Didn't take Miss Em very long to take over my mother's apartment. Every morning when we woke up she wasted no time telling my mother that it was time to open the blinds so she could get into the windowsill and chase the leaves as they fell. Mom got a huge kick out of it.

The stunt that warmed my heart was on an afternoon where I was tired and Mom wasn't. So, I shut the door to the bedroom I was using when I laid down for a nap. That cat immediately came, sat outside the door, and screamed bloody murder because she couldn't get to me. When I got up and cracked the door, she made a beeline for the bed and sat there guarding me during the whole nap.

Mom decided that she was going to have to get a cat of her own.

Smiles make sunshine wherever they are.

Our 2nd cat is Yassie... Short for Yasmin from the Bratz Dolls...lol She is my 9 year old daughters cat and is 3 years old... She is always trying to get Sam to play but Sam won't be in it...lol Spits and hiss at her... Yassie also loves to chase our Yorkshire Terrior... Terry...lol He thinks she wants to play and is so unsure of her it's to funny... Yassie hates the rain and will do anything to be let in to go sleep on our bed (Which I hate) but she insist...lol At times she has been known to curl up in there litter tray when it's empty and go to sleep...lol

I will never ever be without 2 cats... I have the BIGGEST fear u can imagine when it comes to Rodents... Everyone laughs at me... But I really can't help it...

I once over heard a conversation between 2 ladies and they were talking about cats having no personality... And my thoughts were u have OBVIOUSLY NEVER own a Cat... Cause if u had u would never say that...

Lee

We'd had a heavy snowfall and I realized I hadn't see him for a day or two. My housekeeper and I went up to see if we could find him, but no luck. We began calling, and were answered by indignant meows. Poor Jack had crawled under a tarp we'd put down, and the new snowfall had buried the edges of the tarp so that he was unable to get out. He made it very clear that this was all my fault, but he still wanted pets and snuggles. He's been more friendly since that incident, and I hope he's going to learn to trust me.

My husband was making some adjustment to the tank's equipment one morning when we were both late for work. Finally he responded to my desperate demands for haste and we raced out the door. He didn't know he had left the top off of the saltwater aquarium.

Well, that night when we got home, he got a cup of coffee and prepared to adjourn to the den to watch TV, read the newspaper, and feed the fish while I cooked dinner. A few moments later he let out a howl of anguished rage that you could have heard on Mars. His fish tank still had the decorative rocks but the fish were gone. All seven of them. All seven fish, to the tune of several hundred dollars and a lot of screaming. No cat ever had a more expensive snack. Even I couldn't think of any explanation other than that Igor had eaten them. Not a trace of any of the fish remained. And even in an attempt to prove Igor was still hungry, when I put out fresh chicken, Igor just sniffed at it, burped incriminatingly, and walked away.

My husband bought some fancy guppies.

Cats are so different to dogs. But i love my cat.

They are now 13 and 12 years old, and have been with us since weaned from their moms. Tori surely misses them as we didn't bring them along to our small condo here. Two grown cats was just too much and so Eric takes care of them along with a trusted friend when he is away.

I really don't have a favorite tale except to say that they choose their masters! Even though I traveled a long distance to get them, they chose Eric! So I guess that's why it's easier for me to be away----although they are beautiful to look at and play with.

Stephanie Vogelsong
stephvogelsong@aol.com

I have always thought that kittens were very cute, and I now know why God made them so cute, SO THEY WOULD LIVE. My legs look like pin cushions from her. She wants in your lap, she climbs you. You walk past her, she climbs you, if you are standing there minding your own business, she climbs you!!! We have changed her name to Kung Fu Ninja Kitty.

Loni took the cutest picture of her, in our Christmas tree. She was busted!!

She is very cute, and we do love her. She makes us laugh. Her and the dog are the best of buddies. Shinook, will come tell on her if she is doing something that will get her hurt. He also gets upset if he can not find her. They snuggle together on his blanket.

We are doing a lot of correcting, and sparying with water, but I think we will get there.

I did learn one thing, it is almost impossiable to stay a wake with a purring kitten sleeping on you.... She is good to snuggle.

Talk to you soon.

Tina G.
Southern Michigan

The good news is that, for now at least, all felines seem to be holding their own. Let's hope things stay that way.

Kristin

Thanks for the welcome. We have set the date for October 29th. I'm glad your husband, and the dogs are coming around to having the cats. J was the same way when we initially got the cats, but that lasted for all of two seconds. I would love to get adopt more cats, but at the moment we're in the process of moving so I think we're gonna have to wait a while to add to our family. On a side note, I can't wait until your new book comes out!!!

Kristin

Every time I think about men and cats, I remember the story told to me by a close friend. Her mother was a dedicated volunteer for the humane society and a ferocious animal rescuer. Her father, a dignified business executive type, insisted that he loathed cats...but they always told on him by crawling all over him and rubbing their heads against him. Once he stormed in to the kitchen and reported to his wife that he had been marching around the 20-acre farm and had counted 32 cats, only three of which actually belonged to them. My mother, who brought cats home temporarily to shelter in the huge, hay-stuffed farm buildings when the shelter was full to overflowing, and who fed the visitors twice daily, calmly told him that he was probably right. She did not see fit to mention that the total was closer to 45 visiting cats.

Jasmine is now about 12 weeks old. She thinks she is a dog. She chases her tail and plays fetch. But the thing that makes me laugh the most, is her and Sasha playing tag. It is sooooo funny. Sasha will chase Jazz and say tag. Sasha turns around and the cat chases her. When Jazz catches Sasha, she stands up on her hind legs and pushes Sasha with her front paws, then turns and runs the other way. They do this for about 20 mins everyday when Sasha gets home from school.

I think we are adjusting to having a cat. She is still Kung Fu Ninja Kitty, but I would have to say that she is family now....

On a side note, I have tried to post on here several times. Thanks to Cissy for getting this fixed for me.

Talk to you all soon.

Tina G.
Southern Michigan

Kristin

Christy is 15 and a Ragdoll. When we were selling our house in Oregon we had an open house. Came how to only one cat. Couldn't find Christy anywhere. We told the realtor not to let the cats out, but he didn't listen. I went looking for her around the house and the neighborhood. Finally after about 3 hours she came out of her hiding place in the garage (where we first looked).

Max is 14 and a brown tabby. We got him when he was about 3 to 4 weeks old. This is the cat who's slept with us since then (expect for the few times that he's been locked out of the bedroom for being a PITA).

Mau is 13 and a Siamese. We got him from a no-kill shelter when he was 5 years old. A very sweet, mellow cat. The only thing he does to annoy us is finds treasures and adds them to his stash (which we haven't found yet). He took the rubber knob off of my OH's office chair. Then when we were remodeling the kitchen he took one of the sink gaskets.

Mimi is 12 and a tabby. Mimi loves to chew on plastic (that's why all my computer cords have protective plastic covers on them). I got my OH a small air compressor for Christmas several years ago. A couple of months later he decided to use it. When he turned it on, no air came out of the hose. Mimi had chewed holes in the entire air hose.

Daisy is 11 or 12 and is a Manx. A very spoiled princess and doesn't like to be held or picked up. Right now she is completely upset with OH and is giving him the silent treatment and the evil eye. All this for bringing home a new cat.

Bubbles is 3 and a Russian Blue mix. We got her from the humane society and she came from a hoarder. She's on a seefood diet. She eats everything in sight and tries to climb into the fridge when we open it. She has a URI and I've been treating it with antibotics. She doesn't like small spaces and doesn't like the cat carrier, so I have to drive with her in my lap or she sits by me in the truck. There's a vet who comes out to a couple of feed stores once a month to give shots. I took Bubbles yesterday and she didn't like being left out in the truck while I registered her for her shots. She pulled the dash mat off and when I started the truck, she had also turned on the turn signals and the windshield wipers.

Tina G.
Southern Michigan

Kathy

Bubbles is always trying to climb into the fridge. I remember once I opened the fridge and turned around and Daisy had crawled in and was sitting on a shelf. About a week ago, OH got out the treat bag and shook it, the next thing I saw was the cabinet opening up and Bubbles comes out. Cat and closets and cabinets are fun in my house. They also love to go into my sewing craft room. Once they got in there and Max was pulling the thread out of my serger. Once that happens with a serger, you have to redo every thread in the right order, in order for it to work right. Never a dull moment in my house. In fact, I've been up since about 4am. Max gets up and gets Bubbles going and she won't slow down for anything. She's constantly on the go.

Today there is a sold sign on his house so hopefully he wont be here much longer.

My dream is to move away to the country and open a huge rescue home.Animals everywhere.

Last spring, my dad unlocked the garage one morning and found a terrified mama cat inside that had apparently been hiding in there when he locked up the night before. In the bed of his truck there were 5 shivering little newborn kittens. Mama bolted for the hills and didn't come back, so my mom and sister took the kittens in and bottled fed them from day 1. Two of them died the first week (the vet said this is fairly common). My parents kept two of the remaining ones and one was given to a close friend.

My parents live in a rural area and a lot of pets get dumped there - people don't want or can't afford their cat/dog anymore, so they abandon it near a farm where they hope it will find a home. That was the case with our big boy, Jack. He showed up on my parents' porch one morning and refused to leave. He was completely terrified to be outside. He would jump (sometimes 6 feet up) onto the ledge outside the living room window and watch us. It took a month or so for my parents to cave and bring him into the house. Now he is a fat cat whose favorite thing in the world is to sleep on the couch, preferrably propped up on pillows. We truly believe that is what he wished for when he used to sit there staring through the window at us.

Sounds like your furry couch potato got your parents well-trained in a hurry. Love it.

The next morning when I got up and turned on the light, there was some pieces of foam padding on the bed. As I walked around the bed there was a gun magazine/clip laying on the floor. My OH had made a promptu protector for the clip and it was laying on his desk. Bubbles found it and carried the entire thing into the bedroom. Bubbles finds things and likes them, so she has to claim them as hers. My bedroom has become a playroom for her. She has toys scattered throughout the house. I picked them up and within hours there back out again.

She also had to run out the door Monday morning as we were leaving. Daughter ended up finding her out by the sheds.

Also, OH has been reroofing the house and he took Bubbles up on the roof with him. She loved it. He had taken Mau up there a few days before and he hated it, but Bubbles is just a strange cat.

She came walking through the house the other day with some electronic cables. OH has a tv device and she had the cables. I've told him several times that he can't keep anything like that or important papers laying around. Bubbles will find them.

Now I'm calling Max and Bubbles the Motley Two. Those two are after each other all the time and they're the only one's who start things in the morning to get feed at odd hours.

And by the way, thanks for putting up that delicious dessert recipe! I can't wait to sink my teeth into it.

Catherine

I was seriously thinking of doing fostering for cats for a no-kill place here in Tucson. After really thinking about it we decided that it wasn't for us. They give her all kinds of stray cats and they don't know what type of diseases that they have and they would have to be in one room in the house. That would never work in my house and I couldn't risk one of my cats getting sick, especially with the feline HIV that some cats carry.

That was the very day that we got Bubbles. The cat with unendless energy. Who's always finding things to steal. Nothing's safe in this house anymore. I have to hide the cleaning sponge under the sink now. She ran off with a piece of a video came console yesterday. All the cables and important slips of paper have to be hidden. She was just digging through my purse. I guess all these things are important treasures to her. My number one rule about cat toys in the bedroom, especially at night has gone out the door. There's no keeping them out. Toys are scattered throughout the house now.

Sissy is doing much better. I cleaned out the storage room the other day and of course she volunteered to assist. Her "assistance" meant that the job probably took at least an extra hour.

The foster group would also pay for food, litter and vet care. My SIL has about 5 cats for her own. I'm not sure how many other cats come around for food.

I get cat assistance all the time. We always need it when we open cabinets and closets. Changing sheets on the bed is the biggest chore. I'm always kicking cats off and then they just jump back on. Bubbles was upset the other day that she didn't get to assist the termite guy doing the annual inspection. I locked her in the bathroom to keep her from tripping the poor guy. She would've followed him around helping.

This morning she carried something into the kitchen and dropped it at my feet. I found out that it was a piece of kitty doo doo. Dumb cat is playing with things from the litter box. Doesn't she already have enough toys scattered throughout the house?

Now I have Mimi laying on her back on the heater vent. Bubbles also goes and tries to push her off the heater vent. It's not like it's the only one in the house. I go through the same thing with windows. When one cat is in the window, all the cats want that same window.

I love dogs absolutely love them but i just do not have the room and wouldnt trust my daughter not to irritate the dog. My grandad always told me when we retired to a ranch in the US he would buy me two of each animal. Would have been nice if we had made it. I would have another cat tomorrow if my husband would allow it.

Bubbles came walking through the house yesterday with a cough drop. She found 3 of them on OH's desk. They got tossed because there was cat slobber on the wrappers. When we went to bed, she got on his desk again and was knocking things off. I turned on the light and she had knocked a gun off, OH's glasses, his wallet and several other things. I keep telling him not to put things there. I put everything on the dresser and told him that he would be really upset if he got up and stepped on his glasses. Or that the gun went off. He told me that there was no bullet in the chamber.

Love the picture of Sissy on the computer monitor. I had to take my webcam off, because Bubbles decided that it belonged to her and she took off with it. Now it's hidden along with my pens and pencils and other cables. She also loves to stand in front of the monitor while I'm trying to type something. The other day, she decided that she wanted to step across the keyboard. It's been in the 80's here in Tucson. So, Bubbles and the rest of the gang can go out on the back porch. Bubbles doesn't care which cat is in front of her when I open the back door. She runs over the other cats to be out there first.

Bubbles is still the Klepto cat. She's gotten to where she's getting up on the dresser and taking things now. I had to put all my things in the drawer and had to put all of OH's things in a plastic container. She's always taking off with his permanent markers. I'm just afraid that she's going to get the cap off and write on the wall or the furniture. She somehow got the GE emblem off the microwave last night.. I saw her messing around with it, but then she came walking through the kitchen with it in her mouth. It's put away now. If I tried to put it back on, she would take it back off.

Yes, Bubbles the cat artist. I don't think OH would care for a cat artist. I don't know where she found this, but she just came walking through the house with some Ken or GI Joe vest.

I'm sure it was from some of Paige's Barbie's and Ken wardrobe. I thought we got rid of all of that stuff, but I guess Bubbles found some of it.

It seems like Bubbles only sleeps about 2 hours a day. She will take some mini catnaps during the day, but if she hears any noise, she's up to investigate. In fact, I have to go vaccuum the couch. She found a newspaper and she shredded it. She grabbed one of OH's receipts the other day and started shredding it. He then turned around and gave her a piece of paper that she could shred. He never listens when I tell him not to let her do that, because then she thinks she can and she will.

This morning I heard Mau howling outside. Then he, Mimi and Max came running in the house. I stepped out on the back porch and I saw a male Bobcat running off. Bubbles just set there watching him. Then later on I heard a cat growling and I saw Bubbles sitting on top of a box. Mimi had crawled in a box and Bubbles was holding the lid down.

Bubbles has been neglected this week. We've gone into town most of this week to run errands. She has to have her humans around all the time. We decided to take her up to get Subway's and she got her promised car ride. She loves to go for rides and loves to watch the people coming and going. She also wants them to come and pet her and talk to her. I'm seriously thinking about making her into a therapy animal. I've already e-mailed a couple of places, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. She loves to be around people.

Bubbles got into trouble the other day. Somehow she got the fan off of one of my Geisha's. This one is on a shelf in the kitchen, along with some Geisha plates. She had to have gotten on top of the cabinets like she usually does, but this time decided to explore the shelf. We caught her running through the house with the fan.

Then we went into town yesterday morning and when we got back the entire Geisha was hanging off the shelf. The only thing that saved her was her head was hung up on the overhang. That was the only thing that saved her. I did a lot of rearranging today and moved the Geisha's from that shelf and put them where I think Bubbles can't get to them. But knowing Bubbles, she'll find a way. I'm just glad that she wanted the fan and didn't break the plates.

I'll never forget one Thanksgiving when we were all relaxing in the living room after dinner and my grandma looked toward the kitchen and said, "That cat has a mouse in its mouth!" We were quick to brush it off without even looking and tell her, "No, no, grandma, it's just a toy," since we knew her eyesight wasn't that good and really, what were the chances it was a real mouse? But she said it again, so I decided to humor her and got up to check. I felt pretty silly a few seconds later when I was holding the cat by the collar and hollering for my dad to come dispose of the mouse!

Tori was saddened to have to let them go but understood that we are moving on, "to the next level" as Brendan told his father. I think that even though Eric hates to leave our country life behind, he knows it is for the best. And, doesn't hurt that Brendan, who will be turning 9, confirmed that in his quote. Our children will both be better here, where all three schools are in the top 700 in the USA.

I've promised Tori a new pet, perhaps a small dog or kitten when we build or buy a home here.

Goodbye, Simon and Schuster. We love you!

Stephanie Vogelsong
stephvogelsong@aol.com

Stephanie Vogelsong
stephvogelsong@aol.com

At the gate, as I was preparing to board, then, and only then, did JetBlue decide I had to have a collapsible pet carrier or they would not let me on the flight with the cat. They would sell me one for $60. I had to pay right then and transfer the cat if I wanted to return to the west coast on this flight.

I was absolutely furious. My daughter's welterweight cat weighs 24 pounds and I knew he would claw his way out of a nylon carrier in short order. Plus the fact, I should have been told about this when I booked his flight and asked if there were any restrictions. At the very least, the person who checked the cat and me in should have mentioned it.

I told them I would pay, since I had no option, but I demanded the contact information for their corporate headquarters. This seemed to make the ramp agent nervous. While I was stuffing the cat into the too-small nylon carrier, he huddled with another uniformed agent and then told me they would not charge me for the nylon carrier. I stalked on to the plane, stowed the plastic carrier in the overhead bin, and put the cat and the nylon carrier under the seat in front of me.

We had been airborne for about 45 minutes of a 5-hour flight when the inevitable happened. A blur of white fur exploded from the region of my feet, catapaulted past me and my startled seatmate, and gained the top of the seats. Hesitating for only a second, he launched himself into the air and scambled down the aisle, using the seatbacks and an occasional head or shoulder. It is fair to say that this created considerable pandemonium on board.

He was captured after only a couple of minutes. Most of the passengers were laughing and enjoying it. The flight crew seemed considerably less charmed, especially when, standing in the center aisle holding the captured feline, I explained that I had told the ramp agent that the cat would never stay in the nylon carrier. He completed his flight in his plastic carrier and is now safely at home with me, boarding until my daughter arrives in California.

I got a customer satisfaction survey from JetBlue. You get one guess as to what rating they got!