Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cats, grief, Kitty.com, loss on July 16, 2012| 9 Comments »
Kitty.com has left us today. She fought a valiant battle, but she looked tired and ready to go. I assured her she could rest now, and left her in the incredibly compassionate and capable hands of Dr. Olsen. Kitty.com seemed unsure for just a moment, before tucking her sweet face into Dr. Olsen’s chest, ready for her battle to end.
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Human nutrition and health, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged cats, diet, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley, vegetarian on January 5, 2009| 4 Comments »
I have an aversion to the word “resolutions”, for whatever reason, so instead I try to come up with goals for the year ahead – preferably with steps toward achieving them.
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 27, 2008| 1 Comment »
Most frequently asked question I get, absolutely, is “How many cats do you HAVE?”
One of the other frequent questions: “Do they all get along?”
Answer – no, not really. My three girls (Jellybean, Rumpelmintz, and Kitty.com) do NOT like other cats. They have a tendency to whine/growl/scream/cry in other cats’ presence. In particular, Jellybean and Rumpelmintz fear Studley greatly and aren’t keen on Louie. Ralph is Mr. Agreeable and loves everyone and everything. The girls still bop him on the head on occasion – but even for them, it’s hard to not like that sweet little face of Ralph’s.
My boys are pretty good friends, on the other hand. I LOVE it when my cats get along, and groom each other, and cuddle together, and play together…. if there’s anything cuter than my adorable cats, it’s my adorable cats appreciating each other as sweet loving furry beings.
Louie and Ralph snuggling
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 25, 2008| 2 Comments »
The cats’ “Aunt Terry” gave them a new pet tent for camping in the kitchen. It’s an adorable pop-up tent – I think she got it at Big Lots.
Jellybean was first to fall in love with it. (At least until what must have been some “blitz attack” because one day I discovered poop in the tent as well as lots of fur tufts nearby – and Jellybean hasn’t really used the tent since.)
Jellybean comfy in the tent
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cat pictures, cats, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 24, 2008| 2 Comments »
My friend Adrienne suggested perhaps what my blog needs is more pictures of my cute cats. My cats ARE very very cute, in my opinion. Oh, they’re a little rough around the edges, most of them, and they’re not babies (the youngest is about ten years old) but I think they are pretty much adorable most of the time – when they’re not fighting amongst each other or acting as destructive forces of other sorts, or just annoying the crud out of me… they’re VERY cute.
Anyway, a few weeks ago we held a “catnip wake” in honor of Afer, Omaha, and several of our friends’ cats that passed away recently (including Rumpelmintz’s cyber-boyfriend and Studley’s cyber-girlfriend/wife).
The wake started with an assortment of catnip toys. Jellybean did not participate. Catnip toys are not sufficient lure for her to leave her perch on top of the kitchen cat tree and chance proximity to the other cats.
Catnip wake
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged Afer, cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Omaha, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on August 5, 2008|
We had a ton of storms yesterday. Lots of rain, thunder, and lightening. For once, I got lucky and I actually landed up commuting when it wasn’t horrible out and got home pretty dry. I was nearly done with evening “cat chores” when the radio announced there were three of four tornadoes sited. One was destined to reach a neighborhood very close to mine in ten minutes.
What to do? Of course it wasn’t my neighborhood, but it was close enough that did I really want to take that risk? Not like I could manage to get eight cats downstairs quickly. So, I sprang into action (and if you knew me, you’d know just how ludicrous the idea of me “springing” into anything is.)
I finished giving Afer her sub-q fluids, then dished out their food. Why would I choose to feed my cats at this moment? Easy – so they’d stay put, in the kitchen, and I didn’t have to chase them all over the house.
(more…)
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged Kitty.com on June 14, 2007| 4 Comments »
In May of 2002, I lost two of my then three cats to kidney failure. After a week of being an only cat, I thought Rumpelmintz looked lonely. Well, okay, not lonely… but bored? Maybe she needed the other cats to worry about to keep her occupied.
I went to a local shelter and stood there, overwhelmed at the sheer number of cats that need homes. All special. All unique. All deserving. After a while, the shelter manager came to check on me and I told her I had no idea where to start. She asked if I’d be interested in seeing some especially hard to place cats, and I agreed.
She took me to a small isolation ward, where there was a small orange and white kitty in a cage. She’d just recovered from ringworm, and the manager left us alone for a bit. I could pet her on the top of the head with my right hand and she’d arch her back in delight. Touch her anywhere else and she’d hiss. She talked and talked, and did cute little “dance steps” with her back paws.
When the manager came back, I told her the cat (named Kitty) was sweet. The manager’s eyes welled up with tears and she said “No one EVER says that. They think she’s mean because she hisses.” That cinched it, she was coming home with me!
It took Kitty, who I renamed Kitty.com, time to learn to trust me. Initially, if I attempted to touch her anywhere but on the head with my right hand, she would sceam and scratch me. She hated Rumpelmintz and if she so much as heard or smelled her on the other side of the door, she’d lunge at it, screaming.
It took months before she would allow another cat in the same room as her. I had to move carefully and slowly, or risk getting scratched. It was all worth it.
She still doesn’t like the other cats, but she’s learned to live with them. She hasn’t scratched me in ages, and the last time because – well, darn it, I just wasn’t getting her dinner ready nearly fast enough! (She gets crabby when she’s hungry – I do, too.)
Kitty.com still does her adorable “dance steps” with her back paws. She loves to take toys and put them on her head, like little hats, then look at me as if to say “What about this one? Too much?” She’s a delight.
Life of the Lintee Bean 