Then & Now

Well, I have been at TCS almost 2 years and many things have changed in my life. I thought it would be interesting to see what has changed in your life since joining TCS.

What was happening in your life then and what has changed in your life now?

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Then - August 2002

Rob and I had just purchased our current home, a century old schoolhouse that needed a lot of TLC. Nakita was supposed to be coming home from the breeder's in September and I was looking on the internet for cat information. I came across TCS and I totally loved it for its friendly community and vast information base.

TCS also helped me with my new kitten jitters when I had to put off bringing Nakita home till October 2002. The construction on my house was delayed and I knew I couldn't bring a 12 week old kitten when the roof still was not replaced and there were holes that needed to be fixed! Here's a link to the thread when I brough Nakita home: I am back & I bring fur!


When Nakita first came home, she was terrified of the shadows from the pot lights, her favourite toy was the 'dreaded black shoelace' and she was tiny! We nicknamed her mouse and she slept with me every night under the covers. At that time she was not harness trained and didn't know what the outside world was like.

When I started at TCS I just quit my job in the Logisitcs field and didn't know whether I should go back to school or just take some temp work. My life was so unplanned it was scary!

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Now - June 2004

For home repairs, we have replaced the roof, all the electrical, gutted the washroom, added pot lights in every room, insulated the whole house, and added a new boiler. We hope to put a fence up and take the garage down this summer and start renovating the kitchen this winter.


Nakita is turning 2 years old, and is as saucy as ever. She is the Queen and isn't really scared of anything. Her current favourite toy is a cheap Walmart toy and she still really is a mouse, at 5 pounds. She still sleeps with me every night under the covers and now loves going for a nightly walk with her harness and leash!

I am currently working in the legal records field and am very happy in my career. My life is planned and we hope to put extra money into our home to finish the main renovations over the next 3 - 5 years.

Of course, I'm still with Rob and we will be celebrating our 9th anniversary this November.
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So, what has changed in your life since coming to TCS?

Wow, you've been busy little bees!

Then: June 2002

Some kittens had turned up in our yard, we were caring for a stray Maine Coon mix, and it seemed time to learn something about cats and what to do with the ferals and strays around here..... We were living in the RV then, though expecting to get back on the road. We'd been "trapped" in the NY area since 9/11 because of work, but the stock market was falling apart, the economy was in the dumps, and we weren't predicting either to get any better, so business really sucked, and we didn't think it was going to get any better for quite a while. (And it didn't).

Now - June 2004.

We're still in the same RV in the same RV park. BUT - we've taken out the dining room (which had already been converted into an office) and replaced it all with Cat Furniture. We've given up "all" of our surfaces and most of our space to the cats. Five of them live in here with us, and we've fostered three. The fourth foster stayed. We trapped and had spayed or neutered (now) 32 cats from this property, and we managed the colony for over a year, but then relocated them all to barns (all but one was successful, and now he's been adopted by one of the vet techs and is one happy guy). We've only got one feral outside that we care for now (on this property). There were no new kittens last year, and there were no new kittens this year.

We're helping trap cats at farms around here on the weekends, and we're helping manage three colonies. We've set up rescue funds at four vets around here, and we're widely known as the crazy cat people and have developed a pretty good network around here. We're working with one of the vet practices to set up a program at nursing homes and seminaries (to place rescues - friendlies or kittens to nursing homes, ferals at the seminaries). I tackled cats like I do everything else in life - with research. The result is all the rescue work we do now and two websites (with the help of valanhb, Russian Blue and okeefecl), www.SaveSamoa.org and www.StrayPetAdvocacy.org (SPA). We're in the process of registering SPA as a tax-deductible 501(3)c org. Because of Tuxedo's illness, we just started a relationship with a pharmacist that is going to develop a supplement just for cats with anemia.

Now we can't hit the road again - we're too attached here!

Then - March 2002

I had only been at my new job for a couple months and work was really slow so I was surfing for cat sites to waste time. I found a link to TCS, lurked for about a week before I decided to join. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. I very quickly became quite addicted to the site!

Now - June 2004

Now, my cats are healthier for the things I've learned here, and I feel like I have a much better understanding of our feline family members. I count myself as a companion animal activist of sorts as webmaster and researcher and sometimes writer for www.SaveSamoa.org and www.StrayPetAdvocacy.org. Because of working on those sites, I have also gotten some side work for websites and graphics. Who knows - maybe I'll be able to change careers someday.

THEN-DEC 2003.

Gosh i feel like i've been here 6 years not 6 months!!.

After doing random searches for a new cat site because the one i was on before used to have idiots on winding up the members on what they wanted to do with cats , i found TCS .

I was getting ready to go to Lanzarotte with a friend for christmas because after my split with Richie the last thing i wanted to do was spend my first
christmas at home without him. , but being away from Rosie made it just as upsetting .

NOW-JUNE 2004

I'm still not ready to find someone new, so i'm just enjoying each day of my life by going out with my friends, doing what i want, when i want and just having my kitts to look after.

Oh and not forgetting that i added Sophie to my little fur family

This is a GREAT idea! As I tried to remember what my life was like when I first joined TCS, I actually had to go to the Behavior forum and look for my original posts to see how I got on this! Shows how lousy my memory is!

June 2001-
I just graduated from my University with a BA in Communication Studies, moved into my very FIRST apt by myself, got a permanent job at the same University that I graduated from, got a OLD, FREE car AND ended up rescuing an adorable, old, black cat named Sunniday (Her family was going to take her to the pound cuz the owner just moved in with a guy and he didn't like cats! Sunniday was declawed and 8 yrs old so I knew there was a HIGH chance of her being put to sleep ) so I snuck her into my apt (didn't allow cats!). After a while, I talked with another co worker who LOVES cats and told her I was worried about Sunniday during the day cuz she seemed lonely so she recommended I check TCS out and the rest was history!! I fell in love with TCS. My first posting on TCS was about whether I should get another cat to keep Sunniday company and due to TCS, I ended up adopting Zebra (9 months old at that time) to keep Sunniday company!

NOW-June 2004!!
I am almost done with my MA in Supervision and Adminstration. Am still at the same job but with a lot more stress and responsibilities , bought a "new" car (Honda Civic) since the "free car" had died 2 years ago and now living in 3rd apt. Sunniday had to be put to sleep about 2-3 years ago due to having severe CRF. I tried everything possible to lengthen her lifespan but after 2 weeks of treatments and fighting for her life, I knew she wanted me to let her go. After 2 weeks of grieving, I ended up adopting 2 black and MISCHIEVOUS kittens (3 weeks old) named Spike and Buddy who Zebra IMMEDIATELY adopted and ADORES then about a year later adopted Pepper also!! Now, Zebra and Pepper are very close while Buddy and Spike tend to hang out together a lot besides driving me up the wall!

(I'm really lousy at keeping track of ages but here's my estimate about how old my cats are) Now Pepper is about 1 1/2 years old, Spike and Buddy are about 2 1/2 yrs old while Zebra is about 4 years and 9 months old!

Wow, didn't realize how much things have changed for me since June 2001!!

id love to do this one, but since i only bin here since may last month, there wouldnt be much to tell

August 2002
Sam had been living with me for almost a year. I live in an old house, with my apartment on the second floor, my business on the first floor, and the stairwell to my place also serves the attic apartment. Sam had free run of the place, sharing his attention with me and the upstairs tenant, and coming to work with me in the morning. I was also pretty busy, helping look after my mom and support my dad, she had metastatic breast cancer, and he was looking after her at home. In August, we were thinking about having a 50th wedding anniversary party for my parents, hoping that mom would make it to October. Sam was being a very good boy, being a therapy cat for visits to grandma.

My neighbour upstairs said that she wanted to get a second cat. Partly, I think, because Sam had decided that my place was home, and he didn't visit her nearly as often. I panicked, and said, with all that I have going on. there is no way that I could supervise another cat in the building! You would have to keep her upstairs!

I started looking for sites on the internet that would help with information about how to introduce and look after more cats, and guess where that search led?

Now: June 2004
The upstairs neighbour moved out, but I had already adopted a second cat. The new neighbours adopted a kitty in December, a sweet tiny tabby and white manx, so there are three of them sharing the stairwell. And there is a new neighbour in the basement who also has a cat, so from none to 4 in the building in 3 years is pretty good!

I am the resident cat expert, thanks to the wise people here. I can hardly believe everything I have learned, although I am still learning. The cats teach me something new every day.

Originally Posted by Pamela

Wow, didn't realize how much things have changed for me since June 2001!!

Click to expand...

The same with me. It's not often we look at how much our lives change in a specific amount of time. That's why I thought it would be interesting to note down what changes took place in everyone's lives.

LOL Here I was thinking that really the only things that have changed with me are my knowledge about cats (How many of us are now known as "cat experts" because of this site?!?!?!), and doing the websites now. Other than that, still have the same job, same hubby, same cats...