Question of the Day, Friday, December 27

[Winchester]

Good morning!

Let's talk about cats, specifically your cats. How many cats do you have and what are their names? How old are they? What's the largest number of cats you've ever had in the house? Do you (or did you) have a kitty? Pictures are welcome, too!

The largest number of cats we've ever had in the house is eight. Collectively, they were known as the RugCats: Hydrox, Whisper, Banshee, Bootser, Ms. Pepe, BooBoo, Da-Pumpkin Boy, and Amber Louise. Banshee was the feline love of my life; she was everything to me; when she died, everybody was afraid I'd have a nervous breakdown. But I got through it; it was one of the most difficult things I ever did. She wasn't "just a cat". She was the Queen B.

My Queen B. Simply put, she was mine. I adored this girl.

The only one left from the RugCat bunch is Amber Louise. The new clan is completely different from the old RugCat clan. And we're down to four cats: Amber Louise, Mollipop, Tabby, and Muffin. Amber is the last of the RugCats, although she was not an original RugCat as she came into the house much later. Mollipop, Tabby, and Muffin are known as the Three Meowsketeers.

Amber Louise just turned 18 in November.

Mollipop is eight years old and my little darling girl. The kitty couch became hers the second she came in the door.

Tabby is seven years old now and quite the character. If little girl kitties could be tomboys, she'd be it!

And our Miss Muffin (Mollipop's nemesis) is also eight years old. When we first came here, she spent a lot of time in her stroller. That was her safe place. She still loves her buggy, but she spends a lot of time out and about with the other cats, except for Molli.

What about you? How many cats do you have and how old are they? I'd love to see pictures!

 

[maggiedemi]

Let's talk about cats, specifically your cats. How many cats do you have and what are their names? How old are they? What's the largest number of cats you've ever had in the house? Do you (or did you) have a kitty? Pictures are welcome, too!

Two cats. Demi & Maggie are 5 years old.

My heart kitty was my childhood cat Mally, a male tuxedo.
But of course, these two ruffians have my heart too.

The most cats we ever had was 5, when my calico Kitter had 4 kittens.

 

[muffy]

I wish I could show pictures of my former cats but I don't know how to do it and I don't have any or them taken on a cell phone. They were beautiful cats and I loved them so much. They were a family of 8 ferals I adopted from my colony. They were all orange and cream colored kitties:

Muffin lived 18 years
Muffy 17
Brownie 15
Tiger 13
Buddy 12
Baxter 12
Robbie 10
Roger 6

Buddy was the love of my life. He never left my side.

I have one cat now. He is a orange feral that showed up in my yard about two years ago.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Emerson and Evie are orange and white brother and sister (a BOGO half off deal at PetSmart) and are going to be four () in March.
Dexter is a chonky tuxedo cat. We think he is a year and some change (possibly born in August).
Emerson is my heart cat. Evie is my husband's. Dexter divides his time between the two of us, when he is feeling affectionate.

Emerson. He's ridiculously photogenic. I don't think he can take bad pictures.

Evie. The second picture is my favorite picture of her. My husband had to take her to the vet and this was her attempt to hide from the vet (there is about four inches of space under that cabinet...).

Dexter. He gives Emerson a run for his money in the photogenic department.

 

[cheeser]

We currently have two cats. We adopted Oscar fifteen years ago just before Christmas when he was only about three months old. He's always been a bit of a grouch, so the inspiration for his name came from the Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch.

Buddy is probably about 9 or 10 years old, and adopted us before we officially adopted him about seven years ago. We were the only family in our neighborhood at the time that didn't have any dogs, so it was very common for cats to use our backyard patio as a way station of sorts to rest up before continuing their journey to wherever they were going. One day a sickly gray and white tabby showed up and refused to leave. He followed us pretty much everywhere around the house, and when I'd walk over to a neighbor's house, they'd always say, "I see you brought your buddy with you." I'd turn around, and sure enough, that gray and white cat was right behind me. So when we took him in and needed to give him a name, we realized he already had one: Buddy.

I absolutely adore cats, and wish we could take in more. Unfortunately, since every one of our cats has had serious medical issues that can get very expensive, we've never had more than three cats at one time. The sickly kitties that need lots of love and attention seem to have a way of finding us, so we try to be realistic about how many we can afford to care for.

 

[Jem]

The most we've ever had at once is four. Our old crew consisted of Fritz, Toby, Chewie and Hank. They have all passed.
This is Toby, stage 4 CKD at 19 years old. He passed a few months after this was taken.

This is Chewy at about 16 years old (he passed at 18 - cancer)

And this is Hank at around 9 years old (he passed at 10 - CHF)

Unfortunately I don't have any photos on this computer of Fritz. But he was a big fat black and white cat with a fog horn meow. He passed from complications due to his thyroid condition at 14.

And now for our new crew that we have had for a year now.

this is Lily, she is about 3 now and the sweetest little 6 lb cat ever.

This is Bynx, our 2 and a half year old rambunctious, playful, people cat.

And this is Chester, our 2 year old, shy (a little) and play machine.

And here are a few extra photos, just cuz.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I have two cats right now, Remy and Maisie. Remy is about 3 years old, Maisie is about 5 or 6. The most cats I've had at once was 3 when I lived with my parents with my late cat Willie and their two cats Kirby and Fiona. Willie was my soul mate cat. She was 17 when she died in 2017. I miss her every day. I might have gone overboard on the pictures though.

Here's my late baby, Willie. Her real name was Willow, but I called her Willie for most of her life.

My boy, Remy. He loves to cuddle (on his terms) and often does the straight-leg sleeping position.



Here's Maisie Girl. She has an adorably grumpy face and it was probably the main reason I adopted her (also because she had been at the shelter for 2 years because she's semi-feral).

 

[betsygee]

My cat was Skittles, the first kitty I had as an adult. She was with me almost 18 years and I was devastated when she died.

Within six months, we had a new tribe--the 3 Amigos, adopted from the SPCA. When they were all around 4-5 years old, we took in four elder cats from a friend who'd suddenly died from complications from cancer, so the most we ever had was seven cats. That's when I joined TCS, looking for help with integrating all those cats, and caring for elder, sickly kitties.

The last of that crew of four died this summer and now we're back to the 3 Amigos. Their 'gotcha' anniversary is next week, on New Year's Eve. They've been with us for 10 years now.

Ozzy, Rico and Zoe, all about 10 years old.

My 90 year old mom will be moving to some kind of assisted living situation in the next few months, and is making noises about me taking her kitty when she does. I prefer to keep our little tribe the way it is, especially since we're working on a stress peeing situation already with one of them. I'd hate to make him worse again by trying to introduce a new cat. We'll see how things go once we know where she'll be living.

 

[mama africa]

Eefje - I adopted her as a kitten, when I was a student (living on my own)
She was 3 when she passed



Lotje - I adopted her at 7 months



Lotje got pregnant and had 4 babies



I kept one of the babies, Ciske



Ciske passed when she was 10 and Lotje was almost 21.




Currently, I have one cat, Missy.
She came to me when she was 8 weeks old and she's actually 4 years and 3 months




Lotje was the love of my life; sweet and gentle and very loyal. I still miss her...

 

[Kieka]

The most in our house at one time is three. Which is also the number we currently have.

Nightfury is 6. He's not my cat but same household. Little cuddle bug who loves being under covers.

Link is 5. He's my baby boy. A goofy gentle giant who is my favorite of the bunch. He isn't big on cuddling which makes those times when he wants pets or cuddles all the more precious.

Rocket is 4. The prissy princess of our little group. I do love her but she can be a little brat sometimes. She is very much a demanding velcro kitty and the most fearless out of the group. The picture was Christmas morning when she decided that she needed more attention, now.

Edit to add: my heart cat was probably Chance who was my childhood cat from 13 to 24. Cancer took him too young. I love my two current cats greatly and maybe their will join him in that category someday.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

This is my one and only at the moment Patches. The most I've had is two but I've done that three times.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Oh Patches is two.

 

[Columbine]

I currently have four cats - Grischa and Shenka (brothers, 3 years old) and Mala and Shanti (sisters, 7 months old). We also take care of Puss Cat, the farm cat at my pony's stables.

Asha was my heart kitty. She died in January at 3 years old (she had feline leprosy, incredibly rare). Grischy and Shanti are both very much mine though, so they may be heart kitties too.

I'm very lucky to have had a deep connection with many of my animals. My old greyhound, Pixie, was my heart and soul, and both Bonnie (my old ex racehorse mare) and Collie (my exmoor pony and namesake here) are/were incredibly close to and attuned to me too.

The most cats we've ever had at one time is 6, back when I was a kid.


Grischa and Mala

Shanti

Shenka

Asha

 

[denice]

I currently have one cat, Alice. She is 16 and has been an only cat for almost two years now so I am leaving well enough alone.

I lost Patches two years ago next month. He had IBD from the time he was only 18 months old. I helped him over the bridge when he was 14.

 

[NY cat man]

The most we have had at one time is the current number- 6. They are:
Burdock, age 9

Prancer, age 8

Digger, Bashful, and Stretch, age 7

And Miss Eleanor, age 5

 

[rubysmama]

Such a great thread! Loving seeing everyone's feline fur babies of the past and present.

My family, and now myself, only ever have one cat at a time, and because 2 of them lived long lives, there haven't been that many cats in my life.
My parents had a cat when I was born, so I never knew life without a cat, and have loved them as long as I can remember.

This is Timmy, who was my "big brother" cat. He lived till about 17 years old.

Shortly after Timmy passed, we got a kitten who we named Timmy II. Unfortunately, this was back when letting cats outside was the norm, and this dear, sweet cat was hit and killed by a car before he reached his 1st birthday.

We were all devastated when we lost Timmy II, so it was a couple years before we were ready to give our hearts to another cat. But when a friend of mine had a cat who had kittens, we knew it was time for another.

And this is how we ended up with Misty. I knew her from particularly birth, we adopted her at 7 weeks, and she lived 2 months short of 20 years. Being with us so long, she became all of my family's kitty.

After Misty passed, my parents couldn't bear the thought of having to someday lose another cat, so they never got another one. So there was a long time between cats, until I finally was able to adopt one myself.

Ruby is my very first cat of my own, who I adopted in November 2013. She was 2 or 3 at the time, so currently around 8 or 9 years old. I love her with all my heart, and she is becoming my 2nd kitty.

 

[misty8723]

I love seeing all the pictures!

We've only ever had 2 cats in the house at one time (speaking of husband & me. Had lots of animals of all kinds around when I was growing up.

In 2005 we adopted Swanie and Cynthia. We were only "window shopping" at the rescue. Basically, I just wanted to play with and cuddle some cats until I got over our neighbor leaving with a cat who had adopted as her second parents (grandparents?). So we were walking around looking at all the cats while the adoption counselor told us a little about each one of them. About 3/4 of the way around, I spotted a little black & white guy climbing up the side of his cage trying to get our attention. It worked. I said, what about that cat? It was Swanie, and we went into the "play room" with him for a bit. Have to say it was love at first site. Hubby and I looked at each other, and he said, we are getting him aren't we?

But we wanted two and wanted them both at the same time. We had originally wanted two who were already bonded, but there weren't any. So I went back looking. And looked. And looked. And looked. Finally the counselor said what about Cynthia. I had pretty much missed her because she was sleeping in her little bed in the back of her cage. She was a beautiful calico, and we took into the playroom. Whereas Swanie was playful and energetic, Cynthia as sweet and loved being petted, made air biscuits. So we were sold.

Before we knew it, both were in carrier and we were filling out the paperwork. The counselor told us they hadn't intended to let us out of there until we got at least two cats.

We lost our Cindy to cancer in 2014. It was devastating, but not unexpected. Thanks to some awesome vets, we had her for 22 months following the cancer diagnosis.

But our hearts had more love to give, and Swanie was a very social cat. In December we again went window shopping. After a few visits to a different rescue, the adoption counselor said "you have to meet Darcy!" Again, we looked at each other, DH said we are getting her, aren't we. Darcy was maybe the sweetest cat I've ever know. She was about 9 months old, playful, happy, loved us, loved Swanie, almost from the moment she entered our house. We didn't have her but maybe two months when I came home one Saturday and she was under the bed. That was so unusual and when I did get her to come out, I could tell she wasn't feeling well. I thought it was probably a kitty cold, so we took her to the vet the following Monday. Turned out to not be a cold, but FIP. I loved that little girl so much, and it just broke my heart. With medicine, syringe feeding, etc. we had her maybe another month or so. She was doing not too bad, but when she took a turn for the worse, it was time to say goodbye. Broke my heart, but I'm so glad we were able to give her a loving home in her last few months and that she didn't have to spend them in the rescue. We lost her in December 2014.

We still wanted another cat, for us, and for Swanie, so enter Cricket. We got Cricket from the same rescue. We didn't see a cat we bonded with until the counselor took us back to see the new cats and we met Cricket and her sister Sasha. They had been "thrown out of a car" in a rural area and found their way to a person from the rescue who fostered dogs. We liked them both, but especially Cricket. DH said we want a cat who wants to be loved, and Counselor said "that's Cricket." But I felt super bad about getting her and not her sister too. The way it all worked out is that they had a hard time getting Cricket to eat when she first got there, and then there was a mix up so she couldn't go for her spay when she was supposed to. Meanwhile, Sasha had breezed through the program and was already in the adoptable cats room. I was still dithering, and she got herself adopted. So, once they let us know Cricket was ready, we brought her home. She is not a cuddle cat, not a lap cat, but she is super sweet, loud purr, loves being around us (she's on the couch next to me as I type this). She and Swanie got along great (no cuddling, though), so everything was good.

In October 2018, we lost Swanie suddenly. I was not prepared to not bring him home from the hospital and I still can't bear to even think about it.

We then got Austin from the same rescue. He was foster kittie to one of the volunteers we know, L. He had been adopted out, but brought back because he was peeing outside the box. These same people had also adopted his brother and brought him back earlier. Austin had a UTI and after the second test, found out he had crystals and would to be on SO food for the rest of his life. We hesitated for a bit, because Cricket is a grazer and I didn't want him to be getting into her food. I couldn't see a solution. But we brought him home when he was cleared, and segregated him in our bedroom / master bath. Miss Cricket had her tail in a twist over it, but we took the intro slow, and eventually she accepted him. Now they are friends, wrestle buddies, playmates. But no cuddling (Cricket is opposed to that). Austin is a cuddler with us, lap cat, complete love bug (when he isn't being a PITA). He is currently sleeping on the opposite end of the couch from Cricket. This picture is highly unusual, although I did "catch them" sleeping/hanging out pretty close to each other on our bed when I went upstairs the other day.

And here is one of Cricket on "Cricket Tower" and Austin in his box. (I have a hard time throwing boxes out, lol)

My heart and soul kitty was Swanie, my boy forever, and I'll never forgive myself for (1) not realizing sooner he was sick and (2) allowing him to spend his last few days in the hospital. I failed him and I just can't get over it.

 

[Mia6]

Oh, Pam They are lovely. Queen B looks like a Queen!

I've had 6, now it's only Cal and we're lonely

 

[Maria Bayote]

I have 4 cats, 1 of which is in the Philippines, while 3 are with me now.
I don’t know if I can include Oreo- as I am still figuring out what to do with this fella.

Bourbon is my heart cat. She is around 3-4 years old. A rescue.

Graham is my youngest, 6 months old.

Barley is around 4-5 years old, also a rescue like Bourbon and Pepsi:

Pepsi is around 2 years old, and he lives with my dogs in my home country

And Oreo, the latest rescue. I don’t know if I can keep him, but he is currently in my flat. We just got him neutered:

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Mooch and Noodles will be 15 in 2 months. They are littermates.

Mooch looking for her present Christmas morning and being told she already got it.

Noodles napping in the chair next to me while the kids were doing schoolwork.

The most cats I’ve ever had is three; after my mom and stepdad married and combined houses. Glory was my soul kitty. She was born at a cousins house to one of her cats. She was a week old when we went to visit and I was in love then. She was the only one with stripes in her litter. I lost her at age 9 to sudden heart failure.