Cats

Some years I do a separate post for each fur kid during the A to Z Blogging Challenge, but now we have two cats whose names begin with C, and there are different posts I want to do for some of the other letters their names begin with.  It doesn’t seem very fair to give some of the cats their own posts, but not the others.   I know they don’t care, but I do.  So, all six of the cats will be sharing one post. 

We love cats.  That’s probably fairly obvious since we have six of them.  I had two cats when Nick and I met and Nick had one.  I think not liking cats would have been a deal-breaker for either one of us.  During the fourteen years that we’ve been together, we’ve always had at least one cat, and we currently have six.

Howard is our oldest cat and is one of the cats I had when we met.  He’ll be turning sixteen this summer.  Howard has slowed down quite a bit over the last few years, though he was quite the wild man in his younger years.  Some of Howard’s past adventures include eating an earring that had to be surgically removed and running outside and getting stuck between our fence and our neighbors’ fence.  It’s something of a relief that Howard doesn’t get into quite so much anymore!

Howard

One thing that hasn’t ever changed about Howard is how sweet he is.  We’ve still never heard him hiss or growl.  He loves everyone and is always happy.  Howard has always been the first one to welcome new siblings and foster siblings.  He’s always the one to cuddle up with someone when they’re not feeling well.  And he loves having company over, which works out well, since everyone loves Howard.  Howard’s favorite things are being brushed and cuddling up with any of his fur siblings, especially our dog, Duke.

Howard

Frankie is our third oldest cat, at eleven years old.  He’s still very active, even more so than one of our younger cats.  Frankie was found by a friend of a friend as a teeny, tiny abandoned little kitten.  They rescued him, bottle-fed him, nursed him back to health, and then put him up for adoption.  Frankie was the tiniest kitten we’ve ever brought home.  He got into everything for the first several years! 

Frankie

Frankie has slowed down some, though he’s still very active and I don’t think anyone would guess that he’s eleven years old.  Frankie isn’t a very cuddly cat, but he does cuddle up with Howard sometimes.  He absolutely loves playing with his catnip bananas and mermouse toy.  He’s also a tuna addict and insists on having some whenever we open a can of tuna. 

Frankie

Tara is the second oldest of our cats and will be turning thirteen soon.  She was about two years old when we got her.  Tara was our very first foster failure.  She started off as a short-term foster while the cat room at the shelter was being remodeled.  It took days for Tara to even begin to warm up to us and she was so timid and scared.  We couldn’t imagine sending her back to the hustle and bustle of the shelter, so decided to adopt her.  We’ve had her for over ten years now and she’s still very shy and timid. 

Tara

Toward the end of 2020, we moved Tara exclusively into our bedroom due to some health issues she was having.  She’s now doing much better and seems so much happier having her very own little space.  She’s less timid with us and plays with her toys a lot more.  She loves her catnip bananas and chasing the laser light.  She’s a great little hunter and is, by far, the best at catching the laser light.

Tara

Caroline is the fourth oldest of the cats.  She was about four months old when we got her and is now five years old.  She was dropped off on my sister’s porch as a stray.  At the time, my sister already had six cats and we only had three, so it made sense for us to be the ones to take Caroline. 

Caroline

Caroline is, by far, the sassiest of the cats.  We’d always heard people talk about “tortitude” before, but had certainly never seen it in Tara.  Caroline has more than enough for both of them!  She can be quite the little hellion.  She believes she needs to be involved in everything and wants to inspect everyone and everything that comes into the house.  She loves people food and tends to demand a sample of whatever I’m eating.  Yes, she’s very spoiled.  Everything Caroline does is on her terms, but when she’s in the mood to cuddle, she’s very sweet and snuggly with us.

Caroline

Mortimer and Charlie are the youngest of the cats.  They’ll be turning five later this year.  They’re littermates and our most recent foster failures.  They were around a year old when they came to us as short-term fosters ahead of a hurricane.  One of our local shelters was expecting flooding during a hurricane, so made arrangements to get all of the animals into temporary foster homes ahead of time.  We signed up for two cats and ended up with Mortimer and Charlie.  They were named Malmo and Copenhagen, but we didn’t like those names, so started calling them Mortimer and Charlie right away.

Charlie & Mortimer

It took them a day or two to warm up to us, but once they did, they were the sweetest little cuddle buddies.  I’ve also never seen two cats so bonded to one another.  They always slept curled up together, played together, and never seemed to be apart.  We couldn’t stand the idea of them being separated, so we adopted both of them.

Mortimer

Mortimer and Charlie have very different personalities from each other but are still very bonded.  Mortimer is the explorer.  He loves checking out new toys and new people.  He’s always playing, running around, and looking for an adventure.  To Mortimer, the world is meant to be explored.  Charlie is much lazier and very timid.  He loves to sleep and cuddle.  He has some catnip teabag toys that he plays with occasionally, but Charlie is much more of a Netflix and chill kind of guy.  He’s a great nap buddy.

Charlie

Despite their very different personalities, Mortimer and Charlie are still very bonded.  They still cuddle up and sleep together a lot.  And even when they’re off doing different things, they seem to always be aware of where the other one is.

Charlie & Mortimer

A cat post doesn’t feel complete without the three who are no longer with us in body but are always in our hearts.  Cookie, Milo, and Joey were with us all too briefly, but will always be loved. 

Cookie

Milo

Joey