Hello everyone! I am new to this group. I was thrilled to find group
about cats because I adore them and have so many stories to share about
the little tribe that my husband and I lovingly refer to as "our kids".
I am in my early 30s and have always had a cat in my life since the age
of four. I just cannot imagine my life without a cat in it. About seven
years ago I rescued two kittens that were living in a wooded area
behind a local pizza parlor. It took 3mos. of determination and
patience...many early morning and late night feedings...and one botched
attempt at catching them with a Have-A-Heart trap that I rented (they
managed to get the food and get out of the cage without getting
caught). Finally, with the help of a woman who lived next door to the
pizza shop, we caught them. This was my very first experience in
bringing in feral cats and attempting to domesticate them - a process
that I now lightheartedly refer to as "wildlife detox". Under the
recommendation of the vet and with the help of my mom, I released them
in the small, confined space of my bathroom. I hadn't thought about how
foreign and scary the sound of the exhaust fan might be for them, nor
had I thought about how frightened they would be to be in such close
proximity to humans. Needless to say, they freaked out. The one flew
wildly all over the bathroom, knocking down virtually everything that
wasn't already bolted to the wall. We opened the door to the bathroom
which led to my bedroom and out the flew - one leaping up to hang from
the blinds, the other crouching low until he made it safely under a
chair in the corner. That night was rough. They hid for awhile while I
proceeded to pack everything that was breakable in bedroom (as my
future husband and I were moving into a new place together two days
later) but un the middle of the night, they were roaming. They meowed
loudly as they saw me, more so out of fear than anything else. This new
environment was scary and completely foreign for them. During the
process of our move, they spent a week in my parent's house in my
sister's room, as she was away at college. It didn't take long before
the crouching cat warmed up to us. He began to purr and quickly learned
that he liked being pet. The flyer took a little longer and a bit more
effort on our part before he warmed up to us but before we knew it, he
also loved being petted and his little motor could be heard across the
room. We named them Mozart & Simba. They are brothers and Mozart is all
black with a few scattered white furs on his front breast area. And
Simba is an orange tabby with big sturdy paws and he has a more
distictive white spot of fur in the same breast area. They are
sweethearts and such good natured cats. We've been together over 7
years now. It is interesting to look back on how they gradually became
acclimated to the domestic environment. When they first came in,
something like the refrigerator running or the sound of the washing
machine starting up would have them runninng for cover. Now they are ok
with these things....for the most part. They still have some quirkiness
about them....they are still a little afraid of people coming to the
house that they don't know....for some reason, the sight of the postman
is absolutely terrifying to them, but for the most part, it didn't take
long for them to make us a part of their family too. They eased into a
routine of breakfast, dinner, bedtime. Simba heads into our bedroom
around 9:30pm every night, waiting for us to join him...Mozart curls up
next to my shoulder most nights. Eventually my husband and I decided we
needed a bigger bed because clearly our mattress wasn't big enough for
four and the cats have claimed our bed as their own as well, stretching
out full length across the bed, leaving my husband and I each with a
sliver of mattress on either side of the bed. But we wouldn't have it
any other way. We love them and they are such a part of our family.

A few years after we brought Mozart and Simba into our home, we brought
in another older cat that we named Peppermint. We had been living in an
apartment at the time and there was quite a few stray cats in the area.
I always put food out for them and many would stop by for a meal and
then take off, but there was one frail older looking cat that always
stuck around. She would fall asleep in the leaves when it was cold,
would come close enough to meow at us as though she was trying to say
something but would never let us pet her. Often times when she slept, I
could get close enough to touch her but then she'd wake up startled and
jump a few feet. We kept feeding her and talking to her, trying to get
her to warm up to us so we could catch her and bring her in. Finally,
it worked. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of being taken inside or
being kept in a carrier until we could get her to the vet later that
day but thankfully we did catch her and she was able to get the medical
care she desparately needed. It turned out that her little ears were
clogged and because of this, her hearing had been impaired (which is
why we were able to get so close to her when she slept). She had some
congestion as well - sneezing often, runny eyes. They vet gave  her
medications and took all the necessary tests to ensure it would be safe
to bring her home to our house with our two other cats there. She was
ok, thank goodness!  All was well for awhile and she seemed to adjust
to her new home well. We moved into our home shortly after that time
which allowed all three of the cats to blend their new territories more
easily.
Last year, Peppermint fell very ill. She wouldn't eat and hid under the
bed for a day or two. We took her to the vet and were told that she was
very sick and might not make it through the night. She had a flu-like
infection. They drained her lungs several times. We kept her in the
hospital at the vet's office and visited there at least twice a day.
After being there for close to a week, having her lungs drained three
times, being hooked up to an IV, and a few rounds of strong meds, she
miraculously began to improve. We wound up bringing her home and she
improved even more. Within another week, she was playing with her
little mouse toy and chasing a ball around the house like nothing had
happened. The vet called it a medical miracle and we felt truly
blessed. Peppermint has still been diagnosed with diabetes and still
needs extra special care but that's something we do without a second
thought. She's a wonderful cat and has been a much loved addition to
our family.
Last April, we wound up adding on to our family again. I had a coworker
who had brought in a stray cat who was pregnant. She wanted a cat to
catch the mouse she had running around her house and this one hung out
in her neighborhood so it seemed to serve the purpose for her. When the
cat had the kittens, after about 5 weeks, she had enough of them. She
had told me that her boyfriend was going to get rid of them...either
dump them off somewhere or throw them in the river. (And in my opinion,
this woman has no business having any animals as a pet and I've openly
expressed my opinion to her on several occassions.)  I was appaulled
and moved quickly. I told her I would take them...would find homes for
them. The next day she brought them to work in her car. I came to work
early and with the help of my mom, we loaded them in the car and
brought them back to my house. This was supposed to be a temporary
situation - my mom said she knew of a few people who might want to
adopt a kitten. Well, this never happened. I spoke to two of those
people who wanted time to think about it. As time passed by, the 5
kittens began to acclimate themselves to us, our cats, and our home. It
didn't take long before my husband started naming them. As they grew
older and each of their little individual personalities began to
emerge, the less time we put into finding other homes for them. We
discussed the possiblity of keeping them all with our vet. Eight seemed
like a lot and we didn't want to get in over our heads or be like those
crazy cat collectors who have more than they can handle. But it had
been months already and we were handling it. We brought in more litter
boxes and had increased our litter duty, scooping out the boxes several
times a day,,,we had already been feeding them for months and
everything seemed to be going ok. Our vet said she had clients that had
more cats than 8 but stressed that the main thing we needed to consider
was that we could take on this addition to our family and still give
them all the same kind of care we were accustomed to already giving our
cats. The hospital stay for Peppermint wasn't cheap and our vet knew
that we believe in doing all we can for our pets. We sat down and
talked about it and weighed our options. In the end, it seemed like
something we could handle and had already been handling for months
anyway. We had already made sure they got all their booster shops,
spay/neuter surgery, etc. And so they continued to stay with us and
continued to become part of our family.
This past Christmas, my husband came home with a few more little
stockings and we wrote each of their names on them in glitter - Patches
& Ella (the girls), and Bach, Benny, and Franky (the boys) and Santa
filled all of the cats stockings with little mice and balls with bells
inside. The kittens are beautiful too. They all have longhair except
for Franky, who is a black & whitge tuxedo cat. We have figured out
that Ella is definitely a Ragdoll. She started out as all cream with
just a little gray around her eyes and on her tail but as she grew, the
color became more defined - she has the deep grayish brown mask around
her eyes and also has bright blue eyes. When we opened up a cat book to
a picture of the Ragdoll, it was her twin that we saw looking back at
us from the page. Patches is multicolor (gray, white, orange), Benny
has orange & white fur, and Back is gray and white - all with long hair
and the Victorian collar of fur around their necks. We don't know what
kind of cats they are - perhaps a mix or Ragdoll...maybe Mainecoon.
We're not sure. They are all sweet though and every one of our cats has
their own personality.
Sometimes we look around and we can't believe we have eight cats. If
you had asked us years ago if we'd have this many, we never would have
believed it. But everyone has their place in the house...we keep all of
the boxes clean and we're diligent with the fur as well...vaccuuming
often and keeping our sofas fur-free. The only time we know we have a
lot of cats is at bedtime. Often times it feels like we're sleeping in
a furry straight-jacket, with cats on either side of us. We love it and
love each of them...perhaps it's time to upgrade to a bigger mattress
though. :o)