A Collage of the "Cat Cafe" Membership
Meet
Mama Cat. She came to us as a stray in 1998.
She was young, scared and scrawny, and had 3 baby kittens in tow. They were
all living like wildcats, hiding in our woodpile. Eventually, we captured the
3 kittens and Mama Cat; had a real struggle taming them down; found wonderful,
loving homes for all the kittens and decided to keep Mama Cat because she had
nowhere else to go. She turned out to be a beautiful,
intelligent cat with a great sense of adventure.
She's an outdoorsy girl, and loves to climb
trees, catch mice, garter snakes and moles in the yard. Her favorite indoor
game is "Kitty Ball," where she sits at
the top of the stairs and bats the foam ball to George Blowfish down below.
Mama Cat's favorite meal is canned tuna, which she always grudgingly has to
share with Rocky. She used to roam the neighborhood, but a few years ago some
asshole with a BB gun shot mama cat in the eye. It caught her in the very corner,
and luckily she kept her sight. Now she stays
closer to home. She's very gentle
and sweet, very shy around strangers and will run and hide when company
comes. But when its time to turn in, she loves to knead the covers just so;
curl up in a ball, snuggle up close and snooze the night away. She loves to
work on the computer (as you can see at top) and she likes to type; although
George can't understand a single thing she writes. I've never regretted keeping
Mama Cat.Give a stray a home, and you've got a
friend for life.
Meet
Rocky the Tomcat. I first met Rocky hiding
in our back yard. He'd been hit by a car or had
been in a really nasty cat fight. He had a badly infected gash on his head,
and looked about half dead. He wouldn't let me pick him up, but I brought him
some food and water, and rubbed some antibiotic ointment on his wound. He disappeared
for about a month, he recovered; then we'd see him around occasionally. He'd
stop by our back porch (The Cat Cafe') have a little
snack and hang around with Mama Cat. He was very
skinny, had bad fur and a crooked tail, and most of the neighborhood cats were
scared of him because he loved to fight. That's why we call him "Rocky."
In Winter 2001, he chose to make his winter home under the back porch. He refused
to come inside; even in the worst weather. He survived a cold, snowy, brutal
winter. When spring came, we finally coaxed him to come
inside the house. Needless to say, he's thoroughly adapted to the joys of
modern indoor living. Now he spends lots of time
in our kitchen "kitty window" watching birds. Since his "operation,"
he no longer feels the need to pee all over the yard and fight day and night.
So he hangs out with Mama Cat, drives her to distraction; and likes to socialize
with the neighbor's kitties . Rocky loves food. You got food? Got any more food?
Hey you...got food? He loves to play with cat toys, especially little foam footballs,
fuzzy cat mice and empty plastic sacks. I think he was deprived of a real kitten
hood, so he's making up for lost time. He's now very healthy, fat and happy.
And although he's a typical tomcat and has a few moody days, he's
been mellowing. He's fit in fine, and it wouldn't be home without him lounging
on the back porch cat cafe'.
Meet Misha, or "Meesh
Meesh." Misha came to our neighborhood from
the family that lives behind us. After a few months following his arrival on
the scene in spring 2004, Meesh decided that our back porch was his very
favorite place in the whole world. Time after time we would pass Misha over
the fence to the neighbors, and within a half hour he'd be back on our porch
again. As fall turned into winter, Misha started sleeping on our back porch.
It was obvious he was not going home. The nights were getting colder and colder.
Mrs. Blowfish and I had kept Misha out of the house,
in case he should decide to return to life with the neighbors. As the temperatures
dipped below freezing, we decided to let him and Zappa (see below) sleep in
the garage. Both Misha and Zappa got along great, like brothers. One night,
he came home bleeding from around his neck and chest. Misha had been in a very
nasty cat fight. We took him to the vet, where they found multiple bite wounds
on his neck, back and chest, along with claw punctures on his shoulder and head.
Misha spent the night at the hospital. Now he's good as new. Misha
has a friendly, curious personality and drools when he purrs.
Meet
Baxter, the newest member of the Cat Cafe, joining us in 2007. Baxter
appeared during the winter, sleeping on the back porch with Neighbor
Cat and Ginger, two of the other kitties who
visit regularly. Baxter is very friendly and loves to be petted.
He's very laid back and loves people. He generally
gets along with other kitties fine, but one day in April he was laying on the
back porch with a golf ball sized lump under his left front leg. It was a puncture
wound, and was infected. Much like Mr. Kitty (see below) we took him directly
to the vet, who drained and dressed the wound, clipped his kibbles and bits,
kept him overnight for observation, then sent him home. We cleaned Baxter
up, gave him a flea treatment, and let him recover in Mr. Kitty's original
basement apartment
Baxter is a loving kitty who loves having his belly
rubbed, and loves to explore when he's allowed
upstairs.
Meet
Ginger Cat. Ginger came to live with us about a year
ago. She's a stray that was probably abandoned in our neighborhood. She's a
sweet little girl cat,who had been fixed before we got her. She lived in the
garage over the winter with Cousin Cat, and she's mellowed out a bunch over
the last year. Now, she'll come in and explore the house, and loves to explore
the yard. Last summer she got trapped in one of our neighbor's storage garage,
and was stuck in there for a couple days before we found her. Good thing too,
or she would have died from heat exhaustion and dehydration. Since then, she's
stuck closer to home. She's a very good kitty, and very low maintenance, which
is always a good thing.
Meet
Cousin Cat. He came to us about the same time Ginger showed up, also an abandoned
stray. We call him Cousin because he looks a lot like Neighbor Cat. His hair
is longer, but color is very similar. Cousin is very
mellow. He like to make "mewling noises." He like to follow me
around the yard, and supervise the yard work. He goes "mewl.....mewl.....mewl....."
like he's talking to himself has he tags along. He is extremely laid back, and
the other kitties have accepted him fine, so he now comes
and goes inside and out as he pleases.
On 12/7/06 we lost our
beloved boy Mr. Kitty. He originally came to us in late December 2002. Mr. Kitty
had run away from home or been abandoned, and was looking for a little food
and warmth. He would press his little cat face against
our kitchen glass patio door and meow on bitterly cold nights. We didn't want
him fighting with Rocky, so we let him sleep in the garage on the extremely
cold nights. Of course, soon Mr. Kitty wanted to sleep
in the garage every night. One day, he found himself on the losing end
of a terrible cat fight and had a deep gash below his right ear, a bad limp
and puncture wounds on his chest. We didn't notice the puncture wound until
it almost killed him a week later. For a couple days Mr. Kitty just laid around
the garage and slept. I knew he didn't feel well, but hoped he'd get better
with rest. I wasn't sure who (if anyone) he belonged to, so when he didn't show
any signs of improvement, I took him to the Vet. He had a very high temperature
and was tested for all the lethal cat diseases. He was negative. The Vet kept
him overnight for fluids and antibiotics. He was dirty so I asked the Vet to
give him a cat bath. When he did, they found a puncture wound deep in his chest
under his fur, and drained several CCs of gunk and fluid out of a big infected
pocket. That's why he had a fever. He was very close to dying, and the Vet saved
his life. Mr. Kitty spent five wonderful years
with us. He had liver problems the last couple years, which eventually took
his life. Mr. Kitty was very loving and was a
very bright cat, We laid him to rest under the Tulip
Tree, next to our dear Chuckie the Cat and Zappa Cat. We miss him every day,
and think of him often as we watch Baxter's antics.
On 11/8/05 we lost our beloved Chuckie
the Cat. Chuckie was our first kitty, and our queen kitty. She was named
Chuckie because the frat boys who had her as a kitten were too stupid to know
how to figure out a cat's gender. Mrs. Blowfish rescued Chuckie from an abused
kitten hood. She's was our cat pal ever since Mrs.
Blowfish and I started dating more than ten years ago. Chuckie spent most of
her days sleeping and laying by the big glass
door in the kitchen where she tanned the sunny afternoons away. Chuckie loved shrimp
night, Gates BBQ, turkey and McDonalds cheeseburgers. She also loved her kitty
treats, had a bowl of milk each and every morning,
and played with used dryer sheets. Chuckie was very smart, and was our most
talkative kitty. We loved Chuckie more than words can say. I'll desperately
miss Chuckie helping Mrs. Blowfish and me through our morning routine. Chuckie
was 18 and we laid her to rest next to Zappa under the tulip tree in the back
yard.
On 1/29/05 we lost another
one of our family cat members. This is Zappa, who was taken from us by Feline
Leukemia and Feline HIV. He had been around the neighborhood for some time,
and I suspect Zappa was either dumped or abandoned by his original family. In
spring of 2004, Zappa would stop by the cat cafe' each day for a kitty snack.
He had a terrible case of ear mites, and scratched his ears literally raw. Zappa
would not let us touch him, and he would hiss and growl at us if we tried
to pick him up. During the fall, Zappa and Misha became cat pals, and began
to hang out together. When Zappa saw us pick up and pet Misha, he slowly came
around and let us pet his head and rub his back. As winter approached, Zappa
began sleeping on the back porch huddled up with Misha. Zappa finally decided
to trust us, where he would allow us to pick him up and pet him. During the
winter, Zappa took sick, and was weakened by his illness. Zappa was very mellow
and laid back, and got along with all the kitties very well. We laid Zappa to
rest in our backyard, in a patch of cool grass that
was one of his favorite napping spots. Although he was with us for only a year,
we loved Zappa, enjoyed his company and will miss him very much.
That's our kitty menagerie. Mama Cat, Rocky, Baxter, Cousin, Ginger and Meesh Meesh welcome you to drop by anytime you have kitty treats and want to set a spell at the back yard Cat Cafe'!