Cats on Tuesday, erm, okay, on Monday!

So, here I am with my first Cats on Tuesday post! Sorry it is on Monday, but I will be out all day tomorrow so....

I thought I would share first, a story about my mother. My mother, who has a double wide mobile home, and enough stuff in it to fill a 6 bedroom house.

She collects stuffed bears, and has enough of them to furnish an entire store.

My mother who loves cats, has 4, and also has everything related to cats. She has the fattest cat I have ever seen in person, Salem. A black kitty (of course) who is 'small in stature' but wide as a semi truck. He is very funny. She has Sassy, a gray and white striped fluff ball. Joy-Joy, a calico beauty, and Princess, a Siamese cross.

Fast forward to Christmas... what do you get a mother who has a house chock full o' stuff??

Well, I went here: http://www.collectorsaddition.com/whimsiclay_12inch.htm

And got her this stuffed cat above. Last year I got her the "Fourth of July" cat, and I thought it was the silliest thing I had ever seen..... she LOVED it. Keeps it out all year long.

So, then I found this one at my local pharmacy. It is actually cute, and different from all the rest.

For her birthday I am going to get her the "Chili Pepper Cat" tee-hee

Now, on to my cats. Today we will feature Jack. AKA, Jack the Dog.

There is Jack, the cat who thinks he is a dog. Comes when you whistle, goes on walks with you- and the dogs, and 'talks' to you. He is also the bully. He fights with everyone else (meaning all my other cats ha-ha, oooh! with the exception of Shadow he-he), chases them all off the property if he can. And is the biggest lover you will ever find.

He snuggles with you, and is safe with even the smallest child handling him... go figure he is such a butt with the other cats!

Jack knows his name and comes when you call him. He is the one who stands at the door when the dogs start barking, ready to go out and "kill" the imagined intruder. Really he is just the official greeter of the place. Killer indeed, if you could be killed by leg rubbing, he's your cat!

Jack gives new meaning to the term- "revolving door". All day, in and out, in and out, in and out. We thought we would just give him an automatic 'door opener' to use at his leisure, but he would probably find some new way to torture the other cats with it.

Above (since I STILL can't figure out how to insert pictures where I want them... they always post at the top) is a picture of Jack with his dog, Fatty Lumpkin, AKA- Lumpy. (who is really my dog)

They are best buds. Lumpy is very good with Jack, tolerates him even when I think he is annoying. Much better than Lumpy's mom, who growls and chases him away. But she is a cranky old lady dog.

Only once did I ever think of sending Jack away. He chased off my Frodo cat a few years ago. I was devastated. Frodo was a feral cat I found in my garage as a very small kitten, just after 4th of July when we lived in Downey. The first time I tried to pick him up, he nearly tore my hand off. He was so terrified that he hid in my garage for 5 months. It got to the point that he trusted me, and would let me run my hand down his back briefly as he ran under it back and forth. Frodo desperately wanted love, but was terrified of it.

He would only let me touch him, and he and I shared a special bond, typified by a touch of his nose to my index finger.

To get Frodo here to our new house, I had to drug his food three different times. The first two times he ate the food and ran up into the rafters of the garage and slept it off. Finally I put the food into a crate and closed the door quick. He spent 4 days in the crate, lightly sedated for his safety. Then we released him into out new garage safely, and he adjusted to life on the mountain.

We had a Bassett Hound then named Miss Pouncible, and they were fast friends.

Well, Jack and his sister Diane were kittens when we brought them up here, and Jack took an instant dislike to everyone.... especially Frodo. Frodo, being the timid cat he was, eventually just didn't come home one day. It broke my heart, and only the pleadings from my kids saved Jack from going to live with his vet (who, by the way, adores him- as does the whole staff).

So, Jack is still here, and I do love him- annoying as he is. We refer to Jack as the "Million Dollar Cat" because he has cost us about that. His family was inbred, owners of his mother never fixed her, and she bred indiscriminately... a loose woman with low morals, we believe Jack and his sister Diane are the product of incest.

When we moved up here, we also brought their two brothers Sam, and Bilbo. Sam and Bilbo both died from bladder complications- genetically inspired. To our dismay, Jack too soon developed symptoms like his brothers. We caught them early and took him to the vet. After about 5 months of expensive treatment, it was determined that Jack needed 'corrective' surgery. My husband put his foot down. After many hundreds of dollars, dare I say thousands?? He had had it. So I explained the situation to our vet, and she, who had seen Jack basically living there at the vets- all the staff knew him and he had the run of the place- found a surgeon in Los Angeles who picked up the surgery for free for us.

So, Jack had all of his plumbing re-routed, and has to be on special food for the rest of his life. About a million dollars later, he is still here! And, I have forgiven him for Frodo, but.... I still miss my little cat.

Next week, Diane- AKA- Queen of the World.

Slainte~

Rachelle