The Catslife Crew

The Catslife Crew

In order of appearance:

 Merlot: He wandered into my yard at about 6 months old, the most friendly and sociable of all the cats I’ve known. I was taking him for walks before it was a thing, using a cat string (originally developed for ferrets) which was super light and he never minded having it on. We walked every morning for almost all of his 20+ year life.

He had some skin issues possibly caused by fleas. After giving him a popular vet-recommended flea drop which caused big patches of his hair to fall out I started down the path of alternative remedies. Took a few years to get the growth back to normal after that.

Luna & Juno – The Twins:
 Juno: A very happy cat, he caught my eye at a pet rescue as the perfect friend for Merlot due to his jumping vertically in the air, like a bouncing ball. I was right about him being the perfect friend for Merlot, they became bonded buddies.

He was a small guy with a loud voice. He also had some kind of fear induced attack mode which could be triggered by unusual noise. It was very scary seeing this small cute cat turn into a tasmanian devil cat with barred teeth and extended claws in full attack mode. After the traditional vet prescribed prozac which turned him into a limp washrag of his former self I found an alternative vet. He gave me a tincture which I gave to Juno everyday and while on it he had none of the aggressive behavior. I tried to wean him off of it a couple times and the behavior came back. Then after three years, suddenly he had no more issues when I took him off it.
Luna was a beautiful Russian Blue with furrows on his head. He was a very affectionate and security loving cat, and possessive of me. When I found Juno I was only going to take one cat, but Luna was his brother and the pet rescuers didn’t want to separate them.
So, what’s one more cat? Grey cats have always been a thing for me, and Luna lived up to his aura. He was the first cat to pass on, younger than any of my other cats.

Bowie-Mischief: Part of a crew of 6 stray cats that were left to their owns devises when the person who had been feeding them moved, Mischief was about 6 months old, scrawny with big ears, and super playful. The other 5 cats were big boys and she was a tough alley cat girl, yet she was the one who was smart enough to break into my house via the window A/C unit (took me a week to figure out how she did that).

Now she’s a well fed, healthy and feels that one human is more than enough for her. She owns the house but refuses to give up her alley cat ways.

Jonsey was the ultimate alley cat. He lived in the rafters of the garage, the high limbs of the trees, the rooftops, and many places that I never found. He came with the same crew that Bowie came with bur remained elusive for the first 10 or so years despite the food : ). Then one morning I heard a loud yowl in the alley and ran out to see Jonsey running one way and a coyote running the other way. I found Jonsey hiding on the top of the fence, with a large scratch on his neck so a close call it was!. Somehow, after that day he became my new best friend, letting me pet him and eventually sitting on my lap, and enjoying all kinds of pets and combs. He would have happily lived on my lap.

I had no idea such a wild cat could ever become a big old fur baby but  for the last three years of his life he had all his dreams fulfilled. He did find Bowies cat door and would come in the house occasionally but he never felt comfortable there for very long.

Bios coming soon –
The Alley Cats:
Serena Athena
HK – Hissy/Hep/Hangry Kat
Gone but not forgotten:
Big Sur
Cabbie
Cleo
Harrison