...more cat tales

from September, 1973 through early June, 1978...
I lived in Chicagoland, while attending grad school...
more specifically, in this brownstone, "garden apartment"[aka basement...]
most of the time with 3 cats, of whom Tiger, aka "Fang"...
is shown here, playing in the snow...
[the others mostly stayed inside when it was cold...
only he would go out, stay out & frolic...]



here you see [L to R], Max, wrangler of grasshoppers, extraordinaire...
Barney, his half-brother, who was named after "Barney Fife"[for good reason...]
and Tiger, resident, "bon vivant", catcher of critters & snazzy looker...
these 3 came with me from Mudville & would return there...

Tiger didn't live long enough to make it to my current home...
he died at 16 of kidney problems over 22 years ago...
he was a loving lap cat and all around good guy...
I still miss him, even now, so many kitties later...

Max & Barney both made the move in 1988 to my current home...

Barney died of liver disease a couple of years after the move...
and Max, who mourned him tremendously...
but shook it off to live another year or so...
died of frail, old age, in the back yard, just out for some sun...



joining my gang in Chicagoland, & ultimately, returning to Mudville with us...
was Boomer, another half-brother of both Max & Barney[same mother cat...]
who belonged to a roommate from Mudville who also came to Chicagoland...
and ultimately abandoned Boomer to go, "on the road"...

he made the move in 1988 too, succumbed to old age a few years later...
and with too many others to mention, sleeps in my garden...

I got to thinking of some of my furry friends...
who have crossed over that Rainbow Bridge...
because I live now with several old cats...
2 in particular, who are reaching the end of their days...



this is Fluff, about 4 months old, looking very cute in 1990...



she has always been a strikingly beautiful cat...
I remember the first moment I saw her...
looking up at me with those green eyes, pink nose with gray & white fur...
SO FLUFFY... I was putty in her paws...

the medicine I've been giving her seems to be working very well...
the constant trips to the cat box have ceased...[no more pink pee]
her fever's gone, she's eating well, her diarrhea has stopped...
and she's sleeping for hours at a time in her nest...

she's just an old girl,[20], and even though she's thin...
she seems to be doing well so I just pet her...
& enjoy her company while she's still here...
she'll be gone soon enough, leaving quite a void...



Thomas, seen here last spring with his snoozing buddy, Charlie...
is another matter...



Thomas, who has always been slinky, is now just skin & bones...



he & his sister, Sadie, were rescued by me just before Halloween, 1996...
when the then, 4 or 5 week old kittens were dumped at my school...
late in the day, just as I was getting ready to leave...
2 tiny, stripey, balls of screaming, frightened kitten...
who scooted through the chain-link fence, right to me when I called...
the screams ramped down to loud meows as they trembled in fearful hope...

one[Thomas] was twice as big as the other[Sadie] and such a baby...
but stopped screaming when I held them both as they snuggled under my chin...
I tried so hard to find them other homes, but gave up by Thanksgiving...
and welcomed them, "home"...Sadie died only about 3 years ago...

Thomas, who didn't seem to miss her, was busy...
keeping Sneaky Pie & her sister, Gracie, in line...
[he's under the mistaken idea that he's the "alpha"...]
and gained some notoriety for his exploits with SPie in the "Catmas Carols"...
[think of Thomas as "Wiley Coyote" to SPie's "Road Runner" & you're close...]



here's Thomas in the Fall of '08...
enjoying Molly's bed, in her absence...
with his good buddy, Mattie, who died last summer...
and MJ, who is doing just fine...



I took this picture today...

just before I went out to prepare a place for him in the garden...
he's very unsteady, but still pesters for food, though not much satisfies him...
it's only a matter of days now for him...
I dread having to take him in, but I won't let him suffer...

he was sleeping in the sun with Charlie earlier...
then MJ & some of the others were loving on him & washing his face...
I'll know when it's time... I always do...
I just really hate long good-byes... but it's all we have left...