I adopted Smudge in September of '97 at the San Francisco Humane Society, a no-kill shelter. At 4 months old, she was an aggressive, playful, and clever kitten with razor-sharp claws (I still have scars). Smudge could always figure out the "trick" of any game in just a few minutes, and then she'd get bored. She would then wander restlessly from room to room, looking for excitement, which earned her the nickname "ADD Cat." Her most fervent wish was to go outdoors, and she would cry piteously whenever I left the house. So I'd often take her out on a leash so she could chomp on some grass.

Now, at nearly 3 years old, she's mellowed out quite a bit and has become very affectionate. She's easily spooked, though, but she'll calm down if I reassure her. She still longs for the outdoors occasionally, but seems more contented than she used to be. That's probably because she now has a great cat buddy to play with.


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My mousie toy! Chomp chomp The deadly pointer
Baby Smudge Maybe they can't see me down here... Pinup girl





I adopted Roxy in the summer of '98 because Smudge needed a companion. Roxy was 2 months old and came with a raging respiratory infection. She sneezed, snorted, dripped and drooled all over everything. She also loved to sleep draped over my neck at night, so you can imagine how damp that area was by morning! Turns out she has a chronic Herpes viral infection that she'll always have. Whenever she experiences stress on her body, the infection will flare up, giving her a bad cold. For that reason, her vet advises against vaccinations for FeLV and FIV - so she's an indoor cat for life.

Her favorite time to cuddle with me is when I'm working at the computer. She curls up in my arms, purring (it's the only time she does purr!), and kneads my collarbone, rubs her head against my face, and nuzzles me on the nose. Often she'll fall asleep in that position. She's curious, extremely playful, outgoing, and isn't afraid of much. She doesn't even run away from the vacuum cleaner. She's wary of it, but will usually sit and watch while I'm using it, as though she could overcome the monster by meeting it face-to-face.


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Wild beast! Baby beast Double double beast beast
The feather toy approaches Struggle to the death... Victory!





When I first brought Roxy home, I had to keep her separated from Smudge until she got over her cold. During this time, I staged several "introductions" between them, with Roxy in her carrier box, so Smudge could get used to Roxy's smell. Smudge was hostile and threatened at first, and would glare into the holes of the box and hiss. But when I finally let them meet face-to-face, the hostilities evaporated quickly. Within minutes they were racing around the apartment together.

They've been great friends ever since. They chase each other around the house every day (usually at 2 AM), they groom each other constantly, and occasionally they'll still curl up to sleep together.


Baby Roxy with Smudge What're YOU lookin' at? Bucket o' fur "Wait'll you hear this one!"





Tika belonged to my partner, who had gotten her in 1976, when she was only 6 weeks old. I moved in with them in 1985, at which time Tika was 9. I lived with Tika for the next 12 years, until she died in 1997 at the admirable age of 21. I can't say she was ever really my cat, but we were good pals. My partner and I occasionally talked about getting a second cat, but Tika wouldn't hear of it. She was queen of the roost and was extremely hostile to most other life forms, with the exception of those that could open cat food cans (whew!).

She stayed extremely playful until the last few years of her life, when arthritis made it too painful to chase ping-pong balls and furry mice. Her favorite toy was one of those sticky bug things that you throw against the wall and then watch them "crawl" down toward the floor. She'd sit on the floor and stare up at it with big black eyes and twitching tail, actually howling at it as it inched toward her. She also liked to sit under the faucet in the bathtub and drink the dripping water, getting her head all wet in the process.

In her final year or so, in spite of deafness, encroaching blindness, and arthritis, she continued to be a fairly healthy and affectionate cat. She did spend a lot of time staring blankly into space, and I often thought she might be developing an inner spiritual life - or perhaps she was just brain-dead. When she died, she went quickly, without a lot of prolonged suffering. Tika lived an unusually long and, I hope, a very happy life.


Supercat!






Itchy was a rescue kitty. One evening, having just arrived home, I was getting out of my car when I heard a cat meowing loudly. I decided to investigate the source of the cries, so I walked out to the street to look around. In the parking lot of a neighboring apartment building, I saw a little kitten sitting all by himself and howling. I called to him and he came running to me. When I picked him up, he purred furiously and showed no desire to be let down. I rang a few bells in the neighborhood to see if the kitten belonged to someone, but no one claimed him. So, I brought him home.

Tika (who you've just read about) was not interested in sharing her domain with another feline. So I had to sneak the little boy into my bedroom and shut the door. The kitten looked about 2 months old and was very affectionate and playful. He was clearly overjoyed to have been rescued from the parking lot. He was also full of fleas and constantly scratching, so "Itchy" seemed like a good name for him.

I put up signs in the neighborhood, and took him to the vet for tests, shots, neutering, and de-flea'ing. He came back clean and healthy. When no one responded to the signs, I set about trying to find him a home, since Princess Tika would never stand for him moving in permanently. But I didn't have to search for long. One of the techs at the vet's office where I'd brought him had fallen in love with Itchy and wanted to adopt him. So, after two weeks at my place, Itchy was off to his new home.






Lambchop

Lambchop was a stray kitten who showed up at my back door at about 6 months of age. I fed her, and, big surprise, she showed up again a few hours later. So I took her in, keeping her separated from my other cats until I could get her checked out for diseases, have her spayed, get her her shots, and so on.

She wasn't the world's most sweet-tempered cat. Sometimes she'd let me pet her, but then suddenly she'd get tired of it and take a swipe at me with all claws out, drawing blood (mine). But she had lots of cute and funny quirks, which made up for her unpredictable moods. However, I had no plan to keep her, because Roxy detested her and often attacked her at random with no provocation. As soon as she was ready, I started looking for a new home for her.

At first I was showing her at the Home at Last weekly adoption fair, but she wasn't a good cat for that environment, because all the noise and people frightened her and she became hostile. So I put an ad in Petfinders, and soon found a man who lived alone and wanted a companion pet. I warned him about her! I told him how she'd probably give him a few painful scratches before he learned how to relate to her. But he wasn't fazed - he adopted her just as she was. I called him about two weeks later to see how she was doing, and he said that yes, he'd gotten some nice scratches from her, but they were learning to get along.









More Roxy and Smudge

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Licorice
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Licorice as a kitten with his brother Jake
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Other Amusing and Cute Kitties
(Miscellaneous cat pics from the Web)

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