Happy 7th Birthday Cory!

OMC!  I can't believe it!  I'm 7 years old today!  Seems like just yesterday I was a wee little kitten, climbing Mt. Foot on my Gotcha Day.

 

Mom found another photo that I've never posted before...it's titled "Boys  Dorm".   That is wee little me on the dog bed down below.  In the window from left to right are:  Michelangelo, Jonathan and Lewis.   They are all my guardian angels now.   They all loved me from the moment I set paw in the house.

 

So, if you are hungry, I've got cupcakes all decorated and ready to eat!

 

Mom promises that I'll get lots of sock time too.  Maybe Alfie Marshall will teleport over and we can snuggle and chase bugs together.  Maybe I'll even sing a sock song.

LiveStrong 2012

 Today we purr, that one day there will be a cure for cancer.  

 

We remember those who came before, who left us too soon.

Callie

evil bone cancer 1988

 

Beloved Maggie

evil bile duct cancer 2005

Best friend Colby

evil liver and pancreatic cancer 2008

Lewis smarty pants

evil lymphoma 2008

 

 We love you and miss you.

LIVESTRONG

Today we remember those who came before.  Those we lost to cancer.

Our woofie Callie was born in 1980.  He was good pals with Morgan, mom's first cat and soul mate.  Callie was a beautiful boy who was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 8 years old.  He had a rapidly growing tumor on one of his hind legs.  It was very aggressive and he was only with our family for 3 weeks after his diagnosis.  He left for the Bridge in the summer of 1988.

Maggie was the light of mom and dad's life.  She was found, hungry and lost in a local boathouse back in 1998, only a few short months after moms beloved Morgan went to the Bridge.  When she started getting ill in the fall of 2005, mom and dad did not want to believe she could be leaving.  They did EVERYTHING they could to save her, but during diagnostic surgery, she was found to have an extremely aggressive form of bile duct cancer and the v-e-t said the kindest thing to do was not recover her from her surgery.  Mom and dad still miss her every day.

Colby was the woofie who came before me.  She was 6 years old when she was adopted from the Humane Society in 2000.  Mom and dad waited 2 years after wonderdogborzoiextraordinaire Gracie went to the Bridge before adopting another woofie.  Colby lived a very long and wonderful life, but she started getting ill in the winter of 2008 and she was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer.   She went to the Bridge on March of 2008 at the age of 14.

Lewis arrived one fall day in 1999 and just moved in on the family.  He was like Cory...black panther kitty on the outside with solid Meezer under the hood.  Colby and Lewis were best friends. It was Lewis who taught Colby how to hunt squirrels.  When Colby passed away, Lewis was never the same.  Lewis started losing weight and then started failing in the summer of 2008 very quickly.  He passed away in August 2008.

We wag our tails and purr that there will one day be a cure for cancer.

Here is a slideshow that was created by members of the CatBlogosphere with special thanks to Samantha, Clementine and Maverick's mom.  Big thank you's to Milo and Alfie's mom and Maggy and Zoey's mom for all their work bringing us all together today.

Monday Memories

After eating all of my Christmas cheese, I sat in my comfy chair and started thinking of those who came before me.   We hung all of our stockings by the fireplace and then carefully pulled out the stockings of those who came before.  We hung the stockings of those who came before on a garland that hangs over the window.

Mom told us of Maggie, who left for the Bridge in 2005.  She was something special.  Sweet and loving and beautiful with not a hesitation to go head first into a garbage can to get what she wanted.   I would have loved her.

Then mom showed me a picture of the the family eating goodies in the kitchen.  In this picture is Michelangelo, Lewis, Colby, Jonathan, Maxfield, Maggie, and Madison.   All have gone to the Bridge exept for Madison. 

We love the Christmas memories ornaments we received from Zoolatry's Ann.   At the time mom sent pictures to Ann, she couldn't find a good one of Lewis.  Mom finally found one and decided to try to create something herself.   I think it's cool. 

Momma Meezer and the Mancats

I know that Nigel loves me. I'm just not ready to commit to anything yet. I've had my heart broken so many times I've lost count. First there was Cory's pappa. He was gone long before the kittens were born. He was very handsome as you can see by looking at my beautiful baby Cory. When I was adopted in May of 2006, my baby Cory and I moved into a house of many mancats. In this picture you can see us all lining up for our stinky goodness food fest. You can see black and white Mikey, and gathered around the plate with Cory you can see Jonathan and Lewis. Getting her plate out of the way of the others is our shy sister Jonesie.

When I saw Jonathan, it was love at first sight. I fell hard. He loved both me and my daughter Cory. For the 8 months we lived together we were seldom apart. Here is a picture of me, Cory and Jonathan settling in for a nap. Mikey joined us too.I also loved Lewis. Here is Lewis hanging out with me and Cory. When Jonathan passed away in December of 2006, I was devastated. Lewis helped heal my broken heart.

Lewis loved me, but it was different with him. He liked to dish it, and I was one of the few cats who would take it and dish it back to him. He loved that about me. When he passed away in August of 2008, I was again devastated. I swore I would never love again.

And then comes Nigel. I know he's my type. On paper you would think we were a perfect match, but if I fall in love with him, will he leave me too? Mom says it's probably ok. He's my age, not an older man like Lewis and Jonathan.

It's been a year since my Lewis went to the Bridge. It will be 3 years in December since Jonathan went to the Bridge. I still miss them lots.

I just don't know...

Saying Goodbye to Friends on Friday

Today we pay tribute to our friend Cal. We purred so hard for him our motors almost ran out. We never stopped hoping that he would get well. It was not to be.

Cal, you were loved by your family and by all of your good pals of the CB. You were one of the first CB friends we met. We were drawn to you because you looked so much like our Lewis who left for the Bridge a couple of weeks before I started my blog. Now it turns out, your passing mirrored his....losing weight, then losing the ability to breathe then losing the hard fought battle.

Lewis, I hope you were there to greet Cal and let him know the ropes of being a Guardian Angel cat.

Fierce Fighter Friday

There have been many a fierce fighter in my family, many are featured on my side bar. I will focus today on those who have crossed the Bridge since last Christmas. Every year my mom and dad hang our stockings by the fire. For those who came before, their stockings are hung on a garland around a window. This year, we will be hanging 4 more stockings on the garland. Colby, Benjamin, Lewis and Michelangelo. I have already written remembrances of my dear Colby, Benjamin and Lewis. I have not yet written about Michelangelo "Mikey"...because it's so hard.

Michelangelo "Mikey" came to the family long before I was born. He was found in late winter of 1992, less than 2 years after Roger Ramjet left us. My dad found him in the most unlikely place...on the freeway median strip. He had been hit by a car and was left for dead. My smart dad thought he didn't really look dead, so he stopped and was stupid (according to my mom) and fetched him off the freeway. Mikey was a mess. He had a fractured pelvis and awful wounds. The Vet said that he likely wouldn't live because his bowels wouldn't move because there was terrible nerve damage. My mom said, no...he will live...she just believed in this little boy that looked so much like Roger Ramjet...the nose spot had to be a sign. When he finally produced that improbable poop, everyone did the happy dance.

Mikey did live. He was called Miracle Mikey for a long long time. It was a tough road to recovery, but my mom and dad worked with Mikey and nursed him back to health...his nerve damage wasn't so severe after all. He was my mom's baby. No one messed with Mikey, or there was hell to pay.

Mom and dad took in a couple of strays, a dog...a cat...and they picked on Mikey. They were placed in other nice homes. If you couldn't get along and play nice in the sandbox with Mikey...forget it. My mom said this was because even though he was a tough cookie...he was frail and any rough play could jeopardize him.

According to my mom, he was the sweetest cat on the planet...she loved him so much it hurt. My mom worked really hard to get the picture above with Mikey in the tulips...she took over 50 pictures to get just the right one.

When he started having trouble with his injuries catching up to him she did everything she could to help him. He needed enemas...and laculose all the time. Finally, things just stopped working at all. He was 17 years old.

I always liked Mikey and Mikey liked me sort of. My momma Ellie tried so hard to win over Mikey but he was not going for either of us. My mom said not to take it personally because Mikey was so in love with Maggie that he couldn't fall in love with us. But he did like us. I'm sure of it.

Remembering Lewis

Lewis left us on August 11, exactly 19 weeks and 6 days after his best friend Colby left us. My mom had to fill me in on history to understand why this is important.

Lewis came to my family long before I was born. He showed up in early September, sometime around the Labor day weekend. Colby arrived at our house before I was born too, but I was told it was just about exactly 20 weeks after Lewis arrived. When Colby arrived, all the kitties ran and hid. Lewis ran right to her like he already knew her. They were best buddies from day one.

Lewis was known for being a bit of a neighborhood bully, a king in his own mind. He fought off neighborhood cats fiercely, but he preferred to scream at them very loudly in order to avoid the fight. He always was misplacing his collars and tags and he rarely wore his "Lewis" tag. He went under an alias much of the time because my mom always made sure he left the house wearing some sort of id, even if he was under the assumed name of TS Eliot or Scrapper John.

Even though he was a bully, he had a major soft spot for me and my momma, and we washed him all the time. We promised to keep his secret of being kind and sweet from the other neighborhood cats to maintain his image. He also didn't want word to get out that he loved burying himself in soft blankets for an afternoon snooze. He loved sharing a carton of yogurt with my dad.

I guess looking back with my mom at the calendar it's no surprise that Lewis left us just shy of 20 weeks after Colby left...almost exactly the same amount of time he had with the family before Colby arrived. They were connected. Kind of like my momma and me but different.

Colby and Lewis are together again, chasing squirrels forever.