Mine, past and present:


Holly (a/k/a my little clown, a/k/a Her Highness, Princess Holly -- always spoiled, now even more so as a result of having become an only child, but a very affectionate one, too.)


Gypsy (RIP April 2008 -- still very much missed; my first cat and the gentlest, most loving tomcat that ever walked the earth.)


Tiger (RIP February 2012 -- equally much missed; she died much too young, but during the 10 years of her life she brought all those that knew her immeasurable joy.)

Good creatures all, you can just tell.

Thanks for creating this group, A-T. I will be looking forward to all the kitty gossip.

Reply to post #2 (show post):
Kitty gossip will hopefully be provided aplenty here! :)

Reply to post #4 (show post):
And from what you already posted about her, she's an amazing creature in all sorts of different ways! All hail Sasha, Ruler of the Universe. (The universe outside of Holly's domain, that is. :) )

Current cat is Belinda (named for the heroine of The Rape of the Lock, as she is beautiful, vain, and not very bright). She's a small black and white "tuxedo cat," with a crooked tail. Her favorite pastime as an adolescent cat was bringing live chipmunks in the house and abandoning them (one spring we had six chipmunks living in our house), but she is a fine mature 10-year-old kitty these days, and spends a lot of time napping, or watching birds and squirrels.

I have a picture of her, but don't know how to add it.

Our previous cat was Josephine (named after the French empress), who was another small cat, but very regal in poise and dignity. She was a white long-haired cat, and we rescued her from the women's dorms at my alma mater. We had her 13 years, and she was a marvelous, sweet-tempered cat, and we still miss her 11 years later. Don't have a picture of her on this computer.

Reply to post #6 (show post):
They both sound like wonderful companions -- beautiful, too! (Ugh. Live chipmunks, though? I'm glad Holly has never shown the slightest inclination to hunt anything larger than insects ... and even with those, the second they fly too high for her to reach, she just looks at me reproachfully for having permitted her toys to get away, because obviously it MUST be my fault!) I hope the chipmunks in your area get to live safer lives these days ...

I think the only way to post pictures in groups is if they're hosted somewhere online and then insert the image's URL by way of the "image" button below. I suppose you could upload the photo of Belinda to a "regular" BookLikes post and copy the image address from there ... but I for one believe you sight unseen that she's a beautiful cat! :)

I have two babies: Bobo Mama and Nuni. Bobo is my old baby girl. She's 18 years old and has been with me for 15 years. She's a gray and white long-haired cat. Nuni is still quite young, only approx. 8 years old. He's only been with me for a few years--he just showed up in my neighborhood one day. He's an all black long-haired cat. Bobo's brother, Juju, passed away 3 years ago. One of the most devastating moments of my life.

We cried and cried and cried when we had to put Josephine down. We had to do it, but it was so hard!

Yes, definitely the same for me when it was time for Gypsy and Tiger. With Gypsy at least I had the comfort that he'd lived to a downright biblical age, but he was my first cat, and somehow that made it all the harder. And losing Tiger at age 10 -- unexpectedly, too -- was just totally devastating.

Rachel, your cats sound just lovely -- they also have beautiful names. (Any particular story to those names?) Did Bobo accept Nuni straight away when you adopted him?

I moved to Australia with two cats in tow: Boris, an all white cat with a blue eye and a yellow/green eye, and Christmas, a tortoiseshell who appeared on my doorstep on Christmas day. Both as sweet as a cat can be and still be a cat. My DH had a cat named Baby (he did NOT name her) who was a long-hair tuxedo cat; she was nice until she wasn't - much more typical "cat". After insane and extreme efforts to keep them all safe and healthy, they have all passed on, but we now have Carlito - a ragdoll, and Easter, a calico. We adopted Easter on Easter weekend, after losing Christmas to surgery complications. The name seemed fitting all around. :)

It's horrifying, isn't it? As you said, Susanna, it's something you have to do but it's just so hard. Honestly, after Juju passed away I told myself that was it for me--no more pets! Then Nuni showed up about a year later, and that was that. He's just so darned sweet. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a pretty face. :)

TA, thank you! Bobo and Juju were actually already named when I got them. They were living in a neighbor's garage, and the couple had decided to name them. For Nuni, it started out as a form of an affectionate nickname until I could figure out a name that would suit him. Turns out Nuni was perfect and it just stuck.

And I've had such a difficult time trying to get them to accept each other. At this point, I doubt it will ever happen. Bobo absolutely despises Nuni, and Nuni is a little aggressive when it comes to her. I have to keep them apart whenever I'm out of the house, and at night when I go to bed.

How about you guys? How did you get your cats to accept each other? Did it happen quickly?

Reply to post #12 (show post):
My two current feline housemates dislike each other intensely. We had Easter first (female), and we spoke to the vet before getting Carlito, and they suggested a male cat, as they would get along better. Not.

It's been 3 years now and they still would each like nothing better than for the other to disappear. They aren't so bad that we have to separate them; they usually keep away from each other. But sometimes, like just the other night at 2a.m. or so, one decides that they want what the other one has (sleeping spot next to me on the bed), and they'll go at it. Easter screams like the worst kind of alley cat, which makes for a rather heart-stopping way to wake up.

They're both just the sweetest, most loving, affectionate cats. Just not, alas, with each other.

Gypsy and Holly were a downright love story, though not love at first sight (but boy, was I glad after a while that both of them were spayed/neutered). Apologies in advance, this is going to be a somewhat longish post ...

I adopted all my cats while living in the U.S. -- already had Gypsy when I moved from the East Coast to California, which move I decided to turn into a cross country road trip, with plenty of sightseeing along the way (after having left the bulk of my possessions in the care of professional movers). One stop on said road trip was Grand Canyon National Park, where visitors had to leave their pets at a kennel; you're not allowed to take them to your accomodation inside the park. Turns out the kennel had actually become a sort of sanctuary for all sorts of animals abandoned in the park (I was shocked to hear how many people do this sort of thing!). One such poor creature was a pregnant cat, whom park rangers found shortly after she'd given birth to her litter. They took her and the babies to the kennel, where a bunch of other abandoned cats and kittens were already in residence at the time (along with a number of abandoned dogs and other animals), awaiting adoption. Unfortunately, the cat mom didn't make it, and of her litter, only two adorable little girls survived, who were named Holly and Molly.

As I knew I'd be having to leave Gypsy alone for long periods of time once I'd gotten to California, even before I moved I had already started to think about getting a companion for him. When I got to that Grand Canyon kennel, all it took was a look at the host of kittens there ... Gypsy initially rejected Holly, but he was actually very sweet-tempered himself with not a vicious streak inside him. So his reaction was not in the style of "go away or I'm going to eat you"; he just played it grumpy and made it clear to her that she was to keep her distance. But Holly, bless her little heart, from the earliest moments of her existence has been made up of nothing but love -- so she just kept trying to get him to change his mind, and let her get close to him after all. Tiny kitten that she was, again and again she tried to approach him, flatter him and make him respond to her, as if to say over and over: "Hey big guy,* I think you're adorable, and I just want you to love me back. Just look at me, don't you think we can be friends?" This went on for several weeks, and you could literally watch how day by day, inch by inch she was making progress, even if Gypsy's dignity would never have permitted him to admit as much. Then I had to leave my cats in the care of a (thankfully very experienced) pet sitter while I went on a week-long training at the beginning of my new job in California ... and when I came back, I found Gypsy and Holly curled up together, Ying-Yang style, and totally inseparable. They remained that way for all the rest of his life.

When Tiger joined the crew two years later (also as a kitten), she had a much harder time getting the others to accept her -- Gypsy ended up doing so and even played with her on occasion (having learned by this time that the appearance of another cat on the scene didn't mean I suddenly didn't love him anymore), but Holly was totally miffed initially ... not only at Tiger but also at me! How could I do this to her, present her with competition for my attention? Wasn't she the most adorable creature in the universe? Did I suddenly not love her anymore? What had she done to deserve THIS? -- It took a fair while to make her understand that, while the new kitten was there to stay, that didn't mean I suddenly loved her any less. Still, while Gypsy was alive, she essentially only tolerated Tiger; it was rare for them to play together, even though on occasion it did happen. Gypsy's death changed the dynamics between them, too, though; somehow with him gone, Tiger suddenly became a more acceptable companion to Holly. By this time, of course, Tiger had long learned to hold her own against Holly (whereas Gypsy was so mild-mannered, he'd ended up letting Holly walk right over him!), so theirs ended up being much more a relationship of equals. Now, of course, with Tiger prematurely gone as well, Holly is finally sure of ALL my attention -- and the vet advised against adopting another cat while she's alive; she said getting Holly to accept another cat while she was younger might just have worked, but it would probably be too stressful for her to have to go through this again now. So now she's an only child ... and obviously loving it!


* Relatively speaking -- he wasn't actually all that big himself.

Lovely stories from everyone. Cats certainly make a house a home don't they?

I don't have any cats in my life at the moment, but Tiger (aka The Ginger Ninja) from over the road will sometimes come and visit. Here he is reading a book in my sunroom.


(Image will appear here just as soon as I figure out how to paste a picture)

My first cat was a very sweet little tortoiseshell called Pushkin. Sadly she was hit by a car aged two. She was a gentle little cat in the home, and a maurading killer outside of it. Birds, mice, voles; she killed 'em all and lined them up on the doorstep for us to find in the morning.

Our next cat was a brown Burmese called Pyewacket. She was in our lives for 18 years and she ruled the household. She was madder than a box of frogs and we were constantly amazed, amused or downright embarrassed at her antics. Her partner in crime was a chocolate pointed Siamese boy called Orlando. He was my cat and I was devastated when he succumbed to feline leukemia.

He was followed by another Siamese boy a blind red point called Cho. A very gentle, timid boy who was happiest when he could snuggle up on the sofa next to my dad.

But since leaving home in my twenties, I've not had a cat. I've moved a few times (including overseas) and didn't really think it would be fair on a cat to have the upheaval. Also, I work full-time as does my husband and I don't like the idea of the cat being on its own for most of the day. But as my husband says, I suppose we could always get two and then they could keep each other company.

So, don't be surprised if the next time I'm in here I will be telling you about a new addition to the family.

Oh, I love every story on here! (Except of course the end -of life ones --we all hate those. And also the Grand Canyon one. What! People bring their pets on vacation, and then abandon them!? People are Horrible) but not you guys. You are all awesome.

My husband and I were indisputably dog people, and had two dogs we loved so much, Aggie and Molly. When they were two and three, Richard gifted me with a black and white female kitten, so cute!, that we called KatyCat. We would come home from work and let the dogs out, and Katy would look at us with big green eyes and say MeOut. So cute! And we being young and ignorant about the responsibilities of cat companionship, and it being the 80s before it was so much thought of maybe, we let her out.

But when we went to the back door and yelled KatyCat, she always came running from where she was. Until one time, she didn't. She showed up a few nights later and we were overjoyed! But it wasn't long before she got sick, vomiting, losing weight. When we took her to the vet, he diagnosed it as feline Aids, and there was nothing to be done. We took her her back home with us and tried to make her as happy as possible, until it was time to return for the final vet visit. Hate those. We had had her for only five months.

I have always berated myself for not making Katy stay in-house in spite of her irresistible requests to go out with the dogs. I know she contracted the virus on her nights-long absence. Every cat we have had since then has been strictly indoor. And I don't even think they mind.

This is long enough for one posting.