All The Kitties We Can Handle

 The settling-in period saw Jasper and Blaze confined to the living room. They get along alright, but they don't snuggle together at all.

Exploring the surroundings.

As you can tell from this picture, Blaze has a lot of extra weight. He came to us at 25 pounds.
We put him and Jasper on a diet right away.

Part of the problem with these guys was they had been given only junk food, which is how I describe Friskies. It's not the worst food available, but far from the best.  Also, I think they were allowed to just eat whenever they liked, with  no portion control.

Blaze in February

Jasper in March

Looking out the patio door, in June.

By the summer, both cats were much trimmer. Blaze still has a lot of loose skin and feels very cuddly as a result.

Blaze needed a major dental surgery.  We put it off for a while, being unsure of his overall health,  but finally had it done in August, and he came through just fine.

The boys really enjoyed the cottage, where we spent the whole summer.  There, they could go outside sometimes (on a leash or very closely supervised).

Back at home in the fall, Stitches has accepted Blaze - and vice versa.

They say when a door closes, a window opens.

Our Christmas in 2021 was a bit quiet, with only Stitches here. The house, VERY quiet. No one playing kibble chase, or looking for pets and brushing.

So when January rolled around, I was finding the house terribly empty.

And then this showed up on my Facebook feed:

Here were two senior cats - who reminded me of Snaps and Jezebel - in need of a home. Their owner had passed away and the woman's son could not keep them.

I don't always listen when the angel taps on my shoulder and says "You should do this", but it seemed to be fate. We had always said that if we could adopt a senior cat in need of a home, that that is what we'd do.

So, in mid-January, we had two cats delivered to us:  Blaze and Jasper. The gentleman who delivered them to us brought them in and then said "wait a sec, I've got more stuff". He then brought in a whole bunch of food and litter, and a small basket full of toys. I'm talking about at least 20 toys!

For the first few weeks we kept them in the living room, and had a barrier up so that they couldn't see Stitches, and she couldn't see them.  As you may have noticed, these cats both arrived with extra weight on them.  Blaze, especially, was obese - Jasper was a bit plump but mostly just very furry - and neither of them were very active.  We used a gate to close off the room, and it was nothing that would have kept a typical cat inside, but for these guys it was more than adequate.

After a few weeks we introduced them to Stitches.  Blaze is a typical male tabby: he wants to get along with everyone; so he has not been a problem.  Jasper, however, doesn't like other cats, and to this day he still hisses and growls at Stitches for no reason at all.  Stitches is deaf, thank goodness, and doesn't realize what's happening most of the time.

Next post:  more pics!

Time To Post Again

I haven't blogged for over a year. The last time I wrote here, I was feeling pretty happy, despite Covid being the asshole it has been (and continues to be). I just haven't had much to say that I thought would be interesting to the world; and I was enjoying being retired, and flying under God's radar - not catching Covid, no deaths in my immediate family, just humming along.

So when Snaps got sick in November of last year, and we lost him in just a few weeks, I didn't come here to talk about it. I was heartbroken - fuck cancer - and I still miss him, but I just didn't want to talk about it. But now I do.

Snaps was the sweetest, funniest guy.  He showed up in our back yard one day in August of 2010. He was just there one day and didn't leave.

When I realized he was eating our chipmunks to survive (He popped up in front of my window with one in his mouth) I began to feed him.

As the weather got wet and chilly as it does in the fall, I couldn't leave him outside any more. I mean, look at this face - who could say no?  

He had a rocky start with Onyx, but soon settled in. Being a male tabby, he was loving with everyone, and soon even Onyx accepted him.

He became an indoor cat quickly and completely. We never had to worry about him running outside - he'd had enough of that life - and when it rained he would walk around the house meowing, as though he remembered how awful it was to be cold and wet.

His favourite game was "kibble chase". His kibbles were large and round, and we would throw them down the hallway for him to find.

Every morning he sat on the couch with me for pets, as I read or played an iPad game. And he was often on my lap, or Iain's, in the evening. But his favourite spot was curled up in front of the fireplace.

Or under our mini-tree.

So, for a while, we had four cats. And then three.

During this time we began to take the cats to the cottage in the summer. He had no desire to be outside, but he loved the cottage, where we entertain our friends often, and he loved being with them.

And then there were two.

And then he left us

I never imagined that our wee Stitches would outlive them all. 

But life goes on, and I still feel young enough to have cats in my life. In my next post, I'll bring you up to date.