Nicole M

Guessing this should be more about my cat history.. our first childhood cat, Muffin, was from the same shelter as Morris of 9 Lives fame. He was a chonky tabby, loved stealing fatty food, and generally a good sport playing with me and my sister.

I got my first cat of my own, Dusty, another large tabby with gorgeous swirls, from friends who had a family of indoor/outdoor cats. He helped me out of a major depression, so it was extra awful to lose him to FeLV when he was only 2. The vaccine was just then being developed. I made sure his successors got it ASAP, they were from the same cat family, littermates, Anoush and Chandra. These 2 were tri-color, but Chandra more truly so and she was bossy! Anoush was a big lap cat, sweet, which is what her name means, but she also became diabetic at age 8. We had some rough months, but got her stable and she lived to be 16. Chandra made it to 20, having seen me through several major life changes. She was a true companion and almost always slept with me.

A few months after Anoush passed, we got a tabby/tortie kitten that my boys named Sara. Chandra let her know who was boss, but was really pretty gracious after a proper slow introduction. We were told she'd never been outside...but there was no keeping her in. She would scrub the windows, beat you up or bolt past you, even busted through a screen once! I had vowed to keep my cats indoors after moving to the city, but finally gave up and let her do it her way. She didn't stop hunting until her last year, kidney disease + cancer finally got her at 19.

After Chandra passed, someone brought me a tiny kitten that looked just like her. I suspected this little girl was too young to be weaned, but not being too sure about the situation she'd come from, I went and got kitten milk replacer. The boys named her Aero, convinced that she must be a boy because she was so naughty. I knew calicos are nearly always female though. Somewhat like Muffin, she became adept at stealing food or putting on a big act to beg for it, especially bacon. She and Sara had a sort of uneasy truce, they both wanted to be boss.

So maybe I should have known Aero would have preferred being alone for her last years, but I thought she was used to having company, so we adopted Greg in 2020. First time I adopted an adult, but he totally schmoozed me at the shelter, acted like he already knew me. He's another large tabby, reminds me a lot of Muffin, but he doesn't go for people food. We did everything slow and careful, but Aero never fully accepted him though we could see he was doing everything in his power to win her over. We knew he would need a friend after she passed, so we didn't wait too long to get Julius. Julius is ginger boy, a young adult at this writing, still getting used to our home.

Other than being a crazy cat lady, I like to cook and am a superfan of the band Muse.