Tabbies are the best!

I have had kitties since I was 7 yrs old but have never had a plain grey tabby. We had orange cats when I was a kid - Sunshine and Whiskers, but we had to get rid of them as my Mom developed allergies pretty much right away so I didn't get real attached although I remember crying and carrying on when they were taken away.

Then when I was 22 or so I adopted an orphaned barn cat who was brown bear black - longish hair. He was my lovely boy Iggy who I taught to jump up into my arms from the floor but wouldn't let others hold him.

I brought Iggy down to Florida when I moved here when I was 30 and laid with him on the kitchen floor one Easter night when he died in 1993 at the youngish age of 10. :(

It took some time before I got another kitty..I was pretty tore up. This is what Iggy looked like - he was black but in the sun light you could see some brownishness in his fur.

Katie was next. I found this sweet little Calico kitten while in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. She was chasing an older couple across AIA in the rain and she was only about 3 lbs - about 10 weeks or so. I said " is that your cat?" and they said, "No, what cat?" So I scooped her up and brought her home with me to Florida. She was quite the personality - She charmed everyone but didn't like being held not even by me until she was older and sick. She developed Kidney disease and I administered Saline solution to her 2-3 times per week the last 2 yrs of her life. She died right before we got Jamie. I think there wasn't enough room in the world for both Katie and Jamie. Katie died Dec of 2005 when she was only ten years old. Jamie was born the following January, though we didn't get custody of her until she was four and a half months old - later in May. Anyway this picture is similar to Katie but she didn't have long hair and her markings were more symetrical:

While I had Katie I adopted an all grey cat named Kimba - Kimba was long haired and a bit of a pill. He never had the great personality of Iggy or Katie so was a bit of a forgotten child. He also started marking his territory when we moved to our bigger house in 2000 which royally pissed me off. He died of CRF in 2007, a couple of years after Katie and died a bit young as well I think he was 10. However he was quite handsome - here is what he looked like:

We also had a third kitty with Katie and Kimba named Poncho who was my little love bug. He adored me and loved being held as a baby.  He had kidney stones so I also did the Subq fluids on him his last year and a half and he also died young. It tore me up once again to lose him in 2009 or so when he was only 11.

http://jamieandus.blogspot.com/2008/04/rip-poncho-1997-2008.html

After the three of them died I was haunting the ASPCA website and found an adorable litter of kittens that needed a home.We started out fostering them but of course we kept them all. Truman, Spicy and Minnie.

Jamie was only 2 and a half when we adopted them - I think it was too young as they became afraid of her and have always avoided her except for Truman. 

Alas Truman died REALLY young at only 3 - he also got stopped up with Cysts in his urine and though he recovered from the surgery he came home on several drugs and his liver failed from the valium they gave him to relax his urinary tract.

So we were left with two again - and Minnie and Spicy wanted nothing to do with Jamie. So we got a dog - yup  a dog when Jamie was five and a half. That's a story: 

Jamie had been begging us for a dog for quite a while. One day I asked my friend Michelle - these cute blonde boys mom if we could borrow her newish dog named Samson. They had gotten him as a pup from the shelter that Christmas and Sammie was about four months old. Well I brought him home and Mike flipped out! He was livid! I told him no worries we are just going to 'try him out' to see what i will be like to have a dog in the house. The next day Mike wouldn't go to church. He refused to leave 'that dog' in the house alone so Jamie and I went alone. When we came back, Mike's heart melted at how Jamie was so excited to see him. But I returned the dog that day as planned.

Later in the week I called Michelle to see if I could 'borrow' Samson again as it went so well. She said she would like to see if we would take him. They could see how much Jamie loved Samson and they were overwhelmed with too many pets and humans in the house as her husbands' brother had just moved in with his dog and they also had another dog (plus a cat and two boys and three adults in a smallish house). So now we had two cats and a dog - and we were at the three pet limit Mike had mandated for our household....

But then I found Cody. Meowing piteously in the church parking lot, surrounded by the church feral cats. I went over to him and picked him up and he hugged me around the neck and it was love at first sight (for me! and Jamie and my Mom who were with me when I found him - Mike not so much)

http://jamieandus.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-cody.html

Ok so now we were at four. My mom used to say how did you end up with the best cat AND the best dog in the world as both were very affectionate with all and Jamie finally had a cat and a dog who would let her love on them and play with them.

And really I felt satisfied. I didn't plan on going any higher- No more pets! Mike was sure to tell me over and over that we were not going to get ANY MORE PETS!

Then this summer happened. I just couldn't let another litter of kittens become ferals so Jamie and I socialized the litter of five kittens. And I found homes for four of them...but that last kitten couldn't get adopted - He was just a plain grey tabbie and nobody wanted him. I kept saying I just know we are going to get stuck with this cat! Mike couldn't believe I didn't want him. But I didn't. I didn't want any more turds to chase and didn't think I wanted such a plain boring cat. After all my kitties are usually quite striking and usually have great personalities. (Aren't they? See above) Shiver was his name as he wasn't as socialized as the other kittens and just shivered and shook when we first brought him home.

Then I administered flea medicine - I split an adult dose between two of the remaining kittens. Gator (which we started calling him) almost died from the medicine. DO NOT DO THIS. They have kitten doses...If you split the dose there are two medicines inside those pods and you may give most or all of one of the medicines to one of the kittens and it can hurt them. Anyway see that blue blanket? I kept that kitten in that nest for three days right with me at all times. I spoon fed him canned cat food and syringed water in to him. On the third night (he slept on the pillow next to mine) he started purring for the first time ever and later that night woke up and started trying to play and that is when I knew he would survive and also that he had found a place in my heart. He has turned out to be the most affectionate and lively of the bunch.

So now we have FOUR CATS AND A DOG!

Geesh.