Travel Tips

This is Snickers... named after the nutty, caramelly chocolate bar that everyone loves! Snickers was a stray... found with a broken foot & all muddy. He's got a splendid purrsonality, he's comical, clumsy, kinda wild & crazy... yet the most snuggly lil guy you'll ever meet! He greets everyone who walks into my house, graces every lap, gives kisses, and loves to be held. My neighbor calls him "the black shag rug". =-)

Snickers is a one of a kind cat... he doesn't meow -- he "trills". He will trill to you if you trill to him. At night, after we've all gone to bed... Snickers will drag his "nippy sock" (an old sock filled with catnip) through the house, in his mouth, making the most mournful, sorrowful sounds... he usually stops if someone sees him, and sometimes it's interesting to see where he drops the sock. He always finds it the next night!

Snicky also has a backwards-curling tail; never seen anything like that before!!! He wears "britches" (furry butt) and has a really full, thick red beard. Another comical thing about Snickers... he loves the hair dryer. Most cats freak OUT and take off running; but Snickers will sit on the sink and revel in the feeling of the dryer on high, as it blows his long beautiful hair around. From what I gather, Maine Coons are like this... awesome personalities and well, all that floofy hair!

He turns 18 years old this year, and I'm really hoping my favorite furbaby can live as long as possible for a cat. Some make it to 20 years old, and so far he's doing great. A little bony and arthritic, but he is still the same nutty lil guy I took in 18 years ago!!!

Dusty was named cuz she looks like she's covered in dust. She's got saucer-sized green-apple colored eyes, a really throaty meow (she cries alot when she kills her toy birdies), she LOVES people... she's sort of a diva? She was adopted from the pound... someone actually abandoned her!!! She's only 6 pounds, and likes to be carried around the house vs. walking.

Dusty is a VERY needy cat. She "forces" people to hold her... she will sit and meow (it sounds more like she's saying "Engow" because of her throatyness) until someone holds her; and if you don't pick her up, she will jump on ya! She's a year younger than Snickers, but most people think she is still a kitten due to her size and those HUGEGANTIC green-apple eyes of hers!

***
Nov 18, 2008, we had to put Dusty to rest due to battling kidney failure. We noticed it in early October. Dusty was everyone's 'lap cat' .I noticed right away she was ill. I am guessing it was blessed karma that I tore the ligament in my knee when I did, because I was sofa-bound for one solid month. For that entire month, I was kept company by my beloved and LOVING Dusty. Every day she'd be on my lap, giving me kitty-kisses. When I noticed her changing her routine and change in personality, we started sub-cu fluids and meds. It was not enough; she was simply wearing out. We kissed our girl goodbye on 11/18, with the whole family there. She was very unique, and everyone remembers 'the dusty cat' who gave so much love! Miss you 'Moppy'. ***

Jessie was also adopted from the pound, just like Dusty. Miss Jess usually stays on our bed, curled up, waiting for her humans to come give her some loving. She's rather shy, somewhat skitzy... but VERY loving, if you approach her the right way. She doesn't like it when strangers come to the house, and when we go away on vacation, she seems to be "off" when we return!

She's also a "Talker"... very loud, very determined, and can hold conversations.

K.C. was also a stray like her big bro Snickers. But K.C. was in far worse shape... she was over a year old, yet only weighed 3 pounds due to malnutrition. She had fleas, mites and worms so badly they were crawling out of her! K.C.'s 15 yrs old now, same age as Miss Jessie, and is still so teeny tiny, people think she's only a kitten.

She's the tiniest of our 3 black cats: it's hard to tell them apart sometimes! Skippy has the same markings as KC but he's bigger; Snickers as the long flowing locks with the caramel colors; and KC is just a scrap.

She's a funny little thang, wiry and fast, and boy does she love the laser light. She will come running and try in vain to catch the "red bug".

*** Miss K.C. is now a FurAngel... she passed away in April 2008 peacefully with me and Jeff by her side. Renal Failure is common in old cats, and it was something we couldn't prevent. We had 15 great years with the littl'un, and she'll be greatly missed!!!***

Zorro came from an abusive home... poor guy was locked in a closet and beaten. He had a real bad attitude problem for the first year, but now he's a giant cream puff! At 19 pounds, you don't want this big guy gettin' mad at ya anyway. He lets people put shades, antlers, Barbie stuff & blankets on him... real laid back & mellow. We call him "Buddy".

Zorro / Buddy is not what I call 'fat'... he's got a gut on him & all, but he is just a big-boned boy. Big paws, big head, long body. He's sort of bi-polar and schitzo, nice one minute, evil the next; but most of the time, he's curled up in a coma on someone's bed.

He also can't go anywhere in the house without Hammie behind him. Most of the time, Zorro doesn't mind it when the fat orange blob follows him around... blocks him from the food bowl... follows him to the litter box... however there are times when Zorro turns on Hammie and bites his head as a warning. Hammie is too stupid to know any better, he just stares at Zorro with that "I love you, man!" look.

My butterball monster, nicknamed cuz he makes really weird noises and chases his tail (and other oddball things). Hammie's 5 years old going on a week!

He loves having two younger cats in the house to play with now, but, he still prefers to pick on slow, slothic Zorro.

Hammie is the only cat in the household who "claims the water bowl". We have several water bowls in the house, due to having several cats. Hammie will, just about every single night, deposit one of his tailless furry mice, or a grooming glove, or a dog toy... INTO the main water bowl in the kitchen. We've seen many drowned toys over the past few years, and he does this to claim "this is my bowl!".

The other cats don't mind, and we don't mind Hammie's mental problems. He's the cutest, fattest orange striped blob ever. =-)

His name's Barney! He came from my aunt's house in 2003. My aunt found Barney (yet another stray) but couldn't keep him... so mom got him.

So then, Janurary 2006, Barney FINALLY came to live with me. My dad wouldn't give him up because he wanted a "cute dog" around; yet, dad refused to walk Barney, clean up after him and he just finally caved in and told my mom, "call Stephanie..."

(... the usual line muttered just before an unwanted pet winds up at the Home For Wayward Animals... )

Barney really, really loves his new home. He's lost 4.5 pounds since he came to our house, he gets LOTS of walks, is getting really playful (prefers cat toys versus dog toys) and makes little piggy noises in the morning when he gets excited for his morning walk.

Jeff calls him "Bratwurst" because he used to have such a stout belly, and I call him "Blarney". He's got lots of little nicknames now cuz we all love the little bugger.

We have a little treat bowl filled with "Barney Bones", and Barn will come running and sit up for the treats... he used to not be able, at all, to sit up or even RUN, because my mom made him so horridly fat (And out of shape) from feeding him table food. MAJOR NO NO!

Three years after coming to live with us, Barney is in great shape, loves to sun himself in the backyard (he sort of disappears back there now, he's so short & tiny!), go on long walks in the neighborhood to visit all the kids and larger dogs (he fears little dogs; prefer the larger females), and lay on the sofa curled up on a big fluffy blanket next to whichever cat wants to hang with him.

Skippy & Tiger are brothers (Skippy looks like his mom; Tiger looks like his dad). They're about a year old, VERY friendly, loving lapcats; and, Tiger chirps & talks even more than Snickers does.

Barney is pretty thrilled to have them living with us now (he used to visit their place before Jeff & Taylor moved in with us!), and the other cats got used to them pretty quickly...

... for Snickers, the eldest, it was really no big deal. Snickers is so used to new cats coming in, he just sort of blinks & walks off. He can't see real well anyway so he might think that Skippy & Tiger are just stuffed animals, who knows??? =-)

They're funny little guys... still in the kitten-stage, but not as insane as Hammie was at their age!

They are also "talkers".... Tiger moreso than Skippy... Tiger is very LOUD, like Jessie... and Skippy likes to sing. We have a very vocal house, I think... sort of like a petting zoo, only, cleaner. Most people don't know we have 6 cats due to the fact 2 are elderly (and sleep most of the time) and 2 are so overweight they don't move much.

We really dig our Beloved Monsters!!!