One of my favorite things about Steve is how he acts like one of the dogs whenever someone comes to the door- they all run and greet the guest, and on at least five occasions someone (UPS, meter man, etc.) has walked in and said “Wow- is that a cat? Are you serious? He’s massive! That is some cat”That is some cat,” because it always reminds me of Wilbur and Charlotte.
At any rate, the lord and master on the top shelf of his cat tower. His winter mane continues to grow, and at this point, if it keeps growing, he may be able to schedule a guest appearance on Duck Dynasty his beard is so long. And I brush him every day!
You can really see his Tunchspot in the last one, and the colors look like he really looks for a change. The problem with him though is that after a few pictures, he gets bored, because he is so affectionate and just wants some loving:
*** Update ***
I forgot the best thing. He comes when I call. I’ll be lying in bed with Lily in the armpit and Rosie on the hip and think I haven’t seen him in a while and won’t be able to sleep until I have proof of life, so I yell out “Steve! Steve! Here kitty, kitty, kitty. C’mere Steve.” and nine times out of ten he comes running, jumps into bed, and falls asleep with his butt and hindquarters on the bed and his front paws, torso, and face on my arm/shoulder right next to me.
Such a find. Why are all these awesome animals in shelters. Why are there people who have no pets?
Just Some Fuckhead
He’s starting to look a little like Chris Christie.
Liquid
“Stunning news from Michigan, as former President Gerald Ford was chopped into little bits by the propeller of a commuter plane.”
srv
You like fat Republicans and fat cats. But Steve is not amused.
trollhattan
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Admittedly, he did intentionally block the critical mustard flow through the front door.
Little Boots
cats are awesome.
srv
Republicans can’t get their messaging quite correct:
Obama lurvs the Waltons more than Republicans do and hates the unemployed.
Amir Khalid
Who could hate such a handsome boy? (I mean Steve.)
Roger Moore
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Yeah, but unlike Christie, Steve is just fluffy.
Violet
His eyes are amazing.
trollhattan
@srv:
Wow, that’s self-self-cancelling-cancelling squared. Sure it’s not parody?
Narcissus
How does he feel about Jim Crow
Yatsuno
@srv: Uhhh…I’m giving that an lolwut?
JimV
Great pictures. Someone, I think it was Andrew Sullivan, recently linked to an article on cats with some interesting information. Such as, they are not really domesticated like dogs are, so their behavior with humans is mainly based on their instincts for dealing with other cats. That is, they consider us as big cats. Also, when they bring dead rodents and birds home they are not meant as presents. They take them to a safe place to eat them, but after one bite they realize that cat food tastes much better and leave them. Of course these are generalizations which may not be true in all cases.
Pet stories are my favorite posts on this blog. A strict diet of political posts would be too depressing, given the world we live in.
Roger Moore
@Narcissus:
Tasty, when you can catch him.
trollhattan
Settling in with last night’s “Justified.” Maybe I’ll spot Steve..or a pasture-bound Subaru.
R.I.P. Elmore Leonard
Joseph Nobles
@trollhattan: They don’t have Luntz to write code for “The spics are coming for your jobs, you fucking rednecks” anymore.
Alison
@JimV: Sounds like it might’ve been the article about this book http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Sense-Feline-Science-Better/dp/0465031013/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389246871&sr=8-1&keywords=cat+sense which I recently read and enjoyed :) Cat lady in full effect!
Roger Moore
@JimV:
Which is the kind of nonsense you’d expect to hear from somebody who likes dogs and knows nothing about cats. They are actually quite thoroughly domesticated. Their body type hasn’t been modified as drastically as most dog breeds- though Persian, Munchkin, and Sphinx show how far people have gone in breeding for odd body types- but their behavior has undergone a lot of changes. Domestic cats don’t act like their wild ancestors do, and all those changes have been made in ways that make them better suited for living in close quarters with humans and other cats. Suggesting that they aren’t truly domesticated is just silly.
MomSense
I never get tired of Steve pics so keep posting them!
Alexandra
Top floor tiny apartment in the centre of the city. Love cats, have had them in the past, but living here I feel it would be cruel and inhumane to keep one cooped up indoors in a restricted space, especially if I’m out all day. Besides, don’t want to have to deal with litter trays in my hall or elsewhere.
A friend said I should get a bird… but not much opportunity for cuddles there.
muricafukyea
What…no love letter defence of your buddy Fat Bastard Christie? Can always count on wr0ng way Cole to go the wrong way. Being a former 2 time Bush voter it is obviously in his DNA and nothing outside of his skin is going to change that.
Gex
All my cats have come to me when I call.* Steve reminds me so much of my Maine Coon, Simon. It’s like looking at my boy when I look at these pictures. Steve has a better mane though.
*With the occasional “fuck you, I’m not coming when you call” responses to let me know who is really in charge.
coin operated
Because some of us are too busy (I travel for a living) and realize it’s not fair to the pet. Can’t tell you how torqued I get when I see people buy/acquire a pet then ignore it because they’re too fucking busy, and I see this shit *all the time*.
I so wish I could have a Maine Coon again. Steve looks just like Fredo, a Maine Coon I had that passed away a few years back. He was the most awesome pet I’d ever owned.
*Edit…who ever owned me…
Violet
@Roger Moore: Cats may be domesticated but Tom Levenson’s kitty looks like Bagheera the black panther from the “Jungle Book”.
jl
@Roger Moore: Speaking about domestication, tonight’s Steve pics inspired me to do a little reading on Maine Coon cats, and I wandered to this interesting article on an experiment that resulted in domesticated foxes. The article is not precise on number of generations it took, but looks like after 50 years, about 80 to 90 percent of the offspring are tame enough to be classed as domesticated.
Domesticated silver fox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox
Roger Moore
Because they live in apartments with no pet policies. That was the thing that kept me from getting one.
Anne Laurie
@JimV:
Sometimes they just wanna brag (same as human hunters). Our cat Kishkan, a seven-pound version of
MungoSteve, was a serial murderer of field voles and baby bunnies, whose corpses she usually abandoned on the back stoop (to scare the dogs, AFAICT). Once fine summer afternoon I heard her yowling horribly through the screen door, and rushed out, sure that she’d sustained some horrible injury… and nearly stepped on a dead chipmunk. Chipmunks are really hard to catch, being as they’re fast & smart & chippy. Kishkan was sitting there purring, with a kitty smirk on her face, demanding that I admire her prowess.Amir Khalid
@Gex:
Cats also expect humans to come when called, unlike dogs who come to their humans to summon them.
Violet
@Roger Moore: Someone in the family may also be allergic. Work/travel schedules that keep people away from home a lot also are a problem. Not everyone lives in Mayberry where mom and dad are a few doors down and the vet is a good friend.
Comrade Mary
Ahhh. Brown tabby, nicely lit. I, for one, welcome my furry polydactyl overlord.
But that bit about you calling “Steve!” until he shows up had me thinking of this, of course.
(From this wonderful series on the Beeb.)
jl
Not sure I should ruin feel good pet mood with the Christie Affair, but TPM has a round-up and summary of the texts and emails. Quite a list of people who duped poor Christie and were totally in the know on the GW Bridgejam fun in real time and laughing about it: his two appointees to the Port Authority, his deputy chief of staff, his press secretary, and his campaign manager.
Big Trouble, Part Two
Josh Marshall
” The emails do not suggest a bad apple each at Port Authority and the Governor’s office up to no good. This is a range of Christie staffers and appointees sitting back observing and chuckling as a big multi-day traffic snarl unfolds. ”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/big-trouble-part-two
moderateindy
Love this article from Huffpost titled: Sorry, But Your Cat Is Actually A Total Jerk. It’s Just Science.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/cats-facts-jerks_n_4520552.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
That li’l face is so adorable! Reminds me of my Himalayan, named Barnaby. That same, super-sweet kittenesque visage that he never grew out of, unlike a lot of other kittehs (sorta) do.
I just pulled up the Google News page, and Christie is all the hell over it. Huzzah! Reminds me of Paulie in “Goodfellas,” i.e., “Paulie didn’t move fast, but then, he never had to.” And of course Paulie never, ever took or placed a phone call from his home — he always sent someone else to do take/place the messages.* So while Christie’s fingerprints may never appear on this traffic matter, there’s always a chance some Henry Hill will implicate him to save his own hide.
*Hell, GWB practically bragged about not having a personal email address while in the White House, ’cause he didn’t want someone else “reading my stuff.”
Amir Khalid
@jl:
Somebody needs to put it right to him: “Governor, either your people are out of your control, which makes you look bad, or you yourself are out of control along with them. Which is it?”
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
So I took Charlotte in for her vet appointment today and her kitten heart murmur has not gone away on its own (which is common), so now she may need an ultrasound to figure out what’s going on. It doesn’t help that the Internet tells me that cat heart murmurs range from, “meh, check it at every vet visit and keep an eye on her” to “holy fuck, how is this cat still alive?!” I’m guessing it’s more the first one than the second since she’s energetic to a fault and slightly overweight, but I worry.
Though if they have to shave her to do the ultrasound, it may have to wait for spring. She’s already complaining about being chilly and we’re in So Cal.
PaulB
In addition to those who can’t, because of living space, travel, and the like, some of us are just better suited to be pet “uncles,” who happily fawn over the pets of our friends, neighbors, and relatives, and just as happily return to a home without pets. And then we assuage our guilt by contributing to our local shelter or rescue group.
jl
@Amir Khalid: Maybe Christie couldn’t do a thorough investigation of his staff because all of then were in on it except him. Oh, the humanity! Or, there was too much giggling in the hallways and people couldn’t hear well. I dunno.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): c’mon Charlotte!
ruemara
Some of us can’t keep a kitten in the style they so richly deserve. So we eye snuggle Steve.
Narcissus
I’m allergic to most living things or else I’d have a pet
TriassicSands
@Roger Moore:
And according to researchers, cats domesticated themselves, as opposed to being forced into human contact.
sm*t cl*de
Also, when they bring dead rodents and birds home they are not meant as presents.
That is how they train the kittens to hunt & kill. “Here, my babies, practice the killing spine-breaking bite. Toss it in the air so you can practice catching it. Awaken your psychopathic instincts.”
Cats realise that despite our size, and our capabilities in many important can-opener-related ways, we cannot catch small animals. We are large but incompetent kittens and they want to teach us life skills.
furklempt
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
fwiw, I have a cat with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which, from most of my research at the time he was diagnosed, is a common cause of heart murmur. He had an ultrasound to confirm–they only shave a teeny patch and Nigel is so fluffy it was unfindable–is on daily atenolol and twice weekly aspirin therapy with an initial follow up ultrasound at 6 months, to make sure meds were working. He will require yearly ultrasounds but, other than that, it’s no big deal. I mean, it’s a big deal in the sense that it exposes him to elevated risk for clotting and stroke and of course nobody wants a too-thick heart, but from a maintenance and prognosis perspective, it’s reasonably benign as far as chronic disease goes. So here’s to hoping it’s something like that or, better yet, something like my mom’s cat who has had a truly benign heart murmur for all of her 17 years.
Greg Schisla
Steve and Miss Molly would make a great couple.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202580999476872&set=pb.1553188197.-2207520000.1389266370.&type=3&theater
Luci
Wow! Steve is a massively gorgeous kitty… and he listens to boot! I have one that will come when called too. She is likely a bit insecure, having lived for a good year or two outdoors on a farm being chased by more aggressive cats. She had taken to living under a pickup, and that is why she is with me. The owner asked me to take her and assimilate her. Fluffy is a lovely gray and white floofy cat, and she is sweet and friendly and is doing fine with me. When I call for her, she will come to me for petting. I’m not sure she’s really that obedient though… I think she craves the attention and knows I’ll give it to her.
kindness
Damn. Is it Maine Coon or Mane Coon? That boy has a lion’s mane.
Sherparick
I was waiting for this thread. Someone mentioned the story in Time on John Bradshaw’s new book on cats and their mental life. I think this is perfect about Steve’s view of John:
“So next time you call your cat your “baby” or chide it for being annoying, just remember—it thinks of you as a fairly pleasant roommate that just happens to be freakishly large for reasons it can’t comprehend.”
Read more: Why Do Cats Knead? Your Cat Thinks You’re a Giant Cat Says Cat Sense | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/07/actually-your-cat-thinks-you-are-a-giant-cat/#ixzz2pu7yf6E6
The dogs of course think both John and Steve are just two slightly unusual members of the pack, but who are definitely the alphas.
WereBear
@JimV: Andrew Sullivan is about as right as he gets, which is 10%
For instance, James Bond will leave fake mice on the bed. Never toys, but things that look like “food”? He will leave them there for us. He’s “feeding” us, but on the other hand, Mr WereBear once turned the joke back on him and pretended to eat them. James was horrified, and gave me a look which said, “What’s wrong with him? Doesn’t he know they aren’t real?”
A humane organization did a study on how cats wound up in shelters:
Cats without a home
Bottom line, it was very rarely the “cat’s fault.” Yet, the biggest fear people share with me? “Oh, I can’t get a cat from a shelter. That was someone else’s problem they dumped there.”
C.V. Danes
I’ve found Maine Coons to be very dog-like, which I suppose is one of the reasons I like them :-)
WereBear
@Alexandra: You could get a Gamma cat with a Litter Robot and go vertical with a cat tree. Honestly, you could have two cats in that kind of space.
We have a small apartment (how small? We have to have a full size bed because nothing else fits) and we have four cats. Mind you, I’m a nut with a tolerant landlord, two Robots, and a husband who has joined the Borg.
But then, I have never lived voluntarily without a pet of some kind for very long, so I’ll adjust madly to get one.
Cervantes
Pets take time (and money). Those who do not have the time (or money) should not keep a pet.
Lex
@srv: Brilliant!
Lex
@JimV: I’ve always thought that cats bring us their fresh kill because they think we’re too dumb to hunt on our own.
Starfish
We do not have pets because we have allergies or do not want to clean up the cat puke all the time.
Lex
@Amir Khalid: That’s supposed to be the press secretary’s job, if he/she has half a brain. Oops.
kc
Steve is a beauty.
Trinity
Steve is so much awesome. We rescued two maine coon mix kittens last September. They are the biggest little lovers EVER. And they both come when we call!
So much goodness. Makes me wish I was at home at the bottom of a purr-pile.
eyelessgame
Sadly, because when I share a house with a dog or cat, I cannot breathe. I love dogs and cats dearly – but I cannot care for them.
fidelio
Much as I love my own cats, I must admit there are times when they can become quite annoying. There was the slap fight that bounced off the outside of the bathtub last night while I was soaking, and the spirited debate among the food dishes at 3AM this morning,…
Then there are the times they feel compelled to utter editorial comments, like this specimen Charles Stross shared with the world, who is probably responding to Andrew Sullivan’s inanities.
kindness
@eyelessgame: Breathing…Isn’t that optional?
Steve S
My actual name being Steve Story, the headline stunned me for a second.
gogol's wife
Very late to the party, but I’m not a hater, I’m a lover. I only wish I stayed up all night to see these posts when they arrive. Keep the Steve pics coming!
Mnemosyne
@furklempt:
Thanks for the info! Charlotte is otherwise pretty healthy (except for being slightly overweight — the vet wants her to lose 1 or 2 pounds) and isn’t showing any of the scary signs like being lethargic, so we’re hoping it will be more in the “keep an eye on her” category.
J R in WV
@Roger Moore:
They are way different from dogs, though. They have independence and attitude, like hill country people, while dogs are desperate for attention 24/7, cats accept attention as their due.
They can be amazingly like dogs, in a good way.
We used to have a really big white/orange cat who just moved in one day. A guy came to fix the washing machine, and when he opened the door, Ralph (so named because that was his common sound he would make) Ralph just walked in like it was his house.
When we showed up, he was there, in charge. Nearly 20 lbs, and self-assured to a fair-thee-well!
He never met a dog he wasn’t willing to get along with, if the dog was willing to leave him the F’ alone.
Once we took him and another critter to the vet’s, and when we took the first critter in, we just left Ralph on his chair. The Vet was like, “What?” and we said no sweat, he’ll wait there for his turn.
After Frito, the first critter, was done, we opened the exam room door, and said “Ralph, come on, it’s your turn.” and he hopped down and walked into the exam room. The Vet was astounded. “I’ve never seen anything like that!” he said.
One fine summer day Bernice (neighbor Norwegian Elkhound) was visiting Muffin, and they were doing typical doggy play fighting in the front yard. I was on the porch with Ralph when Muffin, a little stray who had a bad right hip, squealed a little as Bernice got too rough.
Ralph was all “No neighbor dog is gonna hurt MY dog!” and jumped off the porch onto Bernice’s back, all claws extended! Bernice squirted out from the scrum and jumped a few yards away. Ralph rose up on his back legs, stretched out his front legs with all claws fully extended, and screamed in cat, “You are doomed, dog!” ARRRRRGGGGHHHH was what he said, but we all knew what he said.
Bernice ran like she was scalded, and NEVER came back to our house. Muffin missed her, and I would walk her up to Paul and MA’s so she could play with Bernice. Sometimes Ralph would walk with us, and he would keep his distance from Bernice when we were at her house.
He also cornered a Great Dane once, same act, like an attack cat, I had to convince him to let the big guy out of the corner w/o any pain or suffering. Easier said than done, too.
He was a wonderful friend, who I will always miss. We’ve had 2 generations of cats since Ralph passed to the cat heaven we know they go to.
One was very like Ralph, white and red/orange, adopted me at the neighborhood gas station/hardware store one morning, not quite as big, but just as self-assured and wonderful. I called him Rufus, for his red head. When Rufus got old and thin, he began to climb into bed with us, and after I fell asleep he would curl up around the top of my head, to stay warmer than my lap would keep him…
Cats are true friends, once they decide you are worthy of their love and affection. So are dogs, of course, but today I’m talking about my cats.
LiberalTarian
That fat could not look more stoned. Dude.