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Cats we have known, Part I
by Dianne K.

This is Trouble, a Maine Coon cat, who adopted us. She belonged to our back fence neighbors, but she liked us better than them, for some odd reason. We were in our dog years, our household was ruled by a toy poodle named Sadie, who was the light of our lives. We also had a cranky old Siamese cat named Kinky because she had a kink in her long brown tail.

Kinky was not a beloved pet. She was actually a male cat but when I bought her (I actually paid good money to a Siamese cat breeder for Kinky), the breeder told us she was a female. She wasn't. Instead, she was a stupid, terminally frightened male cat, who lived under beds and in closets and peed on everything. We endured her for her an eternity but it wasn't a pleasant experience. It was because of Kinky that I never got another pet from a breeder. (The SPCA has lots of wonderful pets who need good homes. They have all been cheaper, smarter and way more fun than Kinky.)

Trouble was called -- get this -- P. Patty Piggims, by the neighbors. I suspect that's the main reason why she wanted to abandon them. No self-respecting cat would allow herself to be called P. Patty Piggims. We really didn't want her, but when we would open the door, she would be hanging on it and would swing into the house. One day she threw herself against the screen of an open window until it finally caved in. We simply could not keep her out of the house. She was one determined cat.

Finally the neighbors gave up trying to keep her at their house, and one day we found her bed, her adoption certificate officially giving us custody and a huge bag of cat food. P. Patty was ours. We promptly renamed her Trouble.

Trouble was actually a very good cat, friendly, clean, intelligent and could get along with our other pets. Kinky, on the other hand, just got worse. But they tolerated each other for years until Kinky finally went to her reward. And then our beloved Sadie died. It was actually a relief to be down to one cat, who gave us no trouble whatsoever.

TC and Tooey

How silly of us to imagine our lives so uncomplicated. One of our daughters hit a rough patch in the romance department and had to find a place to live that didn't take pets. So we became TC's foster parents. TC is the tuxedo cat on the left in the above photo. (BTW, TC stands for "the cat". TC had some mental problems and wasn't too bright, but we were tolerant. After Kinky, nothing could phase us.

It took TC awhile to settle in because she had to make peace with Trouble. Neither TC no Trouble were Alpha type cats, both were lovers, not fighters, so after a few hisses and growls, they decided life would be easier if they just ignored each other. They eventually became sort of aloof companions, sunning themselves together in the TV room, and spending most days sleeping and watching the birds from the cat shelf window.

This peaceful arrangement lasted a few years until Trouble became ill. She was an old cat by then, but it was still a shock to let her go. We decided TC needed a new companion for the cat shelf. That's when our beloved Tooey came on the scene. We got her from the pound and officially named her Trouble II because she had the same markings as Trouble I. The name Trouble II got shortened right away to Tooey.

Tooey is a tortoise shell cat with the same fur markings that Trouble had. The big, happy, difference is that Trouble had long hair and Tooey has short hair. Short haired cats are much less work, no matted fur balls to clip off, and not nearly as many coughed up hair balls! Nice.

Good company, especially at the window watching the world go by.

Tooey

Then rather suddenly TC got sick, some sort of urinary tract infection that some cats get. She was with us for a long time, but she wasn't an old girl when she died. We missed her very much, and as you can see from this photo of Tooey, she seemed to miss her too.

Jasmine, or Mini, for short.

That's when we decided to get her a new friend. And along comes Mini. Now she's the queen of the cat basket on the kitchen table and the new light of our lives. Life goes on!