(little kitten "Trouble" warming himself by the woodstove)Currently I have three kittens and four cats. Trust me, there is a story about this. It started out when I purchased my first house back in 1996 in Attleboro. My first house was a "fixer-upper"-as most first houses tend to be. I loved that house and worked hard bringing life back into it. It was built in 1880 and was a very charming townhouse near the center of town. Every home needs a pet and I thought that I would start with a cat. We had pets growing up and grew up around the "town cat". They were purchased at the pet store and treated like another member of the family. They were fixed and declawed so as not to destroy the furniture or have little kittens so as to to deter from already expensive pampering.
I was all excited and wanted a black cat-just like Mickey (A wonderful cat that I grew up with). I never knew Mickey personally since he was sure to be hiding when I was around as a kid. I probably tried to dress it up and make it dance like most little girls tend to do with their kitties. It was still the idea of him. He always was there for my mother who was certainly his adopted mother. He had his own bed and fancy food and was taken to the groomers often. He was definitely declawed and fixed. I loved the shadow of Mickey and wanted my own cat now that I was all grown up and finally a homeowner.
Unfortunately, I could not afford the pet store kittens and went to find one finally in the shelter in Mansfield. I paid only $95 and then went back because there was another kitten in the cage above him that I could not get out of my mind. So, I went back with another $95 to purchase two adorable little kitties-the black male cat was "Osiris" and the female long haired-Maine Coon cat was named "Isis"-see the pattern here!
I brought them home to my home in Attleboro, where my daughters genetically programed- began to immediately catch them to dress them up and put them in carriages to walk around town! Yes, I loved the karma on that one! I made sure they were fixed and de-clawed so they would not ruin the furniture in our home as well. Besides my mother insisted upon this and well, she was the pro. I then bought them each a fancy bed with climbing post and various toys. they had their own ceramic dishes (which I have no idea where they ended up as I am writing this and thinking back). They were definitely loved and pampered. I kept them indoors and they played about the house.
Then we moved to Norton, in a house that I believed at the time was in the country and they discovered the outdoors. I could not keep them from it. Eventually I gave in to their always sneaking out during the day-they would then be home for the evening. I was initially nervous-since they were de-clawed-but it did not stop them at all! I found out how much they loved me with their gifts that they had started to leave me on a daily basis. I had never witnessed this side of a cat before. Everyday, I would get ready for work and find on the front steps of my house either a small bird or a small field mouse. It was horrifying at first until-my neighbor had told me that it was actually a compliment and that I should not get mad at them-but to reward he "hunter" in their inner kitties!. It was very difficult, especially the day that I caught my beautiful Isis in the act of catching a tiny defenseless little finch and chased it around the house. I was horrified and put my foot down and shooed it out of the house to save it. I could not witness the pure carnage of it! He looked like a little bird right out of a Disney movie! I did get used to it and we all settled into a wonderful bliss watching out kitties grow into cats and proud hunters who loved us. I was always told that you cannot chose cats as pets-they chose you to be their companions.
Isis was definately the princess cat and loved to lounge about. While Osiris was the family cat and was the playful one. He loved to eat Doritoes and Cocoa Puffs-the kids had figured this one out! Also, you had to make sure the bathroom door was shut when taking a bath, because he would jump in it! He loved the water and bubbles!
Then one day, another black cat came by scoping out out home. He and Osiris would battle-so bad that Osiris was bitten and we had to quarantine him in the basement to make sure that he did not have rabies! The two blacks cats looked so exactly alike that I could not tell them apart when they were fighting! It was horrible. Then one day-Osiris did not come by anymore and the other cat stayed. I did not give up hope and eventually found out that another family on a street down the road had claimed him-or he went to them out of frustration and wielded to the new black cat that had taken up residence in the household! He (the new cat) would cry and cry at all hours of the night until I finally relented and took him in! I had to give him to my mother because the vet bills were getting extremely expensive there in Southeastern Mass and I could not afford him on even the required shots. I did not give up hope on Osiris returning either. Eventually, he went to my mother's house where my parents named him Max.
Max stayed there for a while until they decided to move to Florida and I decided to move here to Maine. I then ended up with Max and Isis. I and the girls cried for Osiris. We had since found out that Max had belonged to a man down the street who had died of cancer and was abandoned. He had chose us for his new family and we welcomed him and brought him up to Maine.
In Maine with a lot more wilderness and many more dangerous predators I was initially afraid to let the cats out of the house. Eventually, Max broke out so many times and always found his way back that I let him go out on his own. He refuses to go out during winter months though-who could blame him!
Then, due to the farm we added "Butter" to the household. He was to be our "farm cat" (Even though he would be fixed and would have his shots). Isis refused to leave the house and Max did not have claws. I found out that in having a barn-there was the problem with rats (we have grain stored in there and hay).
Butter was from a house down the road that had a batch of kittens each year and the girls chose him and named him. His formal name was "Butterfinger". My oldest daughter Alex named him. He was definately a Maine cat since it was hard to keep him indoors, though he always came in at night!
One winter when I had more sheep and had quite a few lambs born we discovered that we had a rat problem! I had only seen cute field mice and almost screamed when I saw my first rat! It was huge. Apparently a barn had been torn down and they had sought refuge in my barn. I would go out to check on the lambing ewes (Freyja, Skaadi, Grimhild, and Brunhild-another sheep that I had purchased the fall before) and would find many rats crawling out of the woodwork! It was scary and almost like a horror movie-I was very concerned about the lambs and the mama ewes! I eventually had my friend Eleanor's husband Lloyd over and we would both go out in the barn at night and shoot as many as we could with a pellet gun! I was pretty good-but he got many of them. I then decided that I needed more cats. We had quite a few lambs born that Spring and naturally each of the birthing occurred during a snow storm-when I had to check on them and the new mama's each hour. Rats love to come out at night! And I had so many that they came out in the day too! (Currently with all my cats-I do not have a rat problem and have not seen any in quite a while).
When Spring arrived-I had asked the family for two more kittens and bought home "Butterina" (who looked exactly like "Butter" and was probably related) and "Stripey", her sister in the litter.
In Maine it is a lot more affordable to get all of the required shots and to have them fixed. I had to do that with with the three additional cats and even had money left over to have all of the cats and now two dogs microchipped (I never got over the family down the road claiming Osiris!). However, I had to space it apart since I was now living on a farm budget. When I had Stripey fixed this past Spring about a month later Butter came inside and seemed very lethargic. He had trouble walking so I called the vet-they told me to rush him to the closest animal hospital which was 45 minuted south of here. They suspected a urinary blockage. I rushed him down there with the girls and after an hour they determined that he was too far gone. We had to say goodbye to him and he had to be put to sleep forever! I had him cremated and we brought his ashes home with us. With that tragedy-we had to hold off on Butterina being fixed. I simply did not have the money!
I had to cancel another appointment to have her fixed in between since I could not afford it at the time and then finally had one scheduled for the 7th of this past July. Just before that final appointment-I had noticed that she was getting rather big and then one day-the day before the scheduled appointment-she started moaning and then Jacqui and I rushed her upstairs where she delivered SIX kittens! About two months later-we finally had her fixed! We watched her deliver the kittens-something I had never witnessed either before and of how she was an excellent mother. We were always trying to find her and the kittens and she was always moving them! She would nurse them and teach them and was very attentive. I never wanted any of my cats to have kittens since I am like my mother-I love them. (My own mother is notorious in sneaking kittens by my father-one time I had to sneak one in the house in a lunch box by my father-until he finally noticed it a week later!) This is certainly a genetic trait passed down from mother to daughter. I knew that I would grow as attached to the new kittens as my other cats, dogs and even sheep (who I witnessed all but two of their births-under my care). Eventually we found homes for three of the kittens of that litter and there is one male kitten left (named "Trouble" and two female kittens named "Dot" and "Little Miss" (The runt of the litter and last born). We have tried to find a home for "Trouble" and it gets harder by the day since they all are a part of the family-though I cannot afford to have them all fixed! My neighbors make fun of how pampered they are and have told me that cats are for the barn and should be left outside to fend for themselves and to catch the rats. I am trying-though find it extremely difficult!
And to tie it all up with today-the two female cats are now 7 months old and have gone into heat! I had to put poor "Trouble" in a cage before he started more trouble that I definitely cannot afford right now! That is my latest dilemma. I would love to find a home for him and am having a rough time with this with the economy and all. It is wonderful living in the country-though in this area the employment rate is pathetic and a lot of people are out of work and are struggling to maintain on small farms. Hopefully I will find some way out of this dilemma as I always seem to do. I have been thankful for my creative mind in what I have survived so far. I currently cannot afford to fix one cat-let alone three of them!
My cats are no longer declawed-as they need every defense possible in this wilderness and they sleep wherever in my home-usually near myself or one of the girls and now by the woodstove in the cold winter months. They leave gifts for me on the front porch-they had long since clawed out the screens on the porch door and even most of the windows of the house-trying to get in or out! I even tried to replace them the second Spring were were here and went to a place in town to have the screens professionally done-it cost almost $300. They destroyed them as well-not even a month later! I finally ended up in purchasing my screens at the local Farmer's Union (I have a share there) and buy a roll of screen when those get wrecked from my country cats! I fervently try to duct tape them all summer long and finally throw them out when fall arrives! I almost went without screens-it lasted three days before the blackflies tried to kill me! I then went back to the game with the kitties!
Meow for now :)
I was all excited and wanted a black cat-just like Mickey (A wonderful cat that I grew up with). I never knew Mickey personally since he was sure to be hiding when I was around as a kid. I probably tried to dress it up and make it dance like most little girls tend to do with their kitties. It was still the idea of him. He always was there for my mother who was certainly his adopted mother. He had his own bed and fancy food and was taken to the groomers often. He was definitely declawed and fixed. I loved the shadow of Mickey and wanted my own cat now that I was all grown up and finally a homeowner.
Unfortunately, I could not afford the pet store kittens and went to find one finally in the shelter in Mansfield. I paid only $95 and then went back because there was another kitten in the cage above him that I could not get out of my mind. So, I went back with another $95 to purchase two adorable little kitties-the black male cat was "Osiris" and the female long haired-Maine Coon cat was named "Isis"-see the pattern here!
I brought them home to my home in Attleboro, where my daughters genetically programed- began to immediately catch them to dress them up and put them in carriages to walk around town! Yes, I loved the karma on that one! I made sure they were fixed and de-clawed so they would not ruin the furniture in our home as well. Besides my mother insisted upon this and well, she was the pro. I then bought them each a fancy bed with climbing post and various toys. they had their own ceramic dishes (which I have no idea where they ended up as I am writing this and thinking back). They were definitely loved and pampered. I kept them indoors and they played about the house.
Then we moved to Norton, in a house that I believed at the time was in the country and they discovered the outdoors. I could not keep them from it. Eventually I gave in to their always sneaking out during the day-they would then be home for the evening. I was initially nervous-since they were de-clawed-but it did not stop them at all! I found out how much they loved me with their gifts that they had started to leave me on a daily basis. I had never witnessed this side of a cat before. Everyday, I would get ready for work and find on the front steps of my house either a small bird or a small field mouse. It was horrifying at first until-my neighbor had told me that it was actually a compliment and that I should not get mad at them-but to reward he "hunter" in their inner kitties!. It was very difficult, especially the day that I caught my beautiful Isis in the act of catching a tiny defenseless little finch and chased it around the house. I was horrified and put my foot down and shooed it out of the house to save it. I could not witness the pure carnage of it! He looked like a little bird right out of a Disney movie! I did get used to it and we all settled into a wonderful bliss watching out kitties grow into cats and proud hunters who loved us. I was always told that you cannot chose cats as pets-they chose you to be their companions.
Isis was definately the princess cat and loved to lounge about. While Osiris was the family cat and was the playful one. He loved to eat Doritoes and Cocoa Puffs-the kids had figured this one out! Also, you had to make sure the bathroom door was shut when taking a bath, because he would jump in it! He loved the water and bubbles!
Then one day, another black cat came by scoping out out home. He and Osiris would battle-so bad that Osiris was bitten and we had to quarantine him in the basement to make sure that he did not have rabies! The two blacks cats looked so exactly alike that I could not tell them apart when they were fighting! It was horrible. Then one day-Osiris did not come by anymore and the other cat stayed. I did not give up hope and eventually found out that another family on a street down the road had claimed him-or he went to them out of frustration and wielded to the new black cat that had taken up residence in the household! He (the new cat) would cry and cry at all hours of the night until I finally relented and took him in! I had to give him to my mother because the vet bills were getting extremely expensive there in Southeastern Mass and I could not afford him on even the required shots. I did not give up hope on Osiris returning either. Eventually, he went to my mother's house where my parents named him Max.
Max stayed there for a while until they decided to move to Florida and I decided to move here to Maine. I then ended up with Max and Isis. I and the girls cried for Osiris. We had since found out that Max had belonged to a man down the street who had died of cancer and was abandoned. He had chose us for his new family and we welcomed him and brought him up to Maine.
In Maine with a lot more wilderness and many more dangerous predators I was initially afraid to let the cats out of the house. Eventually, Max broke out so many times and always found his way back that I let him go out on his own. He refuses to go out during winter months though-who could blame him!
Then, due to the farm we added "Butter" to the household. He was to be our "farm cat" (Even though he would be fixed and would have his shots). Isis refused to leave the house and Max did not have claws. I found out that in having a barn-there was the problem with rats (we have grain stored in there and hay).
Butter was from a house down the road that had a batch of kittens each year and the girls chose him and named him. His formal name was "Butterfinger". My oldest daughter Alex named him. He was definately a Maine cat since it was hard to keep him indoors, though he always came in at night!
One winter when I had more sheep and had quite a few lambs born we discovered that we had a rat problem! I had only seen cute field mice and almost screamed when I saw my first rat! It was huge. Apparently a barn had been torn down and they had sought refuge in my barn. I would go out to check on the lambing ewes (Freyja, Skaadi, Grimhild, and Brunhild-another sheep that I had purchased the fall before) and would find many rats crawling out of the woodwork! It was scary and almost like a horror movie-I was very concerned about the lambs and the mama ewes! I eventually had my friend Eleanor's husband Lloyd over and we would both go out in the barn at night and shoot as many as we could with a pellet gun! I was pretty good-but he got many of them. I then decided that I needed more cats. We had quite a few lambs born that Spring and naturally each of the birthing occurred during a snow storm-when I had to check on them and the new mama's each hour. Rats love to come out at night! And I had so many that they came out in the day too! (Currently with all my cats-I do not have a rat problem and have not seen any in quite a while).
When Spring arrived-I had asked the family for two more kittens and bought home "Butterina" (who looked exactly like "Butter" and was probably related) and "Stripey", her sister in the litter.
In Maine it is a lot more affordable to get all of the required shots and to have them fixed. I had to do that with with the three additional cats and even had money left over to have all of the cats and now two dogs microchipped (I never got over the family down the road claiming Osiris!). However, I had to space it apart since I was now living on a farm budget. When I had Stripey fixed this past Spring about a month later Butter came inside and seemed very lethargic. He had trouble walking so I called the vet-they told me to rush him to the closest animal hospital which was 45 minuted south of here. They suspected a urinary blockage. I rushed him down there with the girls and after an hour they determined that he was too far gone. We had to say goodbye to him and he had to be put to sleep forever! I had him cremated and we brought his ashes home with us. With that tragedy-we had to hold off on Butterina being fixed. I simply did not have the money!
I had to cancel another appointment to have her fixed in between since I could not afford it at the time and then finally had one scheduled for the 7th of this past July. Just before that final appointment-I had noticed that she was getting rather big and then one day-the day before the scheduled appointment-she started moaning and then Jacqui and I rushed her upstairs where she delivered SIX kittens! About two months later-we finally had her fixed! We watched her deliver the kittens-something I had never witnessed either before and of how she was an excellent mother. We were always trying to find her and the kittens and she was always moving them! She would nurse them and teach them and was very attentive. I never wanted any of my cats to have kittens since I am like my mother-I love them. (My own mother is notorious in sneaking kittens by my father-one time I had to sneak one in the house in a lunch box by my father-until he finally noticed it a week later!) This is certainly a genetic trait passed down from mother to daughter. I knew that I would grow as attached to the new kittens as my other cats, dogs and even sheep (who I witnessed all but two of their births-under my care). Eventually we found homes for three of the kittens of that litter and there is one male kitten left (named "Trouble" and two female kittens named "Dot" and "Little Miss" (The runt of the litter and last born). We have tried to find a home for "Trouble" and it gets harder by the day since they all are a part of the family-though I cannot afford to have them all fixed! My neighbors make fun of how pampered they are and have told me that cats are for the barn and should be left outside to fend for themselves and to catch the rats. I am trying-though find it extremely difficult!
And to tie it all up with today-the two female cats are now 7 months old and have gone into heat! I had to put poor "Trouble" in a cage before he started more trouble that I definitely cannot afford right now! That is my latest dilemma. I would love to find a home for him and am having a rough time with this with the economy and all. It is wonderful living in the country-though in this area the employment rate is pathetic and a lot of people are out of work and are struggling to maintain on small farms. Hopefully I will find some way out of this dilemma as I always seem to do. I have been thankful for my creative mind in what I have survived so far. I currently cannot afford to fix one cat-let alone three of them!
My cats are no longer declawed-as they need every defense possible in this wilderness and they sleep wherever in my home-usually near myself or one of the girls and now by the woodstove in the cold winter months. They leave gifts for me on the front porch-they had long since clawed out the screens on the porch door and even most of the windows of the house-trying to get in or out! I even tried to replace them the second Spring were were here and went to a place in town to have the screens professionally done-it cost almost $300. They destroyed them as well-not even a month later! I finally ended up in purchasing my screens at the local Farmer's Union (I have a share there) and buy a roll of screen when those get wrecked from my country cats! I fervently try to duct tape them all summer long and finally throw them out when fall arrives! I almost went without screens-it lasted three days before the blackflies tried to kill me! I then went back to the game with the kitties!
Meow for now :)
Are you always on the phone, I think that needs to be your next blog HAHA! You haf gotta love your kitties
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