Almost-Wordless Wednesday: Maniacs!

Carbon vs. pipe cleaners

Tabby chillaxin'

Skylar stealing Mommy Erin's jerky

Rori tackling Tabby to play (while Tabby was trying to sleep)

Squishy (one of Little Bit's kittens) falling asleep in his "flying saucer" (aka crazy circle)

Daddy put a straw wrapper on Skylar's head

Freya putting a yarn ball in Daddy's shoe

Mommy Erin playing fuzzy sockie with Freya while JJ watches

Heimdall and Freya playing with the laundry hamper

Heimdall getting the camera strap

Somebody put ribbons in the tub

Hemming (Tigress' brother) insisting that's the way into the trap

Tabby tried to play with Mommy's coffee cup sleeve

Panther sleeping upside-down

Dare to Adopt!

Dare is a 3 1/2-year-old female silver tabby adoptable in the Portland, OR, USA, metro area.  Please forgive the amount of cat hair on the stool; the cats own that piece of furniture and nap on it frequently!  Dare has some Russian Blue heritage somewhere in her ancestry, although we're not sure how much.  She was found as a 4-week-old kitten underneath a bush in the apartment complex that Mommy Erin lived in at the time.  Mommy Erin raised her for about a year before Dare came to live at this house.

Dare is wonderful with other cats, kids of all ages, and adults.  She prefers females over males, because she was neglected by a man at one point in her life.  She interacts with males, but it takes her longer to warm up to them than it does to females.  She is shy to start out with, and it took her about 2 weeks to start to interact with our purrents after moving here.  Now, she is a wonderful lap cat, snuggler, licker, and purrer!

If you would like to adopt this adorable, petite ladycat, please contact us by commenting and/or via our profile link in the sidebar where it says "PDX pride".  Thank you!

Happy Gotcha Day & Birthday to Missy!

Photo credit:  Erin Dublin

Missy writes:

"How I spent my winter vacation"

Hmm...no, that's not right.  Let me try again.

"Enjoying Christmas at my forever home"

Yep, sounds about right to me!  Yesterday was my gotcha day anniversary!  I can't believe it's been four years since Mommy and Daddy made the decision to officially adopt me!  It's actually been 4 1/2 years since I came to live here at my forever home, but I wasn't "official" for a few months until Daddy decided he couldn't part wth me.  I love my daddy!

I remember when I found my family.  It was May, and I was hungry.  There were some people who had been feeding me, but they weren't around because it was after their work time.  I went looking for someone to help me, but couldn't find anyone.  I was worried because it was starting to be evening, and there wasn't much prey in the industrial area I called home.  I lived outside, finding what shelter I could.  I walked down the sidewalk, calling out for someone, anyone, to come help me.

Mommy was teaching her class, and the whole class stopped to listen to me.  They could all hear me from inside the building!  Everyone turned to look at Mommy, and she put down the chalk she'd been using.  She all but ran out the door to look for me!  She found me and picked me up after letting me sniff her hand, then asked a few people if they knew where I belonged.  Then she asked someone to go inside the building to get Daddy.  He came out, took one look at me, and put me into the car!  I knew right then that this was the family for me!

I escaped from the car when my new purrents opened it to go home.  I'm very quick!  It took them another 45 minutes to re-catch me, because I decided to hide in the lot across the street.  They had to earn my trust enough to lure me out the side of the fence and catch me again.  I rode by Daddy the whole way home!

It took me a while to trust them completely, and about a year and a half to purr for them, but I'm so glad I chose this family!  I love my auntie, uncle, cousins, nieces, and nephews as well.  They are my play buddies, entertainment system, and companions.  For a kitty who grew up on the streets without siblings, I've come a long way!

The interloper, aka Autumn, has been taking over Daddy a lot lately, though.  I think it's fun to play with her tail as she walks by my chair, so she's not all bad.  Actually, she's a fun kitten, but she has this annoying habit of tackling when she wants to play.  I have to watch when I'm coming out of the bathroom door after using the box, because she likes to try to ambush the rest of us at that corner!  I've actually played with her a few times, and even snuggled with Daddy at the same time as she, but not often.  I do like watching her from the top of the chair or from the file cabinet!

Photo credit:  Erin Dublin

Mommy Erin, JJ, and Coriel came over last weekend and we had a wrapping paper party!  I got all the paper, and there was a lot of it!  JJ gave me every piece off his presents, and made a fort around and over me.  I played in it for a while, and then walked off with a piece of the paper still attached!  I made a big deal of shrugging it off, and everyone laughed.  Very fun!

Today's my 6th birthday, too!  Does that mean I get more wrapping paper to burrow in?  I sure hope so!

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary to Rori!

Rori writes:

Mommy says she may give me some nummies like I'm eating in this picture today, because it's my Gotcha Day Anniversary!  Cool!  The last time I got some wet-food nummies was when Grandma gave us some of her TOONA.  Mommy and Daddy don't eat that stuff, but they promised to give me some of a can of wet cat food.  That's just fine with me!  Yummy!

In case you missed it, the big family news was on our bloggie yesterday, about Grandma.  I'm still not used to not having her around, but things are getting better around here.  Grandpa came by last night and I actually let him see me!  Not only let him, but wanted him to follow me down the hall and into the room where my cave is!  I didn't want him to pet me, but I did want him to see where my cave is.  My purrents were so happy!  That's a big step for me, because I'm actually the shyest one of the clowder, even though I'm the Big Kitty of the House (read:  alpha cat).

It's now 7 years since I first met my forever family!  Did you know that that's how old Mama Lydia was when I first met her?  Mama Lydia was Uncle Skylar's sister, and she was Big Kitty before me.  She taught me everything about being Big Kitty in the year that I knew her.  She even let me snuggle with her!  I can't believe I'm as old as she was then!  Of course, she was sick at that point and I'm relatively healthy, so that makes a lot of difference.  The only major health problems I have are my weight and the cataract taking over my left eyeball.  Those don't stop me when I really want to do something, though, even climbing up the ladder to the bunk bed to snuggle with Mommy while she naps like I did last week, playing with my little sister Little Bit, or keeping tabs on the household.  I just keep on keeping on!

My brother was gotcha'd to be a foster kitten here at the same time I was gotcha'd, but then he was adopted out.  I got to stay!  My first human mommy was Mommy Erin, who lived with us at that time.

This is the first picture of me, right after Mommy picked me out of the middle of a spare tire in the neighbor's yard and handed me to Mommy Erin.  Mommy Erin had seen my brother and me crossing the street and ran in to tell Mommy and Daddy.  Of course, there was no question what was going to happen!

Celebrating more birthdays!

Happy 5th birthday to Erin's Smokey and our Little Bit!  Wow, can't believe these two girls are that old already.  Smokey acts older than she is, but Little Bit acts like a kitten still.  Little Bit is zooming up and down the hallway, almost running over Dare on her way around the house!  Smokey sometimes snuggles with the other cats, and sometimes plays, but most of the time she acts like a grumpy old lady, proving that you can never tell personalities only by heredity.

Remembering their sister, Baby Chiba, who went to the Bridge as a kitten.  These girls had a tough first year, being neglected by their original family.  Smokey was abandoned along with her cousin-cat Starla, whom we adopted.  Little Bit got pregnant when she had just turned 1, and had four little boy-kits.  We fostered them all and found homes for three of them.  One ended up dying of genetic complications.

Even though we love these girls, please remember it's important to spay and neuter your pets!  It's also important to spay and neuter feral cats.  Little Bit's dad was a pet cat, Smokey's dad was probably a feral, and their mom was feral-born.

From left to right on the porch:  Starla, Little Bit, Smokey.  From left to right in the back:  Outdoor Fluffy Buddy, Boo-Boo Kitty.

Smokey as a kitten

Little Bit as a kitten

Baby Chiba and Starla as kittens

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary to the Big Kitty of the House!

Rori writes:

Today's my Gotcha Day anniversary!  Five years ago, when my humans were living in the little house in Portland, I was just a baby kitten.  I was only four weeks old, and somehow my brother and I had gotten away from our mama.  Mommy Erin, who lived with Daddy and Mommy at the time, saw us running across the street from Spongebob's house to Dale's house.  Dale was the neighbor, and he had a lot of old tires in his yard.  My brother hid in one, and I hid in another.  Well, Mommy Erin and Mommy came over to find us!  My brother ran behind Dale's garage, but I was too scared.  I hid inside a tire!  I didn't know what to think of these tall beings coming towards me and making strange noises at me!  I peeked out at them, while they tried to convince me to come to their hands.  Finally, Mommy reached in and picked me out.  She handed me to Mommy Erin, and then took the following picture of me.  You can see how scared I was, but I also knew that I'd better hold on!

My mommies caught my brother, Knut, too.  The stinker walked right into a crate baited with tuna!  By that time, I was being cuddled by Daddy.  Knut was adopted by one of Mommy's co-workers, Tritia, a little over a week later.  I became Mommy Erin's kitten and stayed in her room at least half the time.  After she moved out and had JJ, Daddy and Mommy adopted me, but we celebrate my Gotcha Day as the day that Mommy Erin found me.

I'm proud to be a member of this family and furmily, and the Big Kitty (alpha cat) of the household!

Almost-Wordless Wednesday: Portland Pet Expo!

Tabby writes:

Last Saturday, I went to the Portland Pet Expo with Mommy, Erin, & JJ.  We had a blast!  I got to see lots of doggies and I also saw lizards and snakes!  Plus, there were a lot of people who wanted to say hi to me and pet me.  I stayed in my stroller most of the time, relaxing but watching everyone and everything.

Slideshow design made with Smilebox

Our Wonderpurr Holidays!!!

We had a great week of Christmas parties and get-togethers!!!  First, Tabby and Mommy visited H. on Christmas Eve, then Mommy went over to be with her dad, uncle, and grandparents for the rest of the evening.  On Christmas Day, Mommy's mom came over to exchange presents, and we got a LOT of boxes and wrapping paper to play in/bite/hide/pounce in!

 Christmas tree over at Mommy's grandparents' house

Lights at Mommy's grandparents' house

 Heimdall is interested in the fire in the fireplace.

In the afternoon on Christmas Day, Erin came over to spend the rest of the day and the night with us.  She was a bit sad, so we did our best to cheer her up.  We think it worked, too!  How could she not be cheered up watching us play and petting us?  Our purrents and Erin had yummy leftovers from Christmas Eve for dinner (meatballs, gravy, and mashed potatoes) and we got the plates afterwards.  Carbon does love his mashed potatoes and gravy treat!!!

 Erin and Freya

 Erin making kissy noises at Freya

 What's that???

What is it???  What's it doing???

Then, on Monday, Daddy went over and got Erin and JJ so we could have Christmas and open gifts with them.  They spent the night, then went back the next day.

When it was bedtime for JJ, he took a bath with his new green bath salts.  Freya, who loves jumping in the bathtub when the water's running for showers, wasn't sure exactly what JJ was doing, but wanted very much to investigate it.  So she jumped on the side of the tub and looked in!  Nope, she didn't slip in.