The Cats

Diane and Tom's Babies

In Memoriam

  2015 and 2016 has been a sad years for us.  On January 2, 2015, Pepper died after a 8 month battle with a cancerous tumor. 
 She was a sweet girl and we had her for almost 11 years.  The picture above is her last Christmas. 

If that wasn't enough grief, on March 31, 2015 our little Cheddar died.  The vet thinks probably a heart attack. 
Cheddar was only 8 years old. Tom and I and our other babies miss them very much.

In June 30, 3016, Creamsicle died.  This happened so fast--she was fine and then stopped eating suddenly. 
On the second day of not eating, she died in the car on the way to the vet.  The vet thought it was a heart attack. 
She was 13 and our oldest baby. 

 On July 14, 2016,  our Marshmallow, everyone's favorite, died after a long struggle (18 months) with cancer.
 She was the baby that slept on my pillow for 13 years.  This now leaves us with 6 babies.

With the addition of the last two new kitties in 2006--two long haired orange baby boys, Tangerine and Cheddar--Tom and Diane had to finally decide they were at capacity.  The last two were only 1/2 pound each at adoption, but they have grown to about 11-12 pounds each now. These babies, however, have been more "rambunctious", shall we say, than all the rest put together when they were kittens. This now makes their number of "kitty babies" ten---yes, you read that correctly---ten cats.  But we have now come to grips with the fact that we are "at capacity".  Can you just imagine seven cats in a 2 bedroom apartment with all the antique glass, copper, china, 12 Christmas trees and numerous Santa displays!  Imagine taking the cats camping and fishing!  Well, it has certainly changed our lives--for the better.  Our babies are all different, both in appearance and in personality.  They have been pretty good about all the china cabinets and Christmas trees, etc.  They have their own large jungle gyms that they climb and jump on for the most part.  However, that has not meant there have been -- shall we say-- experiences for all.  For example:

We invite you to meet our babies below.  Let us introduce you.   Also take a look at our babies dressed up for Halloween and Christmas.

Marmalade is a 13 year old orange kitty and is now the oldest. She is very social and likes to be with people, but is also the most intense and the most emotional. She is always around when people are over and greets guests at the door.  She is also the most upset when her "Mom" is gone for a couple of days.  She will make sure everyone knows she is angry by walking up to you and then turning her back and putting her nose in the air.  This usually lasts for a day and then she is overly affectionate and wants to be held and petted a lot for another day.   Marmalade is also very vocal when she wants something (like being held and petted) or is upset--just open the door at the vet's office and she starts yowling like someone is going to kill her at any moment.  Last year at the Christmas party, Marmalade was sitting in her spot on Tom's desk next to the cat Christmas tree.  At first the guest in the room paid her a lot of attention.  However, when that that tapered off Marmalade let out a huge yowl to let people know she was not happy being ignored at the party.  Marmalade has her spot on her Dad's desk next to his computer.  If anything is put in that spot, she promptly knocks it on the floor.  She is also very unhappy with squatters in her spot. .  Recently, Marmalade escaped  from the apartment.  The front door was not fully closed and wind from the terrace pulled it open.  She snuck out, but the door closed after her and she could not get back in.  She also knows how to open the sliding door to the terrace (5 floors up!) and has escaped many times--also encouraging other cats to follow her out there.  Our neighbor found her at the door meowing  and rang the bell to let us know.  Marmalade is learning how to get attention by mimicking Tangerine--she now lays on her back and wiggles, holding her feet in the air, trying to look cute  and to get her stomach rubbed. 

Truffle was 13 years old in May.  She is solid black with green eyes and medium fuzzy.  Like the mushroom, she can be elusive and hard to find.  She is shy, and will not let anyone pick her up.  It takes two of us to catch her to take her to the vet. She runs and hides when she knows she has to get any medication and  you have to get her when she is eating.  She  has come out a lot in the last couple of years.  She will be out most of the day with her sisters.  Although she seems to be more comfortable and trusting, she is still  "stand-offish" with anyone except her "Mom".  She has now decided it is alright to get petted and will cuddle with Diane at night provided the other cats are not right there and Diane does not try to grab her.  Truffle loves catnip and rolls in it.  Then you find her sprawled out under the dining room table with a smile on her face.  She will eat anything and will grab any food left out and drag it off.  She especially likes to lick on butter.  She will eat whipped cream and ice cream from a spoon.  Recently she jumped on the table and was caught licking the butter and bacon bits of a bowl of green beans!    She also likes to play with water and is constantly putting her arm into the water dish up to the elbow and swishing water out on the floor.  We are convinced she must have been abandoned as a tiny baby and learned this behavior on the streets before someone took her to the shelter. Truffle has a loud whiny kind of voice and uses it to signal to her Mom that she wants to be petted, as long as I don't try to grab her.  Although Truffle does not like to be grabbed, she will crawl on Dian's lap to try to get Whipped cream of a spoon--shows desire stronger than fear!

Spice was 12years old, and is silver gray.  She looks very much like a Russian Blue.  She was a feral kitten and was caught and sent to a shelter when she was about 6 weeks old.  She is a voracious eater and will push the others out of the way when food is around.  She will beg, jump on you and bite your sandwich or put her face right into the cereal bowl.  She will jump on the table and lick butter and was caught dragging a piece of prosciutto off a slice of melon just recently.  She has a tiny little voice and uses it a lot, especially to get more food.  She is the shy and sometimes  skittish, but has come out a lot in the last couple of years.  Spice sometimes jumps on the bed to get petted. (Unfortunately this usually happens just before dawn!). If you are not turned toward her, she will continually meow right into your ear until you turn over and pet her. She has also gotten Truffle more out of her shell to play with her and chase around. Spice will now let Tom pet her and occasionally let me hold her for a few minutes--a new break though.  She also comes in to Tom's office at very specific times of day to signal that it's time for her "Greenies" snack or to get a bit of Tom's lunch.   Spice and Pepper have become friends and will snuggle and groom each other .Spice also likes the fish a lot and will bat at the tank when they are swimming around.

Cocoa is a 11year old little boy.  He is very dark brown, and looks like a black lama mink. He is long and sleek, like a panther.  We were originally told he was a girl, but upon closer examination, the vet discovered he was definitely a little boy.  He is a little marauder--and chases his sisters all over the place.  The only time he is not moving is when he is asleep. He wants to wrestle all the time.  Some of his older sisters are not overjoyed at that prospect, but the other little  boys are only to happy to oblige.  He is a very jealous baby and will push his way in if anyone else is getting petted.  He wants to be petted all the time  and will continue to poke until he gets petting.  So we call him Cocoa "Poker" or Cocoa "Pouncer".   We have a new toy--a cat tunnel".  Cocoa sets himself up at one end and waits for one of the other cats to walk by.  He then runs through the tunnel at breakneck speed and pounces on the other one who usually jumps straight up in the air yowling.  He stays in the same room as his Mom and Dad much of the day.  If  Diane is working on her computer, he climbs on the desk and stands in front of the screen until he gets some attention.   When the Christmas trees were up, he would run back and forth under all of the biggest ones.  The trees would shake back and forth and Tom and Diane would just shudder.  As a result, we wired the trees to the drapery rods and the walls for extra protection. 

Licorice is our other 11 year old sweetie.  You may know, we had another all black kitty named Licorice, who had a heart attack during her spaying surgery and died at 6 months old.  When we found our current Baby Licorice, she was at a "high kill" shelter, and was scheduled to be euthanized if not immediately adopted.  Tom said we could not let another Licorice die, so we took her right away. She is a long haired little fluff ball, with a big fluffy tail that is longer than her whole body. She has stayed small weighing in at only 9 pounds full grown.  She is the sweetest little thing that likes to hide in the pillows on the bed.  Licorice and Cocoa are great buddies and run and chase each other much of the day.  Licorice is a voracious eater, and has a sort of loud whiny voice that she uses a lot to get attention and food.  She loves to jump up on her Mom and cuddle right under Diane's neck for a snooze.  The only problem is that she continually swishes her fluffy tail in Diane's face. He also loves to cuddle with Marshmallow and they are often found curled up together. Due to heavy matting of her soft undercoat, Licorice got a close "Lion Cut" haircut with only a fluffy head and feet and tuft of hair on the tip of her tail--she looked like a poodle!

Tangerine is the youngest of the  babies--a nearly 10 year old little long haired orange scamp.  He is so cute and has a face like you see on greeting cards for cute cats.  He is always in trouble--wherever it is, he is sure to be in the middle of it.  He has a long fluffy tail that is like a Swiffer duster-- it is always full of stuff that he has gotten into. When he was a kitten, he climbed the Christmas trees so many times, it was impossible to count.  I spritz him with water when he does something bad, and one day, he just kept climbing one of the trees over and over until he was soaking wet.  Then when he saw the spritzer bottle on the table, he just kept knocking it over and yowling at it.  Now I just have to show him the spritzer bottle and he stops whatever he was doing.  He discovered toilet paper and drags it all over and then shreds it,  He drags clothes off the bed all over the apartment. He grabs bones and meat out of the garbage, and you have to chase him to get it back.  He crawls into the pantry closet, and chews a hole in the bottom of the dry food bag.  Then when some one tries to pull it out, the whole bottom of the bag falls apart and the food is all over the closet floor.  He does the same thing with bags of litter.  He also likes to play with water coming out of the faucet.  One day I was washing dishes and he jumped on the counter, stuck his paw under the water and splashed it into my face!  He and his brother Cheddar, have figured out how to open the pantry closet door--one pushes on one end and the other puts his paw underneath and pulls the door open.  After his shenanigans, he comes over to cuddle, and give kisses on the nose, sleeps with his head on Diane's face, or roles over on his back and looks up batting his eyes. -- The lovable scoundrel.  At the end of 2010, Tangerine was quite ill and could not urinate.  The vet said it was the result of "holiday stress".!

Take a look below at some new "pics "of our motley crew!

 

Never a dull moment with Tom and Diane's "Kitty Babies" !!!

 

Updated July 16, 2016