Re: Still Here
Sorry to here about Tillie, Tealon.
There were three cats in the house when I moved in... well, two, as Jake the black cat had died shortly before then. He was Vince's dad's cat anyway; didn't take to others.
In 2016... don't remember exactly when now... Miss Kitty, the gray tabby, died. She'd been friendly with everyone. She just laid down in the entryway and died in her sleep.
Ralphie, the gray and white cat, died the following year on July 4th. He laid down in the litter box and passed overnight.
Neither of them had appeared to be in any discomfort of pain. It must have just been their time to go. Miss Kitty and Ralphie had been acting differently for a week before hand, which we'd interpreted as them looking for a place to die.
So now we were without any cats, though we still had Rusty. He clearly missed his pals.
Since Vince's mom died the day before Thanksgiving in 2017, I got this notion that she'd sent us Dodger, a butterscotch tabby kitten we rescued from the middle of the street on December 7th. He turned out to be a little holy terror, though not maliciously. We think it's because he'd just barely been weaned from his mom when we got him and he hadn't fully socialized with his siblings.
Then, about the middle of last year, Vince rescued a stray cat from his work place out in the Everglades. He named her Pantha because she was panther bait. We took her to the vet and found out she was pregnant, but when he was leaving the vet, she got spooked by a loud truck passing by and jumped out of his arms... and disappeared. Haven't seen her since, but at least she's not in the Everglades any more.
A week later, we think her sister showed up at his work place. So he rescued her, too! We were worried she might be pregnant, too, but she wasn't.
Rather than also naming her Pantha or Pantha Two, I suggested we name her Samantha... only because it rhymed with Pantha. I asked her if that was okay with her, and she said it was. Well, let's just say she didn't seem to object. She's a gray-and-white with a bandit-like mask... and cute as heck.
It's taken a while for Dodger to get used to her, but he's finally mellowed out as when he gets too rough with her, she lets him know it!
She's turned into an absolute sweetheart, though she's still a bit skittish. She likes me best!
So, we have two cats again, and Pattie's two putt-putts--chihuahuas Amir and Cooper. Seems like every time I sit down to post, I've got one or two critters in my lap first!