Cats, not the Musical

We have 9 cats.
All have been from either the Humane Society in Portland, Oregon
or from the streets near where we lived.
Kate shared her house with a cat, pure white long haired female, that was her best friend.
I got to know Poulet well.
A high spirited controlling animal. Not really a lap cat.
Loved spaghetti and salad with Paul Newman's Salad Dressing.
Unfortunately, after thirteen years, we had to have this precious animal put to sleep due to kidney failure.
"No more pets, it just hurts to much when they pass" Kate replied just after this incident.
About a month later there was a advertisement for the Portland Oregon Humane Society
for a short haired black female cat. Kate wanted to go just to look.
We went. About an hour later three cats were chosen to share our home with. .
Phoebe, names after Phoebe Snow,
the black and white tuxcedo marked female short hair the ad mentioned.
China, mostly British Short Hair, black and white cat has the personality of a bull dog.
China was picked because she was the only cat that was under the paper in the bottom of her cage.
We thought she would be interesting because she liked to find things, get into things, make messes, and other wise be interesting.
We were right on.
Sophie, a mostly Turkish Van, long haired grey and white female was the other.
When we took her from the cage for the first time she climbed on top of us.
We took that as a good sign.
Sophie is the watcher. When we want to know where the others are hiding, Sophie knows.
Ask her and she will point towards where they are.
While we lived in Portland we fed the cats in the neighborhood, mostly because it was a fun thing to do. As food was left out all the cats would congregate at our back door. Many stories could be told about the antics of these animated ch. aracters. Anyway after two years passed we started to see the glimpses of a motled long haired cat. It was hard to get close to. It was ferrel. After about a month had passed it was setting at the end of our drive way. Kate walked up to it and picked it up. She petted it and talked to it for a while. She brought it into the house. "She is pregnant, we are going to help her out until she gives birth and then we will give the babies away." Kate said determined. We had a top floor to the house so we let her have the area. Sixty-one days later she gave birth to 4. One did not make it and we still have the other three as I knew we would. The mother cat, Chutney was a rather small animal. Her Babies grew and grew, we thought we had giants. Later after much worry we realized we had Maine Coons. Large long haired, beautiful gentle and loving. Phillip, Rocky and Scout, in reverse order of their birth, are Chutneys little ones. That was nine years ago. We now live in Astoria Oregon and the story of the last two cats can now enter into the mix. Tody, Kate and I are older so or hearing is not that good, misheard the neighbors call it, Tuddy. Like one of the characters Anyway in "Car 54 where are you" shown back in the late "50's.Tody was the neighbors cat. They owners sold the house and moved South of Astoria. Tody did not take to the move and was not thriving. We had mentioned that Tody might not take to the move and if this were the case we would be happy to care for him. Tody mostly lived on the streets comming inside our home to eat and occasionally rest. After he bacame part of our household he started to stay in more and more. He also would climb onto the back of my overstuffed chair and wrap his arms around my head and lick my bald spot. Tody had chosen me to be his friend. He has become a great friend. Over time another cat made our back door area his home. We would feed him and make a place to protect him from the weather. He was quite a fighter and oversaw quite a large territory. One day after seeing that he had been in a bad fight we decided to take him to our vet and get help. This viscious fight left him with a bad wound on his front leg along with several others on his head. We decided he could be an indoor cat and leave his fighting ways behind. So fasr so good. He escapes and comes back after surveying territory. He has not been in any fights so far, but this cannot last for long. Jack, became his name now no one can tell us we do not know Jack. Jack, is a gratious, loving and polite cat. He has become a great companion and we now wish we had not waited so long to add him to our family. So we now have nine cats. They all get along and add to our quality of life. Yesterday, April 23rd, 2009, in the afternoon we lost Phillip. It happened so fast. One day he was full of live and love and the next he was not eating and could not jump to his favorite spot helping Kate Surf on the computer. As soon as we noticed the change in behavior off to the vet he went. Not an easy chore as he did not like the cage. At 19.8 pounds he was used to getting his way, but not this time. After seeing the vet we tred to care for him as best we could but by Sunday, he was off to the vet again. We found that Phillip had a liver problem. The next day he was put in the hospital and there he stayed getting the best loving care people who loved him could give. All the loving care in the world could not keep him here with us. He fought to the end, but his hear t gave out. He is greatly missed. We thanked him for allowing us to share in his life. Sophie now waits for her companion. I tried talking to her and I think she understands, buit expectations fade slowly.