"No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch." - Leo Dworken

Jason and Jonesie on the condo

When I sit in my chair in our family room watching TV, I look around. There are so many memories here. In the corner is a cat condo, about three feet high. It is carpeted, has a flat top and underneath is a round “barrel”. This is the condo I had in my computer room upstairs where Grady slept at night.

Grady

There was a cat bed on top of the condo for Grady. When I was sitting at my computer, Grady would get up in my chair and lay behind me. I’d reach back and pet him, but sometimes I got busy on the computer and he wanted more attention. Then he would stand up and put his front paws on my back and kneaded his paws like my back was a cat tree. This was our time together.

Taz’s condo used to be in the family room. His condo is about the same height, three feet or so. We bought it for him when we first got him. He was only six weeks old. The top is round with walls. We used to keep Taz’s kitten food in a bowl at the top. Our two older cats at the time, Rowdy and Calvin, never got into the condo. Taz had full access to “his” food all the time.

When Taz died last October, I changed the condos out. I moved Taz’s condo up to my computer room and Grady’s down to the family room.

Now, as I sit here in the family room, the cats are playing in “Grady’s” condo. One of them runs into the barrel to hide. Grady spent lots of hours sleeping in that barrel. He’d sleep in his bed at night and after he had his breakfast, he’d go into the barrel for his morning nap.

I miss the routines we had then. It was so predictable because cats like routines. They can do the same thing every day and never change. But, they are also very adaptable to their new surroundings.

We’ve taken our cats from their daily routines and put them in an RV for two weeks; traveled across the country; moved them into a new house and a totally new environment for two years; put them back into an RV for a month and brought them back across the country to the home we had left two years earlier. They settled right back in as if they had never left.

Of all of our cats, only three were “planned” (“Rowdy”, “Taz” and “Jonesie”), meaning that we actively looked for them. The others came to us through other circumstances, which we were open to.

“Rowdy” was our first. We wanted a cat and went to the animal shelter and adopted him. About three months later, “Calvin” showed up on our patio. We didn’t feed him and hadn’t planned on inviting him in. But, one day a neighbor told us that since “Calvin” didn’t seem to belong to anyone, he was going to call the animal control to catch him. We “invited” “Calvin” in, after he had been on our patio for four months. That was in 1989.

Rowdy (top) and Calvin
Monterey, CA 1989

Somehow, we managed to have only two cats and our dog, Chelsi, until December 1998, when we decided to get a kitten. We adopted a six week old kitten and that was “Taz”. It was very comfortable having three cats and a dog. The cats got along well with each other and all, except “Calvin”, liked the dog. We had a very peaceful house.

Taz (top) and Calvin
2004

“Jezibel”, about six months old, came to us in February 2000. She was a stray who had been staying in the yard of my friend, Mary. She couldn’t keep her, so we took “Jezibel”, thinking that one more cat would be welcome.

But, “Jezibel” came with baggage. In March 2000 she had nine kittens. Seven survived and we raised them, kept three (“Grady”, “Lexi”, and “Ellie”), and gave four (“Panda”, “Pinto”, “Mr. Creme”, and “Toby”) away to friends.

In December 2002, “Toby” and “Mr. Creme” came back to us when their owner moved to Hawaii and couldn’t take them or find a new home for them. We didn’t want them to be taken to the shelter, which was his alternative.

Toby after his bath
4/4/11

Mr. Creme

When Jezibel came to live with us, our peaceful household was turned asunder. She did not like other cats and there was continuous hissing and fitting. Her three resident kittens were just like her. So we went from a peaceful household of three mellow male cats to a chaotic household of seven cats, four who didn’t like each other, much less the three who had opened their house to them! Even so, we loved them all.

We adopted the twins, Jason and Kaci, in 2007. I would have to say that after having so many dysfunctional cats, these appeared to be “normal”– finally. At least the normal that I always knew when I had cats when I was growing up. The twins moved in and played with each other, groomed each other, slept together and just loved to be. They influenced Taz and he accepted them right away. It kind of helped that they looked a little bit like him!

"The Twins"
Jason (left) and Kaci
Yes, I can tell them apart, can you?
8/28/08

"The Baby"
Taz
7/9/08

Jezibel and her “kittens” really didn’t quite know what to think of the twins. They shunned them and hissed at them, but the twins just ignored it and did their thing. They were not the least bit offended.

Jezibel (right) trying to intimidate Jason

Does it look like it's working? Really?

Jason loves the toy his "grandma" gave him in VA
in May 2011

We adopted Jonesie in December 2010. He was also what I call a “normal” cat. He moved right in and headed for the toy box. It all belonged to him. The twins were first taken aback, but it didn’t take them long to figure out that he was the new kid on the block and he wanted to play. That was all they needed to know. They haven’t stopped playing yet.

Our newest one, “Rhody”, seems to fit right in. He and “Jonesie” play and chase each other through the house. “Rhody” is still pretty young and can’t go places yet that the older ones go. I call “Jonesie” my little ‘babysitter’ because he keeps “Rhody” playing and out of trouble. When “Jonesie” needs a break, he goes out into the garage for awhile.

Rhody and Jason

But, we can see that “Rhody” is going to be a handful when he gets big enough to really get into things. Right now, he has no fear of jumping. As little as he is, he will take the biggest jump. Even if he doesn’t make it, he is not afraid of trying again.

If I could have anything I wanted, I think I would have a refuge for cats. I know dogs need help too, and in a perfect world, I’d be able to have both. But, cats seem to be the animals that people think can fend for themselves and so they are let out to live in alleys and streets. They are independent to a certain extent. If they are left alone as a kitten for the first several weeks of their life, they become feral. I’m not sure, but I think that puppies are different. They also need petting and attention when they are young, but they are more forgiving and easier to befriend.

We have several cats, but we take care of each one of them. They get good food, lots of attention, and the medical care they need. It hurts to lose one each time it happens. But, we know that if we’re going to have them, they are going to pass away one day. “Toby” was a recent reminder of that.

His mother, “Jezibel” (12), his sisters, “Lexi” and “Ellie”, and brother, “Mr. Creme”, all 11, seem to be in good health and we hope they stay that way!

Lexi

I took “Ellie” to the vet today for her annual exam. They did a blood test and I’ll get the results tomorrow. The physical went fine though. “Ellie” needed to get more pills for her asthma. If we can keep that under control, she should be okay.

Miss Ellie
(Happy face)

More later.........