On this page, I'm going to put those pictures that involve our cats, which, at the beginning of the year, were Lucky, Tyger, Zack, and Bob. If the pet picture is related to a particular trip or event, it'll usually be on the page for that trip or event. But most pet pictures will be here.
January 18: The Cats are Reunited
We returned from Florida a couple of days ago; we had taken Tyger with us so we could keep an eye on him. Lucky, Zack, and Bob stayed behind, and our pet sitter (and good friend) Lynne took care of them.
The Gang's All Here!
One interesting thing about all our cats is that they are not only gregarious, but they enjoy each other's company. Quite often, they are all in the same room, and that is usually where Fred and I are (mostly the study).
Another interesting thing is how scent-oriented the four cats (Zack being the least attuned) are; any time I take off some clothes and put them on the bed, or get some clothes from the dryer (that were just dried, not washed) and put them anywhere, it will only be a few minutes before at least one cat has found them and curled up on them. Maybe I am anthropormorphizing, but perhaps the clothes are a substitute for actually being in a lap.
As you can see, the two oldest cats, Lucky and Tyger, are laying directly on the clothes. Again attributing human characteristics to the cats, it may be that Zack and Bob are simply waiting their turn- and want to be close by if a spot opens up.
Tyger seems to be doing OK, although the growth on the side of his head has not gone down. He will have an appointment at the vet in a week or so.
January 21: Band of Brothers
Tyger and Lucky
When we returned from Fort Worth this evening, we found something unusual in the study- Tyger and Lucky asleep, together, in the same chair. This is unusual; Tyger's favorite place is in the towel basket in the master bath, and Lucky rarely allows any of the other cats to nestle up to him.
A couple of possibilities came to mind. First, we'd been gone a couple of days, and perhaps our absence has an effect on the cats' behavior, and we just happened to walk in on them doing what they usually do when we are gone.
It might also be that we are correct in our feeling that Tyger is not well; that the growth on the side of his face is not something transient- not something that can be fixed or cured. If this is true, then it may well be that the other cats, particularly our oldest, may instinctively be aware of this, and perhaps the other cats are allowing behavior from Tyger than they might not have been comfortable with had they not known he was feeling badly. It may also be true that Tyger feels the need to be closer to his brothers- that this closeness may make him feel better.
In either case, it made a nice picture to see the two of them so close to each other.
January 26: Do We Put Zack on a Pedestal?
No, he gets up there all by himself. And though he may not look comfortable, he seems to be, as he can sleep with his front paws dangling from the cat tower for quite a while at a stretch:
March 3: Zack's Camera Test
Ahead of our cruise next month, Fred has gotten a new camera, and today he is trying it out for the first time. Zack was his test subject:
Sometimes, Zack tends to stick his tongue out a little bit and, apparently, he can curl it, too. But he spends a lot of time on top of the cat tower:
March 24: Bob in Florida
We brought Bob with us on our spring trip to Florida, and of course took a few pictures of him- mostly asleep on the couch.
I have no idea what it must be like to be limber enough to actually relax in some of Bob's sleeping positions- like the one at left. Now you might think that nestling up against the back and arm of the couch is what enables him to lie like that, but if you will look below at some of the other pictures we took of Bob (and one of me as well) asleep on the couch, you'll see that such support isn't necessary:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
May 25: Kittens are always cute;...
Fred was at his Mom's for the last couple of days, and this evening, when he returned, he brought some pictures of the newest litter of kittens that have arrived at his Mom's house:
May 25: ...so cute, in fact...
The pictures weren't all that he returned with; he returned with both the black kitten and the grey one! And being that they were only three weeks old, they had to be bottle-fed. So we broke out the equipment, got some goat's milk, and began again a process we'd done first with Lucky and then, two years or so ago, with Bob and his sister:
Feeding the Black One
Feeding the Gray One
So was the arrival entirely unexpected? No, not really. About three months ago, we had to take Tyger to the vet to have him put to sleep. This was because of the cancer on the side of his face that at first had just looked odd, but then, just before our trip to Florida in March, had begun to interfere with the motion of his jaw. Since we didn't want something to happen to him while we were down in Florida, we had him euthanized just before we came down.
As it turned out, Nancy had also lost a cat, and Fred had told her of this new litter (the second time he's contacted her about a litter from his Mom's house, and the second time Nancy's said she would like to have one). So we weren't going to gain two cats, but just one; the grey one will be going to Nancy as soon as it is eating on its own and litterbox trained. And for the second time, it will be our task to accomplish both of these objectives.
May 27: The New Kittens are Sequestered
Of course, there's no way that we can let the kittens start roaming around the house. The primary reason is that they aren't litterbox trained, but other considerations would be that they would be easy to lose and perhaps that they might inadvertently be injured by the larger cats trying to play with them.
Fred Herding the New Kittens (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
But we want to do a good job of recording the progress the new kittens make, so we will be taking pictures as frequently as we can to accomplish that. Begin with the movie at left, where Fred is trying to get the kittens to introduce themselves to the camera.
And then we have a few still pictures taken while the kittens were sequestered in the downstairs bathroom:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
May 28: Socializing and Feeding Time
Today, I want to take some pictures of some of our efforts to socialize the kittens by handling them as much as possible, and being with them. You might also be interesting in seeing what feeding time looks like.
Me Feeding the Kittens
When the bottle is ready, trying to deal with one kitten at a time is almost impossible; usually, Fred has to keep one occupied while I feed the other. Here are some of today's pictures of feeding and socializing:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
Watching the Kittens Explore (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
May 29: A Socializing Session
We are trying to interact with the kittens as much as possible. This socializing helps turn them into very friendly cats, so we do it pretty often- usually four or five times a day.
Nancy's Kitten
Our Kitten
Above are the first two "official portraits" of the two kittens.
Exploring Kittens (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
I made the movie at left as Nancy's kitten was doing kitten things in my lap while our kitten was sitting above and watching. We have noticed that Nancy's kitten is very inquisitive, maybe a bit more than ours, and is usually the first to try something.
As far as names go, I just call Nancy's kitten "Gracie" because of her color. We are still debating what we will name ours, although I am plumping for "Snowball". Anyway, here are three more of today's pictures of the two kittens:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
June 1: Another Update on the Kittens
It's only been a few days, but we've been actively socializing the kittens, and have also decided that we will take them with us when we travel to North Carolina for my 50th college reunion and then take them on to Florida. They aren't litterbox trained yet, and aren't eating solid food- two goals before we can take Nancy her kitten. Today, I took the kittens into the study to feed them- mostly so Zack, Bob, and Lucky could see them. The other cats were cool with them, sniffing tentatively all around them. Then Fred got out the camera and took some pictures:
Gracie and "Snowball?"
Gracke and "Noir?"
Gracie and "Blackie?"
Of course, "Gracie" is only our name for the gray kitten; Nancy will undoubtedly choose her own name. But for our kitten, we are going back and forth on names- some of which are in the picture captions at left and above. We will wait until a good name comes to us.
The Kittens are Bonding With Me
Lynne will be taking care of the adult cats when we go to North Carolina and Florida, so we've asked her to drop by day after tomorrow. Maybe she'll have an idea of a name for Snowball/Noir/Blackie...
June 3: As It Turned Out, She Did!
Lynne stopped by today and we have everything squared away for her to take care of Zack, Bob, and Lucky while we are gone. And a bonus: we now have a name for our kitten!
The Kittens at Play (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
The kittens are growing steadily, and are more steady on their feet. Since they have easy access to their little litterbox in the downstairs bath, we let them out into the study and, if we are watching, wherever else they want to explore.
Today, I made a movie of the two kittens playing in the study, doing what kittens do, while Bob watched from his usual spot in the doorway. (Why he always sits down in the same spot, looking in to the study, I have no idea.) Anyway, you can use the player at left to watch this short, amusing movie.
When Lynne came by, she was handling both kittens, and when she was handling the black one, she mentioned in some way that he was as black as a lump of coal, and that gave us his name: Cole. It's masculine, and a neat homophone (two words that sound the same but are spelled differently; in this case "Cole" and coal. We realize that Gracie's name will probably change, but now Cole has his "forever moniker", and henceforth I can refer to them as Gracie and Cole.
When you see Gracie and Cole next, they will be on their first road trip- to North Carolina and Florida.
June 7-22: ROAD TRIP!!
Well, now we have two kittens to raise (wean and litterbox train) but I also have my 50th college reunion coming up. So what to do? As we did with Bob and his sister, we will take the two kittens with us to Florida where we can wean and litterbox train them without worrying about the adult cats getting in the way. The only complication will be that this road trip will involve more than Florida; it will involve a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, a visit with my sister in Elon, North Carolina, and then a trip down to Fort Lauderdale.
On the Way to Charlotte
It was a long day, driving from Dallas to Charlotte, but the kittens did very well, spending almost all of their time nestled together in Fred's lap, or getting bottle-fed by him:
Kittens' eyes are always blue, and change later to their adult color, although I would very much like to have a totally black cat with blue eyes.
On the Way to Fort Lauderdale
Just in a few days, the kittens have begun to change, becoming more active, and eating more. Fred is still bottle-feeding them, but we hope that not too long after we get to Fort Lauderdale we will be able to coax them with some solid food mixed with goat's milk. Here are two movies and two good pictures Fred took on our day-long drive from Burlington to Fort Lauderdale:
One's Asleep and One's Awake (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
Tussle Play (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
In the Fort Lauderdale Condo
For the ten days of our visit, the kittens had full run of the condo- something they would not have had at home, out of concern that one of the larger cats might inadvertently cause harm if we weren't watching. Plus, the kittens could bond with each other and with us more readily if they were the only felines around.
Gracie and Bob at Four Weeks
At one month old, we took the picture at left and Fred made the movie below:
(Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
And here are four of the best pictures we took:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
Having the kittens with us in Florida, besides being practical, was also extremely enjoyable. After all, everything goes better with kittens.
June 26: A Big Change
It was when I was taking pictures of
Cole and Gracie
crept up on us. I am not exactly sure when it started to happen, but it was sometime between the 20th and the 26th of June. Can you see the change?
Cole and Gracie
Gracie
The blue eyes are gone, but the final color hasn't appeared yet.
June 28: Gracie's Last Hurrah
We are going to be taking Gracie to nancy in a couple of days, so it was fortunate that I got a good movie of Gracie playing with her brother. And to go along with that, I have a picture of Cole taking up residence on my laptop:
Gracie's Got Cole All Tied Up (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
"You Aren't Using this Laptop, Are You? (Yes, but do you think that matters?)
June 29: King of the Hill
Up until the last few days, the top of the cat tower has been occupied mostly by Zack, but that may be changing.
Zack on the Tower
Most of the time, when I'm on my laptop and I look to my right, Zack is in his accustomed place. That's him, at left. In fact, this morning I happened to make a movie of him just relaxing on his perch (and attempted to be funny in my narrative):
The Cat Clock (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
The kittens have been playing around at the base of the tower, and have used their little claws to go partway up the side. If Zack happens to be on the tower at the time, he may bat at them as they attempt to scale the heights. But this afternoon, the top of the tower happened to be vacant, and the two kittens made it to the top.
"Take That, Sir Edmund!"
Actually, I'm being a bit overdramatic. The kittens have been getting to the top fairly regularly for the last few days, but today was the first time that I came into the room and found them both on the perch. Sadly, I have no video of them making the ascent; it has been pretty humorous to watch them claw their way up to the platform and then try to negotiate their way up onto it. There little legs had to get long enough to allow them to hold on to the tower column with one foreleg and use the other to grab a purchase on the top so they could pull themselves up.
Anyway, since I had the camera out, I took a few more candid shots of Gracie and Cole on top of the tower:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
June 30: Our Last Photos of Gracie
In two days, we will be heading down to San Antonio for the Fourth of July with Prudence and Ron (and Nancy and Karl and Guy, of course). We are going to take both Cole and Gracie with us, and of course we will be leaving Gracie with Nancy- now that she is eating solid food and using the litterbox. I thought I might be taking more pictures of her before we left, but today, as
Lucky watched from across the room,
I took what turned out to be the last pictures of Gracie before we took her to her new home in San Antonio:
I think the second picture is particularly endearing, as Gracie looks just like someone leaning out a window and supporting themselves on one arm- a very "human" pose, I think.
These will be the last pictures you will see of Gracie, unless we happen to take pictures of her at Nancy's house on some future trip to San Antonio. We do hope to take Cole down sometime in the future, and perhaps brother and sister will get reunited.
July 20: Concerns Addressed
We returned from our Fourth of July trip to San Antonio on July 7th, when we brought Cole back alone, having left his sister, Gracie, with Nancy. On that trip back, I had been wondering how Cole might change now that his constant companion of the last six weeks is no longer around.
New Friends
As it seems to be turning out, I may have been overly concerned in worrying about whether Cole's demeanor was going to change in any permanent way. Although I have few photos to back it up, from the moment we walked in the door and put Cole down, the adult cats, particularly Zack, were crowding around to see if Cole was recognizable. He was, and they were fine.
In the next few days, Cole was active in playing with Zack, most of all, and Bob, a close second. He, and they, seemed to enjoy running around after each other. Sometimes, sitting in the study with Lucky, the two of us could hear what seemed to be a herd of elephants upstairs as the three cats were jumping onto and off of the guest room bed.
Zack and Cole seemed particularly close; Zack, as I recall, was the first of the adult cats to help Cole groom the areas he couldn't reach- like the top of his head. Bob helped too, a little bit, although Lucky, being the elder, I think considered himself above these routine matters.
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
Zack and Cole have taken to sharing the cat tower, and often sleeping together at its base. Cole has definitely not started to go off by himself; he is almost always with me or us, and when he isn't, he is either playing with another cat elsewhere, or sleeping with or near another cat somewhere else. You can see this in some pictures at right that Fred took of me and the cats this afternoon.
Cole is also growing, and I think he is already more than three times the size he was when I first saw him. That's to be expected; the young always grow quickly (relative to their lifespans). But he looks as if he may end up being the smallest of the adult cats- which I would like.
August 3: Some Random Pictures
No particular subject for today's pictures, but they show three of the cats (Bob, as is often the case, is off by himself, asleep upstairs) in various poses this afternoon:
Cole and Zack on My Laptop Table
Sorry, Lucky; This Lap's Taken
Lucky's Frequent Relaxing Position
August 11: Zack and Cole
For reasons that neither Fred nor I understand, it hasn't seemed to be the two youngest cats that bond together; we thought that Bob and Cole might bond as they would be likely be the two most playful.
This particular afternoon, I was sitting in a chair with Cole, and Zack came over to get up with us. Now, if Lucky or Bob had been in my lap, they would typically get down when Zack came up, or if Zack were already in my lap, neither of them would have come up to share the space.
But Cole is the exception. When Zack comes up, he stays. If he's asleep, he continues sleeping. If he's awake, he will typically just continue sitting there or, more commonly, he and Zack will share grooming duty. If Zack is already in my lap or on the chair arm, Cole is not inhibited, and will come up as well.
The two of them spend a lot of time together playing or just being near each other. We don't know why, but their closeness gives rise to a good many good picture opportunities:
(Click on Thumbnails to View)
September 9: Fore!
When we returned from San Antonio and Prudence's birthday, Karl gave Fred a few of the hundreds of golf balls that he picks up in his yard, and it turned out that Cole loved to bat them around.
"I Think I'm Playing the Titleist 7"
Problem was that the golf balls kept getting underneath furniture that Cole is now too big to get under to retrieve them, so his playtime with any particular ball was short-lived. Then Fred hit on the solution of putting them in the large shower in the master bath. Cole can bandy them about (an listen as they make a satisfying thocking sound as they roll across the small tiles and bounce off the walls) as much as he wants and they never get lost. In fact, they tend to come back to him as the shower slopes, of course, towards the central drain, and if he waits long enough they will return.
So he gets as much playtime as he wants with the balls before tiring of the fun and coming back downstairs or going for a nap somewhere. The only drawback to Fred's solution is that when I am downstairs, and most especially in the kitchen which is directly under the master bath, I can hear the sound the golf balls make when he plays with them- a sound I didn't hear when they were rolling around on the carpet.
But Cole likes playing with them (as does Bob on occasion as well), so I will usually drop one or two of them into the shower when it isn't being used.
September 15: The Cats Getting Along
It didn't take much time at all for the other three cats to accept Cole into their group and now, four months after he first arrived, he is as much a member of the clan as any of the others. They are all comfortable with each other, although Bob is the most solitary of the four. Today, we have a couple of pictures illustrating how familiar our cats have become.
Usually, only one cat at a time will occupy my lap; when that cat is Lucky, there's hardly room for anyone else. But Cole has found a way to be close, if not actually the primary lap occupant.
It often falls Zack to groom the parts of the other cats that they themselves can't reach- like the tops of their heads. Lucky doesn't seem to get this service much, though. Perhaps its because he's so big that it's hard for Zack to reach the top of his head.
October 7: To a Kitten, Everything's a Toy
Not much reason for pictures today, except that Zack and Cole were pedestal buddies this morning- at least until Cole figured out that playing with Zack's tail was more entertaining than just sitting with him atop the cat tower.
The top of the cat tower is really only big enough for one cat, but Cole is still small enough that he can squeeze his way onto it sometimes when Zack is already there.
(Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
Tired of just sitting, Cole got down to the laptop table to play with Zack's tail- that Zack was obligingly (and, I think, actually on purpose) swinging back and forth like a metronome.
October 14: Black and White and Black
Sometimes, with one cat that's black and white and one that's black, when they're together, it can be hard to tell where one stops and the next one starts. Lucky and Cole are often together, but this time they weren't overlapping each other:
Lucky and Cole
November 10: "I'm Just a Travelin' Cat"
On our November trip to Florida, we took Bob and Cole. We took a few pictures of the cats during the trip, Most of these can be found on the album page for that trip, but just to record the fact that both cats were with us, here are two representative pictures from the trip:
Cole
Downtime With Bob and Cole
November 19: Covered With Cats
Well, not exactly covered, but certainly not without "cat companionship".
Apparently, I had fallen asleep in the chair listening to the Young Turks or something, and a couple of our cats took advantage of the availability of a lap.
Fred tells me that Zack was the first to settle down but that Cole was not deterred by the fact that Zack had the actual lap taken up but himself settled down across my chest. That I didn't wake up while all this was going on was itself pretty unusual; usually I am just dozing. But I didn't get awoken until Fred's flash went off.
Having two cats on top of me was a first; usually, if one is in my lap and another wants a turn, it's not until the first cat is displaced that the second takes over.
November 27: Bonding is Beautiful
We have been lucky over the years that all the cats we've had have ended up getting along very well with each other; we've never had a case where one cat was either overly agressive to any other or always went and hid to get away from any other.
Cole and Bob
Here's a good example. Cole and Bob are, of course, our two youngest cats (usually, our cats are a year or two apart in age). Of all the cats, Bob is the most standoffish, but that's not really saying much, as he is usually in the same room with everyone else. He isn't really a "lap cat", and only likes to be petted at certain times and, it seems, in certain places.
But he does get along quite well with all the other cats, and he and Cole do play together a fair amount. (Of course Cole, being the youngest and still a kitten, is an equal-opportunity playmate, and likes to play with whomever is available, whether they want to or not. Cole does like to curl up with a buddy most of the time, and we see him often with Lucky, sometimes with Zack, but most often with Bob.
December 1: "Tuck Position, Difficulty 2.8"
Unbeknownst to us, Zack has been taking diving lessons, and he seems to have the "tuck position" down pat. His coach recently sent me a picture that he took of Zack in mid-dive.
Compare Zack's technique with the two human divers at right, and note that he is "tucked in" a great deal more tightly than they; Zack's coach tells us that if they had animal olympics, Zack would be a contender for the gold!
December 20 and 25: Cats at Christmas
First, here are a couple of interesting pictures taken a few days before Christmas, just after we got the tree set up:
Cole Helped Us Trim the Tree...
...but Lucky Slept Through the Whole Thing
A few days later, it's Christmas Day, and we took a couple of cat pictures worth including here.
Black on Black
I'd done some email this morning, and as soon as I got up, Cole took my place. I have almost sat on him a couple of times as he blends in to the chair. Later on in the day, when Fred and I were opening gifts, Cole and the other cats were looking at boxes and wrapping paper as cat toys, and I took one good movie of them:
Cats at Christmas (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)
December 28: Cat Nap
It's just before bedtime (mine, not Lucky's) on the evening before we left for Florida, and I've dozed off after getting all my packing done. I had no idea that Fred took this picture, but I think it shows Lucky off to good advantage.
That's it for this year's cat pictures; I hope you've enjoyed following our feline friends through the year. It was sad that we lost Zack to cancer, but a few months later Cole joined our brood to bring us back to what has become, for some time now, a complement of four. We look forward to more fun with them in 2019.
