Where to begin! I currently have 4 cats and a dog, and they all have their own personality. Living with them is an experience to be sure.
First, we have Ashley. My son, A.J. rescued her from a Bronx parking lot in order to have representatives from the Toby project neuter her. He brought her home and asked we look after her for a few days while she recuperated and then he would return her to the parking lot. In the interim, her brothers and sisters disappeared as did her mom over the course of a few weeks. That was over 12 years ago! She was so feral, and would not let us near her! We took it very slow, and left her in her own room, and slowly let her get acclimated to us. It took months and she is very sweet and loving now. She never over eats, and although she is older now, she still looks like a kitten.
Well, then along came Binky – found on the streets and starved, matted and they ( Humane Society of Westchester ) never thought he would survive. He was approximately 2 years old when we adopted him (based on his teeth), and he would not let Ashley anywhere near the bed! We tried, but they would fight. Binky is now 14 years old, nearly blind, deaf, has a heart murmur and arthritic. However, since he cannot see or hear well, Ashley now realizes she can also sleep on the bed. Her favorite pastime (at night) is to constantly walk in front of my face while I am reading seeking attention. I have to smile! She likes to be hand fed chicken. Don’t ask how we reached that observation but there you have it. She will eat other food of course, but she does make a point of waiting for that chicken from me! I have a bathroom area in my bathroom and in the basement, and Ashley likes to frequent the bathroom when I am popping in there! Perhaps because I praise her her for being a good girl and she just loves the praise!
Binky always had a toilet training issue. I could never reprimand him off as he must have gone through so much in his past home to have suffered so much. It was only this year that I started to use the male doggie bands which have been wonderful. I take them off at night for his comfort, and I take him outside more so he can urinate more so it all works out. He worried us so much the other month as he had trouble moving and walking. He would just stand there and I was carrying him everywhere. We were not ready to say goodbye to him, and with the help of monthly injections of librela to ease the pain (and after having x-rays to make sure nothing was broken), he is walking fine now. Great! I also take him for shorter walks which has helped too. One of my sons quipped ” we wouldn’t put you down mom as you can’t open a jar!” Funny !!!! But Binky was in so much pain which seems to have now gone. All good. He is loved. I even wrote a book about him. It is called “It’s Okay to Walk in the Rain” and is a metaphor for children on how to help them overcome small anxieties.
The second cat is Grace. What an incorrect name! She must be 23 lbs at least, and when she goes up and down the stairs, she sounds like a human. My son, (yes, A.J. again), asked if she could stay for 2 weeks as his then girlfriend couldn’t take her to a new apartment. She was ‘finding a home for her”. That was 11 years ago ! She is unfriendly, no grace at all, and she is so fat that she will not step into the litter box in my bathroom. So, I find myself putting down doggie training pads for her comfort 4 times a day! It is what it is.
I am now looking after 2 additional cats on a temporary basis. Pang Pang (orange shorthair)and Zhu Zhu (a grey shorthair). They belong to friends of mine who are selling their coop in the city and by necessity the cats could not be there while the coop is being sold. They arrived about 3 weeks ago, and are slowly getting acclimated in the house. The cats are a little territorial of course, and Binky has new energy when they are around! Ha! All I can mention is that they both love their food. Both are fat, and both had some matted hair when they first arrived. Zhu Zhu let me groom her straightaway, but Pang Pang is a process!
I still miss my beloved cat, Chaos. The most sweetest cat I ever had. Loved him so. We also had Valentine who was anything but! She would love to go outside, and I trained her to come back into the house when I rang a bell (so she wouldn’t be outside at night). She always came. If I were to go on a walk, she would run behind me and accompany me! It was sweet and loving but she would hiss at poor Chaos. She had a habit of sleeping on my face, and after getting pink eye a few times, I realized that I was also sharing my pillow with dead birds etc. As she grew older (she passed away when she was 19), I would not allow her outside for fear of her getting sick, struck by a car or attacked by a coyote or fox. She would love to sit on my lap outside and enjoy just being there when she was older. Poor Chaos passed away when he was just 9. He would love steamed chicken, and I had returned home from a son’s baseball game, was cooking him some when A.J. mentioned that he had let him out but Chaos hadn’t returned. Chaos was never an outdoor cat. He never came back, and we searched and searched for him, only to find him 5 days later in the garage. He had been coughing up blood and was on special medicine, but I understand that cats disappear to pass away when they know it is time. I still cry thinking about him. I loved him so. We all did.
So, that is the story of my/our pets. Did I mention I am allergic to cats! So funny but what can we do!
Westchester is great! The Humane Society of Westchester is a no-kill shelter! Please donate!
