This is Tabitha and I've had her ever since she was a kitten. I found her in a county shelter and immediately noticed her because she bravely came to the front of her cage and stuck a paw through in an attempt to touch me. While the other kittens in her cage huddled in the back, Tabitha made a point of trying to connect with me.
A red dot above her cage indicated that she (and her two brothers and sister) were on the shelter's "red alert" list which meant that she and her litter mates were due to be put down at the end of the week simply because no one wanted them.
I couldn't bear the thought of such a brave and friendly kitten being put down for no fault of her own. Since I already had three cats, I didn't have the room to adopt four more. To be candid, I hadn't even come to the shelter in search of another cat. I had come as emotional support for a colleague who had suffered the loss of one of her dogs some six months earlier.
Since I'm not interested in dogs, I wandered over to the cat section where I met Tabitha.
Unable to accept the pending death of this cat, I adopted her. I wound up going home with a cat. My colleague went home in tears because she was not yet emotionally ready to accept a new dog into her life.
This is what Tabitha looked like as a kitten.
Tabitha's full name is Princess Tabitha Panda Kitty Toe Biter which admittedly was a very big name for what used to be a very small cat. She was a princess because she was adopted into a home of older bachelors. In addition to yours truly, I had three male cats ... Bobby Cat (so named because he's a Manx mix with a bob-tail, Jasper Baby (Bob's brother), and Scraps.
These were my boys. From left to right, Scraps, Jasper Baby (now deceased), and Bob.
The "panda kitty" part of Tabitha's name came from her coloring ... and this name was given to her before I realized that she was a Tuxedo cat. I actually like "panda kitty" better. The "toe biter" designation came from the fact that she enjoyed playing pouncy pounce on my feet whenever I was in bed.
She'd look at my feet which were under the covers and if I shifted a foot, she'd POUNCE, clawing at a toe and tried to bite it through a comforter. I thought this was pretty funny when she was a kitten but one day after she had grown up, she actually managed to BITE ME through a comforter. Thereafter I began keeping a lure by the bed and have long since managed to distract her from further attacks on my foot. I also sacrificed a slipper "for the greater good" and have allowed Tabitha to wrestle with it when she was feeling frisky.
Until recently, Tabitha did not talk.
Bob is a talker. In fact it's sometimes hard to get him to stop talking particularly when i'ts 3 AM and he's YOWLING in the hopes that I'll get up to feed him an early breakfast.
Bob actually has a handful of different sounds he makes. There's a curious warbling sound that he makes when he's about to throw up. When he's hungry, he makes a sound that suspiciously sounds like the word, "Now!"
It's currently 3:05 PM and in about 30 minutes or so, I full expect him to start telling me, "NOW! NOW! NOW!" because it's getting close to his dinner time. I typically feed the cats at 4 PM.
Jasper Baby, Bob's brother, did not know how to say, "Now." Instead of saying, "Now," JB would say, "Wow!"
At 3:30 no matter what I was doing, the boys would find me and I'd hear ....
"NOW! NOW! NOW!"
"WOW! WOW! WOW!"
Scraps has not been much for talking. I've only heard him make two different sounds (other than a rumbling purr). When he's unhappy (because he's going to see the vet or because we're in the process of moving," he will scream, 'EEEEEOOOOWWWWW! EEEEEOOOOWWWWW! '
EEEEEOOOOWWWWW!" as though I was committing murder and mayhem.
When he's feeling lonely, he'll work me over with his eyes and will emit a mournful, "Ohhhhhhhhh" prior to scrambling onto my lap.
So out of all of my cats, the only cat I have who hasn't talked has been Tabitha.
Since I'm a teacher, I decided to see if I could teach her to talk. One of our evening routines is that I keep a 1 lb. container of Temptation brand kitty treats on the bed stand. When I turn in for the night, the cats gather around me on the bed. Tabitha always sits on the bed stand. As the alpha cat, Bob has pride of place beside me. As the junior status kitty, Scraps has been relegated to the foot of the bed.
Starting two weeks ago, I tried to associate the act of receiving treats with talking.
"What time is it?" I asked the cats.
"Now!" said Bob.
Scraps gave me a mournful look.
Tabitha gave me an expectant look.
"Tabitha, could you say, 'please give me some kitty treats?'" I asked.
She batted her eyes at me and head butted my hand. I love you David. I love you so much.
"NOW!" insisted Bob who began tapping my arm for attention. "NOW!"
"I know YOU KNOW how to talk Bob, but I'm try to get Tabitha to talk."
"NOW! NOW! NOW!" insisted Bob.
Scraps remained silent.
Tabitha continued to blink at me ... secure in the knowledge that she has me wrapped around her paw and sure enough, I gave in and began passing out their nightly treats.
I kept up with this every night for two weeks and was about to give up and go back to our old routine when last night, Tabitha hopped up on the bed stand. Nudging the container of kitty treats, she looked at me and said, "Merr?"
I broke into a smile. "TABITHA! You can talk!"
"Merr!" she insisted, batting the kitty treats with a paw. "MERR!"
"NOW!" added Bob ... and Scraps remained silent ... but we're making progress.
(GRIN)
Here is a picture of Tabitha, curled up in her kitty bed on the living room floor after having received her evening treats.
A red dot above her cage indicated that she (and her two brothers and sister) were on the shelter's "red alert" list which meant that she and her litter mates were due to be put down at the end of the week simply because no one wanted them.
I couldn't bear the thought of such a brave and friendly kitten being put down for no fault of her own. Since I already had three cats, I didn't have the room to adopt four more. To be candid, I hadn't even come to the shelter in search of another cat. I had come as emotional support for a colleague who had suffered the loss of one of her dogs some six months earlier.
Since I'm not interested in dogs, I wandered over to the cat section where I met Tabitha.
Unable to accept the pending death of this cat, I adopted her. I wound up going home with a cat. My colleague went home in tears because she was not yet emotionally ready to accept a new dog into her life.
This is what Tabitha looked like as a kitten.
Tabitha's full name is Princess Tabitha Panda Kitty Toe Biter which admittedly was a very big name for what used to be a very small cat. She was a princess because she was adopted into a home of older bachelors. In addition to yours truly, I had three male cats ... Bobby Cat (so named because he's a Manx mix with a bob-tail, Jasper Baby (Bob's brother), and Scraps.
These were my boys. From left to right, Scraps, Jasper Baby (now deceased), and Bob.
The "panda kitty" part of Tabitha's name came from her coloring ... and this name was given to her before I realized that she was a Tuxedo cat. I actually like "panda kitty" better. The "toe biter" designation came from the fact that she enjoyed playing pouncy pounce on my feet whenever I was in bed.
She'd look at my feet which were under the covers and if I shifted a foot, she'd POUNCE, clawing at a toe and tried to bite it through a comforter. I thought this was pretty funny when she was a kitten but one day after she had grown up, she actually managed to BITE ME through a comforter. Thereafter I began keeping a lure by the bed and have long since managed to distract her from further attacks on my foot. I also sacrificed a slipper "for the greater good" and have allowed Tabitha to wrestle with it when she was feeling frisky.
Until recently, Tabitha did not talk.
Bob is a talker. In fact it's sometimes hard to get him to stop talking particularly when i'ts 3 AM and he's YOWLING in the hopes that I'll get up to feed him an early breakfast.
Bob actually has a handful of different sounds he makes. There's a curious warbling sound that he makes when he's about to throw up. When he's hungry, he makes a sound that suspiciously sounds like the word, "Now!"
It's currently 3:05 PM and in about 30 minutes or so, I full expect him to start telling me, "NOW! NOW! NOW!" because it's getting close to his dinner time. I typically feed the cats at 4 PM.
Jasper Baby, Bob's brother, did not know how to say, "Now." Instead of saying, "Now," JB would say, "Wow!"
At 3:30 no matter what I was doing, the boys would find me and I'd hear ....
"NOW! NOW! NOW!"
"WOW! WOW! WOW!"
Scraps has not been much for talking. I've only heard him make two different sounds (other than a rumbling purr). When he's unhappy (because he's going to see the vet or because we're in the process of moving," he will scream, 'EEEEEOOOOWWWWW! EEEEEOOOOWWWWW! '
EEEEEOOOOWWWWW!" as though I was committing murder and mayhem.
When he's feeling lonely, he'll work me over with his eyes and will emit a mournful, "Ohhhhhhhhh" prior to scrambling onto my lap.
So out of all of my cats, the only cat I have who hasn't talked has been Tabitha.
Since I'm a teacher, I decided to see if I could teach her to talk. One of our evening routines is that I keep a 1 lb. container of Temptation brand kitty treats on the bed stand. When I turn in for the night, the cats gather around me on the bed. Tabitha always sits on the bed stand. As the alpha cat, Bob has pride of place beside me. As the junior status kitty, Scraps has been relegated to the foot of the bed.
Starting two weeks ago, I tried to associate the act of receiving treats with talking.
"What time is it?" I asked the cats.
"Now!" said Bob.
Scraps gave me a mournful look.
Tabitha gave me an expectant look.
"Tabitha, could you say, 'please give me some kitty treats?'" I asked.
She batted her eyes at me and head butted my hand. I love you David. I love you so much.
"NOW!" insisted Bob who began tapping my arm for attention. "NOW!"
"I know YOU KNOW how to talk Bob, but I'm try to get Tabitha to talk."
"NOW! NOW! NOW!" insisted Bob.
Scraps remained silent.
Tabitha continued to blink at me ... secure in the knowledge that she has me wrapped around her paw and sure enough, I gave in and began passing out their nightly treats.
I kept up with this every night for two weeks and was about to give up and go back to our old routine when last night, Tabitha hopped up on the bed stand. Nudging the container of kitty treats, she looked at me and said, "Merr?"
I broke into a smile. "TABITHA! You can talk!"
"Merr!" she insisted, batting the kitty treats with a paw. "MERR!"
"NOW!" added Bob ... and Scraps remained silent ... but we're making progress.
(GRIN)
Here is a picture of Tabitha, curled up in her kitty bed on the living room floor after having received her evening treats.
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What a lovely story 
I needed a smile tonight, and Tabitha definitely gave me one :heart3: SUCH a beautiful girl too :love: (and two very handsome boys for that matter :heart3: :heart2: ). Who says you can't train cats?! :lol3:
