"Cats Rule!"

[NC TRACKRAT]

Just discovered we've got a bunch of cat people on the Forum and the least we can do is to start a thread.  My wife and I are "Siamese rescue cat" people. We've also had a few show up on occasion because there's an invisible sign on the door that only cats can read that says "Suckers live here!"  Our current resident is a Snowshoe Siamese named Sugarfoot.  She's in charge...We're just her staff.

[TA Coupe]

We have 10 cats Of our own and a week and a 1/2 ago we just trapped a great big fluffy cat and a couple days later about a 2 month old kitten that we have to Foster for a while. I go out every night and put out food and water for about 30 cats around town. 1st picture is 2 of our girls on TV during the weather segment on national cat day. 2nd picture is of 9 of our cats eating in the hallway that was on TV during the weather segment also.  I know Randy is also a cat person.

         Roy

[gt350hr]

   My house has the same invisible sign. My latest bunch of "freeloaders" is a mother who gave birth to five in my storage shed. That was 5 years ago and MR SOFTEE didn't want to break up the family so I kept them all. I added one more so now I have 7. At least I don't have to send them to college! They are priceless companions.

[SHELB66]

My wife & I are also Shelby/cat people.  We've generally had only one cat at a time but there was a 12 year span where we had two.  The 2nd one was found literally as a little ball of fur trying to cross a busy 2-lane street here in Petaluma, CA.  I was driving my '64 Ranchero along this boulevard when I noticed him crossing the road.  He was probably heading over to the deli where they are always cooking ribs outside.  He probably hoped that someone would give him some scraps.  I pulled the car over to the curb so that I could get out and motion for the traffic to stop.  Mr. Fur Ball scampered to the curb where I snatched him up and put him inside the car.  A passerby rolled down his window and yelled "I think you have a friend for life"!  It turned out that he was certainly right about that!  My wife and I were just going to drop him off at the vets in hopes that someone would want to adopt him.  After all we already had a cat.  We learned that there was a chance that he would be euthanized instead due to over population (this was back in 2005).  No way was a cat that braved Petaluma Blvd like he did going to be euthanized on my watch!  The vet determined that he was about 5 weeks old.  He was treated and we took him home to live with us and our other cat, Roxy.  We named him Reggie.
Unfortunately, 16-1/2 years later on this last Dec. 4th, we said our final goodbyes to Reggie.  He had some medical issues that made life just too difficult for him.  He was a trooper (just like when he crossed that street many years ago) and fought to the very end.  Life is not the same without him.  The most difficult aspect of owning a pet is having to let him/her go and to realize when it's time.  One must always do what's right for the pet no matter how emotionally difficult that may be.  RIP Reggie.

Craig R.

[shelbydoug]

Here are some of mine. All raised as kittens who showed up at the door.

The three at the door waiting to go out are Oreo, Rene, and Kitty. Probably the squirrels are stealing "their nuts"?

[shelbydoug]

Tiny, one of the three "twins"

Enough or want more?


The second picture here is Lulu. She is a retired Greyhound racer from Miami. She raced under the name of Baby Bop. She's a rescue. We don't have anything that isn't fast here.

"But Doug...she's not a cat!" Correct.

Did you ever hear the story of the guy witnessing a truck that would pull up to the light, the driver get out, beat on the truck with a bat?
When asked why, he said "I have 10,000 pounds of canaries in a 5,000 pound capacity truck. I have to keep half of them flying."
Well her job is to keep half of the cats off the couches. It's a big job.

[67 GT350]

Here is Maybeline's story:
She came to us and it all started with a casual stop on our deck. Soon, she would walk in the house and garage, always bringing us a rabbit, bird, chipmunk, mouse. I was concerned about her safety as she was declawed and the busy street. I would tell the owner's about her playing in the street, and her hunting, they did not seem to care. The owners would leave every weekend and leave her out. Even in the winter she was left out. It got to the point where we would let her in out house at night, and let her out during the day, after all she was not our pet and we did not even "like" cats, plus we did not know anything about them. She was at our house so much that we decided to take her to the vet just of a yearly check up. She was healthy. A few months went by and the owners of the cat listed their house, at this time she was living with us full time. Short story, they moved and NEVER asked about her, her name was Gwen under their ownership. When they moved out is when we changed her name to Maybeline. About 2 years later, she suffered with not being able to go to the bathroom, we ended up taking her to get a "cleaning out" where we found out that her colen had sagged and it was hard for her to go to the bathroom, they gave us meds and a diet to follow as she was 19lbs. Soon she began to recover and lost weight, down to 12lbs, things were going great! Then, she fell and hurt her back leg, no break but we then found out that she had Diabetes. Which I felt was caused by the high sugar content in the one Meds we were giving her. I then had to give her insulin and it was a up and down thing with her until I researched low carb caned food, to which for then it helped her have almost normal blood sugar readings. I was able to take her on walks every morning and night, she was doing so well! We moved to Knoxville and in the move, I guess I was not paying attention and she had a UTI. (which I caught many times before as cats with diabetes get them often). She passed away. We were so sad as we lost a family member. It stopped us in our tracks To this day, she is missed. RIP Maybeline! When we took her in she was about 10 years old, she passed away at 15. We never did know her exact Birthday.

https://youtu.be/tUCDPG6jtb0


We did get another cat, and I will collect my thoughts and write about her in another reply. Times are happier now, however we still miss her.

[shelbydoug]

Who is not appearing here in my pictures are Tag, Morris, Elton (who would sing outside a window until we let him in), Pattie, 99 (named because I ran out of names) AND Grey, the feral mother who brought us two litters 'cause we were an easy touch?

The only one left now is Kitty. I won't go into details.

Dickens was right. The ghost of Christmas pasts is a killer.



Best to you all. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Best of New Years to come and be ready for the next one(s) that picks you. You're already marked. It's gonna' happen.

[67 GT350]

So a while went by after Maybeline's passing, where we started looking for another cat to adopt. Paisley came to us via a shelter. We were told that she was found outside along the road, she was about 8 months old. When we got her, we took her to the vet, she checked out good and weighed in at just over 6lbs! Just a little girl. She loves us, but runs whenever anyone comes over. She is a sweetheart and we love her, but she will never replace Maybeline, but she make our lives so much better and put many smiles on our faces.One day I hope she will walk on the leash, and I plan on taking her to outdoor restaurants, just like all those dog owner's do!

[shelbydoug]

So a while went by after Maybeline's passing, where we started looking for another cat to adopt. Paisley came to us via a shelter. We were told that she was found outside along the road, she was about 8 months old. When we got her, we took her to the vet, she checked out good and weighed in at just over 6lbs! Just a little girl. She loves us, but runs whenever anyone comes over. She is a sweetheart and we love her, but she will never replace Maybeline, but she make our lives so much better and put many smiles on our faces.One day I hope she will walk on the leash, and I plan on taking her to outdoor restaurants, just like all those dog owner's do!

[gt350shelb]

All black cat was Bruce  the deadbeat dad  of the neighborhood ... he showed up at  the old  house one day and would fight off the raccoons for food  serious bad ass  street cat / eventually he calmed down enough to be held and would spend cold winter nights inside / also bit thru the bottom of my foot  once / bruce played the neighbors  for food 3 different houses . We moved to the farm  Bruce refused  he had a good thing going and he knew it .                                                                       


Grey cat is Wally  /// Wally was a kitten who rode in to shop at work on frame of a home depot truck  maybe 6 weeks old . Escaped into shop and was thought to have gone out side ......Wrong  he was hiding in attic of building for weeks untill I trapped him in the shop 1st time ----  he was all claws and teeth and escaped and back into wall of shop . and trapping was more successful 2nd time with welding gloves he was moved to carrier to view the countryside and possibly be a barn cat / After a week of  Deb taking to him  he was keen on being a house cat and has adopted her and trained her well  .



Black and white cat is Grace who showed up before bruce at old house while i was working on 68 #101 guess she liked the black and white car .  Shortly after arriving gave birth  to 3 kittens (see dead beat dad bruce  above).  She is the reason we now have 4 cats .She has been a fabulous  mouser  and has become the serial killer around here and the old house / kill list has  100s of birds / 1 owl / 1 bat / mice 1000s / squirrels/ rabbits /and many more .  she also adopted the old couple down the road  and hit them up for fancy food   ( learned for bruce )

Last one is a funny looking cat that showed up  to sort thru my  files one morning  5 am  ----  not very friendly   currently not named  and rehomed

[gt350shelb]

Wally is moderating this thread !

[shelbydoug]

Wally is moderating this thread !

Mine chase the cursor on the screen.

[67 GT350]

Love all the pictures!

[NC TRACKRAT]

Great to read about and see all the pics of these rescued fur balls!  Our latest, Sugarfoot, has been with us about 11 years now.  She was found by the Siamese Rescue folks in Greensboro along the railroad tracks with four babies hanging on to her.  They figured she was only a year or so old herself and weighed only four pounds.  The kittens were immediately adopted. She had so many fleas and infections, she lost most of the sight in her right eye and had serious intestinal problems.  After spaying, they adopted her out three times but was returned each time due to her precarious health and medical needs...until we came along.  After many years of vet bills, allergy panels, minor surgery and finding the proper LID cat food, she's in reasonably good health and, like most cats, can be very picky about her food but she's an absolutely precious little girl, weighs seven pounds and is "Mama's Baby".  I'm just tolerated.  In all probability, in her past, she was abused by a man and has never forgotten it.