From commentor John Smallberries:
This is Fuzzy Cat, or Fuzzy Grumbles, depending on the mood she is in. She is one of four salvage cats we have – one was left on my wife’s front porch in a box as an undersized kitten, one came from the humane society as a kitten, and one was adopted from the sons of a good friend of my wife after he died unexpectedly.
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As for Fuzzy, we took her in when she was around 10 years old, nobody knows for sure. She had been abandoned by people on our street when they moved, and became rather feral. At first, she was feeding from the porch of a family with two cats who left dry food out, but when we started remodeling our house, we got her to come over and eat in the back yard while we were feeding a couple of strays that we had adopted. The other two were, unfortunately, run over but Fuzzy, who is very very smart, was way too careful.
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As she slowly got to know and trust us, feeding went from “drop the bowl and get 25 feet away” to “put it down, I will come over and you will back off” to “you can pet me while I am eating but I will show displeasure” to the point where after we got the house closed in but before we moved back she would come in, eat inside, and deign to spend the night sleeping on our bed. Yes, for a period of about two months, we remodeled the house for a stray.
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Now, she comes running up when one of us drives up to say hello, tail in the air and all rubby against the legs, has taken to begging for pieces of chicken, sleeps on my wife’s lap in the front porch, and spends the night either on the rug in front of the stove or under the dresser in the bedroom. She still grumbles and growls, and only will allow a limited amount of petting, but has remembered how to purr. At meal times,, she becomes very excited, and there is usually a bit of agitation with a lot of paw waving between her any my siamese, the Humane Society cat who my wife has designated a kleptoparasite that tries to eat out of all the food bowls. When she is begging for a piece of chicken or turkey she comes in, sits by the refrigerator and gives you the look she has in the photo. She chases a laser beam like no other cat we have.
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She has a territory that includes the our front porch, the neighbors rose bushes, and the front porch and landscaping of the lady across the street. Wanda says our two houses are the Bed and Breakfast for Fuzz – she sleeps on Wanda’s porch (bed) and eats over at our place (breakfast). She has lived with us for about 5 years now and can be a real pill, but a real sweetheart too, and we love her just like the others.
Alwhite
what a beautiful cat!
brendancalling
that sounds a lot like Pussy Wussy, who my mom essentially rehabilitated from a disgusting smelly stray with a hairclump the size of a tumor in its back to a friendly, loving, and oh-so-lazy kitty that liked to fall asleep in front of their woodstove.
Pussy Wussy never really learned to meow (I don’t know how it survived outside as long as it did) and instead made a grating noise not unlike a cement mixer when it wanted to communicate with the humans.
Linda Featheringill
Because it is an open thread:
I contacted the Southern Poverty Law people about the uproar over the Cardoba Community Center. They responded with a couple of links to what they have said about the subject:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/08/04/religious-freedom-at-stake-in-ground-zero-controversy/
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/how-my-muslim-students-made-me-better-person
I am working and don’t have time to check them out right now but I suspect that SPL folks can write well and these might be worth a read.
And yes, lovely kitty. I have found some real beauties abandoned by folks who were foolish enough to let them go. Silly people. They don’t deserve the lush, sensual luxury of having a beautiful kitty [or more than one] living in your humble abode.
bemused
Pretty kitty. I love fluffy cats and she’s packing a lot of hair. I wonder how well she tolerates combing. We had a long haired cat that adored being combed. She would come running when she saw I had her comb in my hand.
Jenn
What a beauty — thanks for sharing! :-)
And Linda, thanks for the links!
Alwhite
at the risk of opening old wounds – you really need to read Greg Sargent today (link on the right). I know why he is paid to write & I am not:
Violet
What a gorgeous kitty! I love the image of the house being remodeled just for the cat. Gave me a chuckle.
Annie
She is awesome, and this is a great story. I just can’t get beyond the fact that someone would abandon a cat when they move…How do they ever live with themselves in their new place?
WereBear
@Annie: The ability to do that in the first place gives them the ability to not think about it after.
asiangrrlMN
Gorgeous cat. Great story. Much needed.
@Annie: Agreed. At least take the animal to a shelter.
@Linda Featheringill: Thanks for the links. They look good.
@WereBear: Didn’t think of that. So true.
John Smallberries
@bemused: You can’t brush her, but she does a remarkably good job of keeping the hair smooth and barfs up very few hairballs. Much fewer than one of the tabbies.
We will never understand why she was abandoned.
WereBear
Well, she’s gorgeous. And a tortoiseshell. A dilute tortoiseshell, which is rather rare.
They are almost always female, because it’s a sex linked color pattern. And they are always, always, divas, because they have so much attitude it has a name, in cat circles.
Tortitude.
CatStaff
@WereBear: WereBear, you beat me to it. I was just going to comment on the fact that she is a tortie, and therefore required to have attitude. Another term for these beauties is “tortilicious.” And she certainly is.
WereBear
@CatStaff: Yep, our latest kitten rescue was a handful of skin and bones a year ago. Dilute tortoiseshell.
But within an hour of coming home, I warned Mr WereBear; “She’s going to boss us all, you know.”
And she does. Especially Mr WereBear.
CatStaff
@WereBear: Well, she’s gorgeous! I just love torties. I had a tiny split-face Siamese tortie named Sheeba, who I adopted when she was 15 (along with her BFF Eliot, a big old lynx point Siamese, and the most affable cat you’d ever meet). She ruled the place with a velvet paw, and I still miss her.