I had not been considering a ginger tabby, that was it.  He went home with me that day.  He lived to be 14 and every day of his life he remained devoted to me.  I'm not sure I've ever been so loved by anyone, animal or human, as Milo loved me.  He followed me around, slept on my pillow with me, snuggled and cuddled on my lap and was fiercely jealous if another cat sought affection.  I was HIS.   I adored him in return and when he passed away, it nearly broke me.

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I love my cats because they seem to know when I need them most.

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I am dedicating this post to my cat, Shadow.

After the loss of my beloved Mickey, I didn't feel like I wanted another cat. He was just too special and could never be replaced. I also didn't think I could stand another loss. Yes, I get way too attached to my kitties. I still cry over my first cat's passing. I remember each and every one of my past kitty's birthdays and the dates they passed.
As time passed, I realized I was very lonely without a kitty to love. I had cats all my life and just couldn't imagine never holding or loving another kitty. Enter Shadow. He was outgoing, friendly, and wanted to be friends with all the other cats. I went to hold him and loved him immediately. I knew I had to take him home and give him a forever home. He will never replace my Mickey. I will always love and miss him. I did realize though that my heart is big enough to love another kitty. Mickey is tucked safely in my heart where he will remain forever.
Shadow has his own place in my heart, as does Mittens (who I will talk about in my next post).
I just pray that Mickey understands and approves!

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I LOVE my Shadow!!

ENTRY--I'll start with Ra, the lovable ragdoll (maybe--
This is now Ra begs for pets.