Other cats I have loved

[unseeliechylde]

What a lovely thread - really got me thinking of all the other cats I've known, not just my own

My best friend at school had three cats:

Jasper, a ginger and white tom, quite small, and very affectionate. Her mum found him wandering the streets one day as a kitten, crawling with fleas, with a nasty case of cat flu, diahorrea, and painfully thin. Needless to say, he won them over instantly and was duly adopted and nursed to health to become a self-assured, affectionate and fair master to his cat-slaves. Responsible for my love of ginger cats

Tigie, a tortie (formerly tiger). She was thought to be a boy as a kitten, but it soon became clear she was a girl (due to being a tortie, and not having any "plums" ). Quite a sweet cat, and very cuddly, albeit on her own terms. She was renowned for not liking "strangers", so I was so proud and honoured the first time she settled in my lap and decided I, too, could be a passble cat-slave 

Misty, a longhaired greay and white cat, deaf as a post but absolutely adorable. Very quiet and dignified - an old lady by the time I knew her. She never came to speak to me, but was gracious enough to allow me to speak to her

Another friend of mine had two very remarkable cats, that I got to know when I was in secondary school:

Kiffer: a beautiful, doe-eyed, shorthaired grey cat with a white stripe down the middle of her face, white around her mouth, and very dainty white feet. She had adorable pink pads and nose, and was the most affectionate, sweet cat I've met. We used to say she was a cat supermodel - beautiful, sociable, loved attention, but a bit of an airhead (in the nicest, sweetest and most endearing way) She was called Kiffer because that's what my friends younger brother said when they brought her home: "C for Cat - C for! C for!", Hence, Kiffer

Montgomery: A huge bruiser of a black and white tom, who used to adopt everything in the house and take it upon himself to guard and protect it from the other local cats - this protection included Kiffer, the rabbit, the gerbils, rats, a guinea pig and two hamsters! He talked, loudly and distinctly, and would produce a meow that sounded a lot like "hello" when people came in, and "bye" when they left. He could say "please", and once, when getting told off (he knew because everyine called him Monty, except when his mum told him off - then he was Montgomery), it sounded as if he said "oh butter"! A very clever cat, who we came to believe was a human who just happened to be cat-shaped

And, my first ever cat, Ash, my lovely darling boy

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Well I didn't have any cats as a child, but I do recall when I was about 6 or 7 there was a cat who lived in the next road (gardens backing on to each other) who used to come and visit.  We didn't feed him but he'd come inside and curl up on a chair many an evening.  I remember one rainy, wintery day my dad got the car out to take him home so that he didn't get wet  (bear in mind he only lived 2 gardens away!).

Then there was Inky when I lived in a bedsit when I first came to Manchester.  He was a black (unsurprisigly!) kitten that came to live with the downstairs tenants.  I was on the 3rd floor and Inky would come up to play with me for a while most days.  I felt a bit embarrassed encouraging him actually, but I used to look forward to his visits.  I didn't encourage him up to my flat, but when he came up I encouraged him to stay and play a while!    It was my first real interaction with a cat (as an adult at least) and I ended up buying him toys and stuff so that he had something to play with when he visited.

And I mustn't forget Bunny who I never met.  He was a cat my parents had when they were first married.  I've seen lots of photos of him and have heard many stories about his antics, such as how he got stuck up the chimney once and they had to get someone out to sweep the chimney and get him down!

[berties mum]

Childhood cats:

Monty & Jingo - two brothers, one all black and one grey tabby - already with my parents when I was born and both PTS because of brain tumours - Jingo aged 13 when I was six, and Monty aged 16 when I was nine.  Not many memories of Jingo but do remember Monty's incredible tolerance of me when i would dress him up in my dolls' clothes.  He would occasionally escape from the house still wearing them and be seen in neighbours' gardens wearing frilly dresses.

Sooty, Rusty and Cutie - the three kittens we adopted after Monty died - Sooty was all black and Rusty and Cutie were a ginger brother and tortoiseshell sister.  Sooty and Cutie were tragically killed when they were only 10 months old after falling asleep together under a neighbour's car - he didn't see them when he reversed out of his drive.  Rusty only lived to be three - he dashed out of the house late one night and never came back.  After looking for a month, a neighbour found him curled up at the bottom of the garden.  My parents said they couldn't tell what happened to him, but I think they probably knew.

Lucky and Socks - two rescue cats with major issues - Lucky was quite an elderly cat abandoned by owners who decided to get a dog instead.  Socks was a ginger and white kitten found by a roadside.  Loved them both but couldn't get close to either of them because they just didn't trust people.  Both eventually died in RTAs.

Bob - our little white kitten found shivering outside our garage door one night when he must have only been a few days old.  My dad carried him into the house under his leather jacket.  Every time my dad came home from work, Bob would crawl back inside his jacket and spend hours purring and padding!  He wandered off when he was less than a year old and we didn't see him again.

Buster - our big ginger bruiser - he was at least 15 years old and had been left behind by owners who emigrated.  He'd been at CPL for 2 years when we went there looking for a new moggy.  He was a real character - he loved people and would visit at least six neighbours for breakfast every day, as well as sitting on the front wall every day at 4pm when the day centre opposite closed, so he could say hello to all the staff and users as they walked home!  He was with us for two years before the postman knocked one Saturday morning to say he had found Buster curled up in the sunshine on the front doormat, having passed away in his sleep.

Daisy - the ginger kitten we were actually collecting from CPL when we saw Buster!  She is 15 years old now and still happily living with my parents.

My cats:

Bertie and Matilda - just as I had started renting from a landlord who would let me have cats, my best friend rescued a malnourished ginger cat who turned out to be pregnant.  When i saw the kittens at a few days old, Bertie and Matilda so reminded me of Rusty and Cutie that I couldn't say no!  I lost Matilda in an RTA in August 2005 and miss her every day.  Bertie pined dreadfully at losing his soulmate and now and again, when he sees a tortoiseshell cat through the window that looks like Matilda, he does the special meow just for her.  He is the light of my life and has been with me through some tough times, always knowing when I need a cuddle.

Bella - getting company for Bertie after we lost Tilly was a hard decision, but one I'm so glad I made.  I rang CPL asking for help in finding a female cat younger than Bertie who really needed a home.  They gave me an address and asked me to visit a little black cat who needed rescuing badly, but who they didn't have space for in any of their foster homes.  When I called to see Bella, I couldn't leave without her.  She was living with a kind man with learning difficulties, who thought he was offering Bella a wonderful home but was actually killing her with a diet of crisps and pizza.  He was her fourth home in just five months and I couldn't run the risk that someone else would take her on, and then return her to CPL again.  Her original CPL foster carer wrote "What a pet!" on her papers and it couldn't be more true.  She is the most loving, funny little thing you could ever wish to meet and hasn't matured at all since five months old!

Minnie - my newest addition - a seven-year-old black and white fluffball left behind when my neighbour emigrated.  I had always been fond of the lovely cat nextdoor and couldn't face her being taken away, so I started feeding her.  Slowly but surely, she's become a full-time member of the household and although a bit temperemental, she is becoming a wonderful pet.  She turns out to be blind in one eye and deaf in one ear but I wouldn't change her for the world.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Just seen a thread like this on the US forum, and thought it woudl be nice to do on here.

Childhood cats:

Felix, a gorgeous ginger and white tom - facial wise, him and Ginger (in my sig) were practically identical. Me and my mum can never agree to how old he was when he died, the vet suspected cancer, so my mum had him pts - I say he was 10, my mum says 13. He was a fantastic cat, not sure where he came from, I came home one day to find him, he was soo tiny!!

Lucky and Beauty - two black or black and white kittens we had briefly. My mum has never told me the real place they went.

Gizmo - we got her when I was 14, but when we moved in with my stepdad, we had to home her - we lived on a quiet cul de sac, where she would happily sit on the road, so moving onto a main road wasn't an option with her. She was a lovely pure black cat, who came from some neighbours who had 3 cats and 3 dogs, and never got them neutered (we are going back a few years now though). She had a love relationship with our dog, she had lots of kinks in her tail from him stopping her running away, and he was the only thing he would allow to take food from his mouth!!

Apparently, there were cats before Felix, but I dont remember them, and have never seen pics.

My 'own' cats

Charlie was my first cat, I wasn't going to get another cat, as I was living on my own for the first time, and wasn't sure on bills and being in the house enough, but the person on the next street said he would microwave her otherwise, so she came here. It was actually his mum's cat who had had to live outside for months. Sadly, she only had 9 weeks here before being really ill.

I then realised that the house wasn't a home without a cat, so went to the rescue the next day for another one, I wanted to focus on a hard to home 'type' of cat, and could only think of ones with behavioural issues or oldies (Charlie was 14). They only had a 5yo tabby available, so I adopted her and thought she could be the cat I had for years while my oldies came and went, but sadly that wasn't meant to be, she only had 8 months here. I lost her to FIP. It resolved me to only taking on oldies. She was a very aggressive cat though, and I loked like I was into self harming for ages!!

When I rang my mum to tell her about Tigger, she told me I was stupid as Ginger didn't have a home. Asked loads of people with 2 cats, and got told it wasn't much more hassle than one, so 6 days later, we went and picked him up off the streets. He was bullied by Tig, and I nearly didn't get another cat after that. He ended up being the one that was with me for years, while others (older and younger) came and went.

4 months after losing Tig, my friend took me to a rescue on the way home, and I was determined I wasn't going to get anohter cat - but walking round, I said I couldnt do it, I had to see if they would let me have a cat, you have to pick a cat before they do a homecheck, and I wanted another oldie, but one that would be placid for Ginge, and my friend picked me the oddest looking oldie they had!! Snowy fitted the bill for Ginger, and she made him be friends!! She had 16 months here, I lost her to liver probs.

The day I lost Snowy, I got a phone call asking if I could help with a 10yo female, I had to bend my own rules to take her on, as I dont normally take cats on under the age of 12, I went to see her, and I had seen them at the vets that morning, so I decided it was fate. She was obviously meant to be here, we had loads of health issues with her!! As most of you know, I had nearly 2 years with her, and we dont know what was wrong with her in the end. It is just over 3 weeks till her anniversary.

They are all in my sig, apart from Charlie, as I dont have a single pic of her.

Then there are all the fosters, but I shant name all them, there are over 40 of them!!