My Beloved Kitties.....

I feel bad I haven't posted on this blog lately, but I plan on making myself come here and make it cheery! My cat family has changed somewhat since I started Kitty-Kountry, and this is part of why I haven't had the heart... I've lost four cats and gained four cats since I started this blog.

One of them is part of both those lists. That was Jack, only I didn't know his name was Jack until I'd had him for about a month. Turns out he lived about a block away from me and was actually about 15 years old. I saw a lady petting him one day across the street from my place at the park, so curious, I went over and she informed me that she lived up on the highway and that Jack had disappeared about a month prior to him showing up on my porch with the wind one day.

She said he was about 15 and had been getting weaker and thinner and she thought he was dying of old age. So when he disappeared she thought he'd gone off in the woods to die!

We had gotten bombarded by one snowstorm after the other and had an unusually long and very white winter. All the cats were weirded out because it was new to every one of them including my eldest, Tom. He was born in my garage in the recycling bin.

But back to Jack - Jack slept in my house for the first month he was here, then I became aware he had a bad case of intestinal worms, so all my cats got treated with meds from the vet, and that included Jack. He was getting healthier and feeling better, you could see it in his walk and in his eyes.

Then out of the blue, Tallon disappeared. I hadn't seen him all day and that in itself was odd. But I couldn't find him that evening either and I knew something was wrong. It wasn't until I'd stopped looking outdoors for Tallon that I realized Jack hadn't been seen all day either.

Very sadly, I never saw either cat again. I was so brokenhearted, Tallon had been one of my favorites to spend one-on-one time with. He had an awesome, attentive, and intense personality and I swear he understood everything I said. He loved to play games where he had all the attention - your undivided attention - and he was gorgeous! A very lean and slender pitch-black polydactyl with big, round green eyes....

He was one of the three black kittens I got from my brother Brian. Two had extra toes and the third had normal toes. That was Ashes, who disappeared about a month after his brother Tallon and the old cat Jack disappeared.

Sheila, my neighbor and my friend, lost her orange kitty Corky within the same week Ashes disappeared. I miss Ashes a lot too. He had been losing his fur; he was a high strung kitty that was always stressing about something, but he was full of personality too.

I absolutely loved spending hours with the triplets (what I called the polydactyls and their normal-toed brother as a group) just playing with them. They all have abnormal purrs, too. It's like they had extra skin flaps around their windpipe which is my understanding of what makes the "purr" sound. They also had additional noises within their purr which only happened while they were half asleep. Kind of odd but I figured they had to be at a certain level of relaxation for the sound to surface? I don't know!! Just guessing......

Okay, then Azia brought me her cat Lily's two pure white kittens. One boy, one girl. They were about 4-5 months when I got them. They were and still are the most distructive kittens I have ever had! Adorable but distructive, and not fixed yet! They stay indoors and don't have official names yet. They are extremely lovable and affectionate kitties, and I adore both of them, but they sure know how to clear off a counter or even a cupboard!

Then last week something horrible happened. I cannot tell you all the details, it was very gruesome and it would leave an absolutely horrid mental picture - but we had a very freaky accident and I discovered my porch kitty (I called her that because she was actually my neighbor's cat that chose to live on my porch for almost 3 years) Missy, dead and hanging from the top of a garden fence pole which was made of rebar.

I guess she must have tried to jump without being in control of her balance and did not clear the fence from the porch railing that she was apparently jumping from. I was a total out of control emotional brokenhearted and shocked - a total basketcase clear into the next day. My mind had the worse time trying to make sense on how it could have happened, but eventually a few scenarios came to mind that made sense. It was truly one of the freakiest things I've ever seen in my life and one I hope I never see again.

She was an awesome, doofy yet smart, quirky kitty I loved dearly. I will always remember her as my porch cat. I actually made a tent-type contraption with an old sleeping bag and a blanket for her on the couch on my porch last winter, and had been contemplating what I'd do this year. This kept the freezing winds off her and she could stay warm. I tried bringing her in on the real cold days and sometimes she would stay in, but most of the time she preferred to be out.

Which brings me to a stray that showed up for the first time about two months ago, and he looked just like Missy, which is how he is now being called Mister. He is not very old but I think he'd never been in a house. He's somewhat sickly and needed care. I have no idea where he came from but I cannot put him out. I just can't do that. I know he wouldn't make it out there and I don't have a clue how he's made it to date. He was here one night, then disappeared the next day. About three weeks later he showed up on my porch again and has been here since. He's a sweet kitty and I'll do the best I can with him. He needs to be fixed too.

Tom and Odie, two of my orange boys like to stay down at my neighbor Mac's place since the kittens came up. They freak them out for some reason. Tom likes it down there because there aren't so many cats at Mac's but he usually has come home for the winter by now.

They need to come home; Tom is 11 going on 12, and Odie's 3 going on 4 and my biggest kitty. I can't wait until my cat family is all home again for the winter. I miss them.

Until next posting!

Take care of your pets!

This is Sadie, A Little Freaked!

A Few Of My Buddies.....

To my left was a surprising moment; even more surprising I happened to have my camera with me! They were begging for food through our cat door and was taking pictures when I impulsively held my hand out, and this was the response I got! She was as surprised as I was. She comes around often, feeling safe here. There's another one she hangs out with, the one with the tongue hanging out shown below.










Below is my beloved Tallon, who is currently missing. He is one of three kittens I brought home when I picked my mom up for a two week visit to my house. Mom had been living with my youngest brother Brian for about a year or so and she was coming home with me as planned, for a visit. It also had been planned I'd take the kittens at that time, at about six weeks of age. He
had three dogs and the momma cat and a few other special cats but he needed a home for the three kittens and I had fallen in love with them. So mom and the triplets as I called them moved in, because mom was at my place for less than a week when she asked me to please let her stay. It's very peaceful and pretty here with room for my cat family too. Of course I'd always wanted to take care of my mom when and if the time ever came, which it did. She had a stroke in 2000 which left her with a damaged memory, causing her to require assisted living. She hated the nursing home she'd initially gone into before my brother went to Springfield, Oregon where she was living and packed her up and took her home with him to Spokane, Washington to live with him and his family. Three years or so later in the present, she's been with me now for two years on July 14th, along with Tallon and his brothers.


This is Odie. He's right at two years old to date. He's one of the youngest, yet the biggest! He's an oversized huge love-bug with extremely large claws that he uses to knead my bare skin with when he's affectionate. He sleepwalks directly upon awakening, stumbling around with his eyes barely open and many other cute things.


















Below is an interesting result I got due to a five second delay on my camera. She was sitting there posing while I took pictures, well this one I'd just clicked when suddenly she opened her mouth wide and her tongue cane stretching out- I realized she was yawning impulsively! I think it's a most adorable picture.

WildCat-Bob

WildCat-Bob

BoyCat

BoyCat

Bandit

Bandit

Odie

Odie