inveniam viam

This year, we have a higher than average cat/sq ft ratio than ever before. Well, most of them spend most of their time outside in the summer but I'm worried about how things are going to go this winter.

I'm going to name them because I keep losing count in my head:

our original cats: Lulu, Bandit, Miss P, Louis, Annie

Strays we took in: Portia and Smokey

David and Bekah's cat Dexter (RIP Morgan)

Sam and Kayla's cats: Odin, Xena, and Luna (RIP Gimli)

Outside, we've been feeding Persephone and Matt. Persephone is feral and I haven't seen her for a couple of months. She's been living under our porch for a couple of years, but maybe she relocated because of all the competition. Matt is a new stray, a lovely smokey gray long-hair whose coat is terribly matted right now, hence the name. But they've never come in so I'm not going to count them.

I'd like to find homes for Dexter, Portia, and Smokey. Dexter is about five years old, a neutered male; a big, orange Garfield-type cat. Portia is a small calico spayed female, very shy but sweet and loving once she gets to know you. Smokey is a soon-to-be neutered male, more brash and vocal, but also gentle and sweet. They're all good with dogs as long as the dogs are good with them.

If anyone would consider taking on an adult cat, I'll transport them up to 500 miles -- I'm in Lansing, MI.

-- according to Wikipedia. I've never heard the term, and I've never heard anyone use it, but there ya go.

I don't talk much about my cats. I've got eight cats, and we just had another one move in. It started with Lulu, a stray Jerome brought over in the fall of '12. She was a tiny thing and never got very big. She went into heat that next spring and we were able to keep her inside then and the next time. We were set up to get her spayed but there was an ice storm the night before and then we dropped the ball. She went in to heat again and got out and didn't get pregnant. So I thought, hmm, maybe she's barren? And she went into heat again and didn't get pregnant so I just let it go. Last year she did get pregnant and bore four kittens. The two males are grey tuxedos, Louie and Patrick, and the females are grey/brown striped, Bandit and Missy.

We were going to give them away, but all the people we were going to give them to backed out and we just couldn't give them out through the paper, or to a shelter. I mean, we talked about it, and Sam and Kayla were going to take a couple when they moved, but it ended up that we just kept them.

A few weeks before the kittens were born, we found a tiny feral out by itself, mother or sibs no where around. So we took her in, too. She is Annie (for Little Orphan Annie.)

Last year, the Humane Society was having a Fix Your Cat special, and we got all the cats spayed and neutered, vaccinated and chipped. Yay!

Back when we were living in the trailer, a very old and crotchety ginger cat moved under the trailer for the winter. That was right after we got Lulu, and since we had cat food on hand, it was an easy thing to leave a bit out for him. When we moved we took him with us. He's maybe twelve or fourteen, and we call him Buddy.

When our son David and his wife Bekah became new parents, they had to move into a place that wouldn't take their cats, so we ended up with two huge ginger males named Dexter and Morgan. Hmm, that was 18 mos ago, I think. Last summer, Morgan jumped into the trunk of a car across the street and the driver accidentally closed him in and drove him to the next township. The driver said that when he opened the trunk the next day, Morgan shot out and he never saw him again. We called around to the Humane Society and all, but there was never any word of him. He's chipped, but no one's been called. Poor guy.

So it's summer-ish now, and we have the cat window open - just a screen with a little door cut into it so the cats can get in and out off the porch. A couple of weeks, a beat up ginger came in, and then last week he came in again and moved into the basement. Actually, I don't know if he's still down there. We call him Scrappy.

That's Lulu and her kittens (now full grown) Bandit, Missy, Louie, and Patrick; the strays Annie, Buddy and maybe Scrappy, and the remaining Dexter. I've got a camera now, and I'll probably be posting pics. As an aside, when Luke walks down the street, he's usually followed by a posse of cats. It's kinda funny watching him try to shoo them back home.