...the Mack & Murphy story

if you've never
seen this photo...

then you've never
looked ...
at my entire
blog page...

Mz Murphy Brown ...
in all her glory...

looking down on us all...

her favorite position...

diva, that she is...

[aka "Murphus purrfus"]






her brother, Mack...
also has been featured on my blog page...
in his winter "fluffiness"...
also, "above us all"...
looking wise and "all-knowing"...
[he loves to be called "Mr Fluffytail"...
as well as "Mack-a-diddley-doo"...]

there was another brother, Miltie...
who looked like them both...
he had Mackie's grey-ish brown fur...
and Murphy's white face markings & golden eyes...
[Mackie's eyes are green...]
Miltie left us much too soon...
gentle soul that he was...
succumbing to liver failure at age 5...
Mack & Murph are now 12...




I almost NEVER see them together without fighting...
[in true sibling fashion...]
this shot is blurry, because they moved...


[see... I told you...Mz MB is NOT happy w/Mack...]

the 3 of them "bounded" into my life as kittens...
dashing across the busy street to find food ...
with several other strays ...
from a rental house across the street...

I was afraid for their lives...
they were only about 6-8 weeks old...
3 fluffy, mini-Maine Coon lookalikes...
so when I next saw them...I captured them...



Mack was SOO easy to catch... I offered him food...
and stayed to "visit" while he ate...
after the first few hungry bites, he stopped eating...
looking up at me with such appreciation ...
for the food and attention...
when I reached down to pick him up, he came gladly...



Miltie was shy... but too hungry to be too cautious...
he didn't like being grabbed...
but settled-in quickly once he was "inside"...



Mz Murphy Brown...[named for her golden brown coat]
wanted food with no "me" attached...
she's the little devil I had to corner to catch...
getting bitten on the thumb in the process...
[the 3rd injury to that thumb in less than a month...
which would become my melanoma catalyst]

after trapping the 3 of them...
I took them to the vet for shots, tests, etc...
I still have a mental picture of Dr Kind Eyes,
arms full of 3 fluffy, VERY cute kittens...
grinning from ear to ear...
as he told me that they were all healthy...

strangely enough, the day after I grabbed the 3 kittens...
part of a larger "mob" of strays of all ages...
they all disappeared from across the street...

only 2 half grown cats survived...
probably because they couldn't be caught...
one would be Roxie, the long haired black Momcat...
who, together with Midnight, would raise their 5 kittens...
in my back yard... of whom only Frick & MJ remain...

I've always figured that it was "supposed" to be...
that Mack, Murph & Miltie would be mine...

on Friday night, my new neighbor to the north...
[the grand daughter of Alma, who died in May...]
knocked on my door...
she had found a small striped kitten in her flower bed...
and wondered if it was mine...or if I knew whose he was...

after some discussion about how to help her older cat "adjust"...
I could tell that she really wanted to keep the kitten...
but she said that she'd "ask around, anyway..."

when I saw her today, I asked about him...
and found out that his new name is Tiger...
and that her older cat seems less lonely with Tiger around...

sounds familiar...

just another example of a smart cat finding the right home...

like Mack, Murph & Miltie did 12 years ago...