Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'm mother to six cats, two dogs, three rabbits, and a passel of goldfish.
A little bit about my kitties. This may get long
Athena is my oldest. She turned five in January. When she was just under a year old she was found locked in our next door neighbor's apartment. They had moved out a week before, and when the maintanance people went in to clean the apartment for new tenants, they found twelve cats locked and starving inside, and another seven or so locked in the storage shed on the patio. When they opened the doors, most of the cats ran out and hid in the nearby woods. We fed several of them but they were semi-feral and afraid of people. One in particular we were worried about, a little torbie female who was nothing but skin and bones, and so terrified she would not come but a foot out of the woods if she thought any people were around. She had a buddy, a russian blue who was also part of the group that had been trapped in the apartment. He was extremely friendly and in much better shape, but he stuck by her side most of the time and watched out for her. He even tried to carry her food.
The apartment complex had called the humane society, and they were humanely trapping many of these cats. Others had found their way into various homes in the complex by good samaritans, but the starving female was never caught, nor was her russian blue companion.
Then one day, when my mother and I got home from shopping, we found my two younger sisters had not only managed to catch the friendly russian blue and the little starving female, but had managed to bathe them both as well. Apparently the little girl was pretty filthy. Mother wasn't sure about keeping them, but I told her that I'd be financially responsible for them and they would be my cats. When she saw the state of the little female, she agreed.
The russian blue, who we named Church (he looked just like the cat in Pet Semetary), took to everyone immediately. The little female, who I named Athena, was terrified of everyone and hid all the time. When you did manage to get hold of her she would go utterly limp and just hang in your arms until you let her go. I took them to the vet. Church was in good shape, but Athena (who, by now, was around a year old) weighed only five pounds, was crawling with fleas, and had a bad case of ear mites. We got her cleaned up and got rid of the parasites, and fortunately both cats came out Feline Leukemia negative. As time went on, Athena became very friendly toward me and the other members of the family, but hid upon sight of any strangers.
Because she was an unexpected addition and because I had spent most of my meager savings getting her healthy again, we did not have enough to get either cat fixed right away. Of course, she went into heat and we seperated her from Church, but he went insane yowling and driving everyone nuts. We took to putting him outside while we saved up to get her fixed. Unfortunately, the night before she was to go into surgery we put him outside one last time and never saw him again. We still don't know what happened to him, and his loss is one of the reasons all my cats are indoor only.
Turns out it didn't matter. When the vet did the surgery, Athena was a week pregnant. He called me up to tell me and see what I wanted to do. Because reclosing her and continuing the pregnancy at this point increased the danger to her and the chance of a miscarriage, and because I was more than aware of the work a litter of kittens was (we had had two other strays over the last two years adopt us right before giving birth. We spayed them both after weaning the litter, found homes for the kittens, and both vanished again) I opted to let him continue with the spay.
She recovered fine and ruled the roost until my mother remarried. Her new husband brought with him his two cats, one of which utterly hated anything else feline and went after Athena with a vengeance. She refused to leave my room and a lot of her fear returned. I finally moved out on my own, and wanted to get a second cat. Athena, thanks to the bully cat, was terrified of grown cats but still loved kittens...or so I thought. She had snuggled up to one that my stepfather babysat for a day or so for a friend of his. So I figured I'd get a small kitten from the shelter so that she could bond with it and have a companion. So I went to the rescue, and the only kitten they had was a silver male tabby who was about four months old...and so not that tiny. I talked with the rescue about my situation and they sent me home with the kitten on a trial basis, to see how he and my cat got along.
I named him Poseidan, and let's just say, things did not go swimmingly. More later!
A little bit about my kitties. This may get long
Athena is my oldest. She turned five in January. When she was just under a year old she was found locked in our next door neighbor's apartment. They had moved out a week before, and when the maintanance people went in to clean the apartment for new tenants, they found twelve cats locked and starving inside, and another seven or so locked in the storage shed on the patio. When they opened the doors, most of the cats ran out and hid in the nearby woods. We fed several of them but they were semi-feral and afraid of people. One in particular we were worried about, a little torbie female who was nothing but skin and bones, and so terrified she would not come but a foot out of the woods if she thought any people were around. She had a buddy, a russian blue who was also part of the group that had been trapped in the apartment. He was extremely friendly and in much better shape, but he stuck by her side most of the time and watched out for her. He even tried to carry her food.
The apartment complex had called the humane society, and they were humanely trapping many of these cats. Others had found their way into various homes in the complex by good samaritans, but the starving female was never caught, nor was her russian blue companion.
Then one day, when my mother and I got home from shopping, we found my two younger sisters had not only managed to catch the friendly russian blue and the little starving female, but had managed to bathe them both as well. Apparently the little girl was pretty filthy. Mother wasn't sure about keeping them, but I told her that I'd be financially responsible for them and they would be my cats. When she saw the state of the little female, she agreed.
The russian blue, who we named Church (he looked just like the cat in Pet Semetary), took to everyone immediately. The little female, who I named Athena, was terrified of everyone and hid all the time. When you did manage to get hold of her she would go utterly limp and just hang in your arms until you let her go. I took them to the vet. Church was in good shape, but Athena (who, by now, was around a year old) weighed only five pounds, was crawling with fleas, and had a bad case of ear mites. We got her cleaned up and got rid of the parasites, and fortunately both cats came out Feline Leukemia negative. As time went on, Athena became very friendly toward me and the other members of the family, but hid upon sight of any strangers.
Because she was an unexpected addition and because I had spent most of my meager savings getting her healthy again, we did not have enough to get either cat fixed right away. Of course, she went into heat and we seperated her from Church, but he went insane yowling and driving everyone nuts. We took to putting him outside while we saved up to get her fixed. Unfortunately, the night before she was to go into surgery we put him outside one last time and never saw him again. We still don't know what happened to him, and his loss is one of the reasons all my cats are indoor only.
Turns out it didn't matter. When the vet did the surgery, Athena was a week pregnant. He called me up to tell me and see what I wanted to do. Because reclosing her and continuing the pregnancy at this point increased the danger to her and the chance of a miscarriage, and because I was more than aware of the work a litter of kittens was (we had had two other strays over the last two years adopt us right before giving birth. We spayed them both after weaning the litter, found homes for the kittens, and both vanished again) I opted to let him continue with the spay.
She recovered fine and ruled the roost until my mother remarried. Her new husband brought with him his two cats, one of which utterly hated anything else feline and went after Athena with a vengeance. She refused to leave my room and a lot of her fear returned. I finally moved out on my own, and wanted to get a second cat. Athena, thanks to the bully cat, was terrified of grown cats but still loved kittens...or so I thought. She had snuggled up to one that my stepfather babysat for a day or so for a friend of his. So I figured I'd get a small kitten from the shelter so that she could bond with it and have a companion. So I went to the rescue, and the only kitten they had was a silver male tabby who was about four months old...and so not that tiny. I talked with the rescue about my situation and they sent me home with the kitten on a trial basis, to see how he and my cat got along.
I named him Poseidan, and let's just say, things did not go swimmingly. More later!