I haz a dedicated kitteh too also. If I happen to sleep past 5 a.m., God's Bossiest Cat will wake both of us.

"Hey, lemme outside, and make it snappy!"

We have a dedicated, bossy, and SENILE kitty. Three AM: "HEY, wake up! I was just talking to the wall here, and we both think you might like to hear what we have to say. Mrrp."

Used to be 4:30 on the dot - Daylight saving confused her for a couple of days. Thanks for bringing this up. This for some reason makes me feel much better. I can think about her clearly now. I think I'm gonna be OK.

I knew I was missing something at 4:30 this morning....

I have tears running down my cheeks right now from laughing so hard. My cats make me laugh -- a lot. And as long as they do, they are worth any of the hassles that can come with pet ownership. I had to remind myself of this fact last night when I entered my semi-darken bedroom, sat down on my bed, put my hand down --- into a wet mess of doG knows what the cat threw up. Worse, the offending cat did it on a pile of newly washed clothes that I had put on the bed earlier. At least they haven't figured out how to make calls to 900 numbers or have keg parties when I'm gone -- yet.

My cats are like that, but I have their wake-up alarm set for 6:30. It's come in handy a number of times when, while half asleep, I turned off the alarm clock. They saved me from several missed appointments.

It's coming:

Thanks for the link, Tav. I talked about the blog some to my hubby last night on the way home. He sat the silently through the whole thing, then looked at me with narrowed eyes: Don't you dare even THINK of doing that!

He knows me so well. We've fostered both kittehs and pups. Pups are way more work, and goofily entertaining; but the kittehs have my heart and soul. They're not as goofy, but the entertainment value is still high.

Good luck, SuE and Ms. DB. I hope you find the purrfect ones.

Where did you get that photo of my kitties? I thought they had destroyed that!

It is on a t-shirt my daughter bought for me in Oregon somewhere.

I like to volunteer. I had to give up my volunteer activities a while back after foot surgery. I'm at a point where I'm looking around for the right fix in terms of volunteering. A part of me really,, really wants to volunteer at place like an animal shelter. But I know I can't do it because it would break my heart to not bring home a cat that so desperately needed a new home. The reason I have so many cats is that I couldn't say no to them because they were so in need. I'd love to save more, but I've reached the limit of what my house can handle in terms of litter boxes -- plus I think the city has some kind of limit on how many cats one can have. I haven't checked it out because I'm afraid to find out that I'm already over the limit. I have already decided that all or a large part of my estate is going to some worthy animal shelter. I feel it is only right after all the love and enjoyment I have received my kitties.

Hey there Sue and Mrs. Sue, if you're in California, I have two very sweet foster kitties that need an new home - brother and sister, about 3 1/2 years old, always indoor kitties since kittenhood.


Edit to add - I just looked again and see you're in WA state. Darn. Someone needs to take these kitties before my husband gets too attached! Pretty soon he;s going to rename them and we'll be in trouble then!

OMG, I accidentally helped!

All this time, I found it so hard to say anything really comforting to all the people here who've had struggles over the years. I'm so glad something I said actually helped someone feel better after all.

Southwest Washington is where I am located, and they sound like the thing. A little too far I am afraid....
Thank you,
SueDB

I'm sure P.K. would happily Fed-ex them to you. Surely they can hold their breathe that long. (I know, I know, bad girl, bad girl. I have a sick sense of humor and I am admit.

And that one would have to be there positively overnight...

My Sammy arrived by plane from Oregon to Michigan when he was just over four months old. He was in fine condition and immediately located his food, water, and litter box. Then he hid for a few days in one of the large speaker units. He then came out visiting and has never hidden since.

There are cat boxes specifically designed for this, and some of them double as carry boxes for visits to the vet.

I would advise never putting a cat on a plane. They often die of asphyxiation or hypothermia, and the airlines couldn't care less.

When we came East in '02, we had to fly our cats. They survived, but the airline dumped their cages right in the middle of the busiest part of the Atlanta airport, without any attempt to locate us. I damned near didn't find them. Anybody could have just taken them.

I'll have to admit I made a scene at the airline ticket counter. I damn near went over the counter to strangle the guy. I probably would have if Wifehorn hadn't been right there.

We flew once with a prior Shih-Tzu, Tashi. To Florida and back. She was in the cabin with us.After takeoff, my wife took her out of the cage and sat her on her lap, where Tashi promptly fell asleep. Didn't wake up till we landed. The stewards (esses) said they didn't even realize we had a doggy on board.

But she was a special animal. I wouldn't do that with either of our doggies now. They'd freak at the noise. And there is no freaking way they're traveling as baggage.

Sammy had to make no plane changes, flying directly from Portland to Detroit Metro. This, I think, removed a hazard. Then he was not delivered to baggage. He was delivered to the office out of the terminal at which special shipments (such as hearts, legal papers) are picked up. The carrying case was extremely well-marked as Live Animal with instructions for his care. Plus he came with his favorite blanket.

I have also heard of cats dying on planes, but Ms. Langford in Oregon was able to do it for years without losing a kitten.

Bwahaha...

A friend of mine who took Jesse the wonderful, diabetic Maine Coon cat after my friend passed away (i got Weeny) confided in me that she thought Jesse had dementia. See, every time she got up, he ran to his food bowl meowing. She thought he forgot he had eaten.

I explained to her that he wasn't demented, he was a cat.

My dogs are better than that. They play hockey with the empty bowl.

I can't tell you how many times I've said to my two knuckleheads when they do this very thing, "You just ate! Did you forget you ate?"

My cat Brownie is fastidious, and he is expressive about the canned food I serve.

The other cats like it fine, but he'll meow at me until I look at him, and once he sees he has my eye, he'll pretend to bury the food.

That's cat for "what is this shit you're trying to feed me?"

He sneaks in and eats dry food in the middle of the night when no one is looking. You can tell that he's never missed a meal, no matter what he says about the canned stuff.