Feline Beauty Pageant

Here are my entries in the NFP Feline Beauty Pageant.

Baby Bat Ears aka Harvey.  My first, and my soul cat.

Harvey was a blur of energy and was the boss of the house.  He terrorised the house by day and snuggled in my arms like a baby at night.  He'd tuck his head into my shoulder, put his paws around my neck and purr.

If it wasn't for Harvey, I don't think I would have the houseful of monsters that I do today.  He was so full of personality - he was a cheeky little sod and he made every day fun. 

It's been almost a year since he was killed, and I still can't think about that day without crying.  He was only two and a half when he was killed and it just wasn't long enough.  I miss him.

Frankie is named after the girl cat from Red Dwarf.  He is almost impossible to get a good photo of, because he hates the flash and runs away when he sees a camera.  He turned three in November.

He is a sweetheart of a cat who just wants to be adored by everyone.  You only need to look at him and he starts purring.  He has a rusty red belly, folds both of his ears back before he grooms himself and steals earplugs and underwear. 

When Frankie came home, Harvey was very jealous.  He didn't let Frankie come anywhere near me, and since Frankie was a shy little thing, he never pushed it.   The only area of the house that Harvey wasn't interested in was the bath.  The first time it happened, I think it was an accident, but Frank quickly realised what an opportunity he had.  He fell in.  He didn't struggle, but sat perfectly still - his green eyes getting bigger and bigger.  The house had rubbish central heating and so the bathroom was really cold.  I grabbed him and wrapped him in a towel, trying to rub him dry.  I felt it rather than heard it, but that was the very first time I heard Frankie purr and it was then I realised just how much I loved my little brave scaredy cat.

He adored Harvey.  They were inseparable.  When he was little, he learnt to imitate Harvey's miaow and would do it to make me think Harvey was threatening him. 

Frankie missed Harvey so much.  He used to sit on the windowsill looking out at Harvey's grave under the apple tree, and cry.

We were told that Ellie was seven weeks old when we got her.  The vet believed that she was five and a half.  She developed hypothermia and went into a coma two days after she came home.  She has grown into a true naughty tortie. 

She has destroyed countless sets of blinds, has ruined two Christmas trees, and has Lila wrapped around her little paw.

 

Frankie has always adored Ellie.  He nursed her for eight long months.  Literally.  she would wander up to him, and he would roll over and allow her to latch on.  She must have spent hours kneading him trying to work out where the milk had gone.  Despite being two and a half, whenever Ellie gets scared, she runs straight to Frankie for a cuddle.  He keeps her in line, giving her the occasional bop around the head.

Charlie was my first rescue cat.  He had been passed over for weeks because he was a biter.  When I saw him, I wasn't allowed into his enclosure because the staff refused to deal with him.  We took a chance and brought him home.

He is about four or five now, and I've had him nearly two years.  In that time, he has gone from biting anything that moves (and a lot of things that don't), to a cat that sleeps in my arms at night.  He waits for me while I take a shower, sitting on the mat.  When I get out, he winds around my legs until I sit down on the bathmat.  He comes and sits on my laps and grooms my eyebrows.

Charlie adores Ozzie.  The two of them are inseparable.  They sleep together, eat together, groom each other, and squash the breath out of me at night together. 

He hated me when I brought him home, and I never dreamed that he would turn into such a lovebug.

Willow is the most beautiful one eyed cat in the world.  We think she is about Ellie's age, but we have no idea when her birthday is.  Like Charlie, we celebrate her adoptaversary.  She is sweet and loving, and gives the most ferocious headbutts.  She's had a few medical crisis' in the year and a half we've had her, and for a short period she tried to bite me every time she saw me.....I suspect that might have a lot to do with the eight tablets a day she was on and the visits to the vet every other day for injections.

She likes to sleep wrapped around my head, with her paw across my hair and forehead.  I like to have her there, and I find it hard to sleep without her now.

Holly is a loving cat trapped in a nervous and abused body.  She wants to trust people so badly, but just can't get past her fears.  For a while,  I thought she might live under the sofa forever, but after we moved house, she decided that she would prefer to live under the bed. 

Holly does like to sleep with me at night, but I can't say that I always enjoy it.  If I stop stroking her, for reasons such as falling asleep, she bops me across the face until I wake up and pay her attention.  She loves to be stroked and now that she trusts me, she loves to have her belly rubbed.

She is very vocal and makes her feelings known very very plainly.  I usually come home to a mouthful of abuse for leaving her all day, which doesn't stop until I've fussed her for about ten minutes.  We think she is about ten years old, and I have to say that when I start to get older I want to be as stroppy as she is.

Like Charlie, she has come on amazingly since she came to us, amd will now sleep on the bed with the other cats.  She doesn't like the Baron much, and hisses at him on a regular basis.  Saying that, she likes to sleep on his clothes during the day, and pisses all over them to keep the other cats off.   

 

After Harvey was killed, I knew that I wanted to adopt another cat.  The Baron, in fact most people, thought I was just looking for a cat to replace Harvey.  I suppose that was true in one sense, but I wanted a cat to honour Harvey.  The first time I went to the shelter, I left in tears.  The second time, I found Ozzie.

Ozzie fitted in perfectly.  The other cats accepted him immediately.  We suspect that Frankie thought it was Harvey returned from the dead.  Charlie loved him on sight and refuses to be parted from him.  I think Harvey led me to him.  He was exactly what I needed.

He loves to be cuddled and to be picked up.  He eats a lot and is close to imploding and forming a black hole, which makes picking him up an ordeal at times.  He purrs a lot, and he has a beautifully melodious purr.  He is a joy to live with.

Comments

[kross-eyed kitty]

I've actually lost count of how many cats you have! Thye all sound wonderful, and if I could have more cats, I certainly would. I love how they all have their own little (or big!) personalities, and the unconditional love they bring. Actually, the unconditional love that all pets bring.
I have this thought, that people who love animals, have warm souls.
Loved this post!

[Kimmer]

I got a little choked up, reading this one. It really is a loving tribute!

[Miss Arrogant]

You are truly making me miss having a kitty. One day, I will have a house...then I will get another kitty...I miss my Lump.

[Katie]

I love your kitties, I'm getting my fix through you. Stupid house renting. The other day we were at the pet store (buying guinea pig litter, the landlord allows small caged animals) and Kyle saw the kitties waiting to be adopted. And wouldn't move from that spot. He said he wasn't leaving until we took a kitty home. It about broke my heart. He finally left when I promised that at our next house, we would get a cat.

[Colleen]

I can't pick my favorite! They are all beautiful kitties and you describe them in such a way that I have fallen in love with them.

[Pez]

Your cats are wonderful and I can tell they are well-loved. I really feel that I know them because you describe them so well, DMouse.

[Kate]

I would like to say, that Ellie is a beautiful kitten. i wpuld like to place my vote for her. thanks.

[Kate]

I would like to say, that Ellie is a beautiful kitten. i wpuld like to place my vote for her. thanks.

[c9 gold]

I would like to say, that Ellie is a beautiful kitten. i wpuld like to place my vote for her. thanks.

[Nike Zoom]

You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren?ˉt afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.

[Air Jordan]

More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly. Do you think so?

[tinnitus cure]

Thanks composing! The reason for the report is always to document your lifetime and deliver your own own thoughts. Some notions are usually special with me but definitely distinctive. That which you very long for to offer for the fashionable society, I believe I've already been identified that. So long as many of us do effectively and imagine that.

[Moncler jakke Salg]

Thanks, I'm going to have nightmares tonight.