Stories of Obama, Bandit, Chicago, Scribbles and Rocky
by their Mom, beckya57
So we have 4 rescue cats. No, we didn’t plan to have 4.
They have an interesting family dynamic: Bandit (female), the oldest, is the mother, Chicago (female), the second oldest, is the older sister, and Scribbles (male, 2 yo) and Rocky Maine Coon (male, 6 months, who posts on Twitter as the Democat!) are the 2 naughty younger brothers who live to annoy Chicago.
We Started With Three…
We had 3 cats, and we were happy with them: Bandit, Chicago and Obama.
BANDIT
CHICAGO
OBAMA
Bandit is a Troublemaker!
Bandit was named that by my husband, due to her dark grey mask over her white face. It also turned out to be an accurate description of her character. She is a major troublemaker; for example, no roll of toilet paper is safe in her presence.
BANDIT GETS IN TROUBLEShe also, however is the oldest of the four, and periodically plays mother to the others.
Obama!
We got a ginger cat next, Obama (yes we’re moderate liberal Democrats), who was very friendly and lovable, as gingers usually are.
OBAMA
Chicago
Chicago came next. She is a tuxedo cat, very sweet, quieter than the others. My husband named her too; he thought her tuxedo coloring made her look like a Chicago jazz musician. I thought that was stretching it a bit, but Chicago is one of my favorite cities, so I didn’t mind. (Yes, it would’ve made more sense to have named the black tuxedo Obama, but whatever.). She is much more attached to my husband than to me (unlike the others), and loves to sit on his lap.
CHICAGO
We had these 3 for a couple of years, and they got along well and we enjoyed them, aside from periodically wanting to kill Bandit after one of her misdemeanors. However, Obama developed cancer and died at age nine.
Here comes Scribbles…
We were heartbroken, and I started scouring Petfinder for another ginger, which led us to Scribbles, our first kitten.
SCRIBBLESHe was named that by the Humane Society, and we decided we couldn’t improve on that. He’s a Manx, and has some weakness in his back legs. He compensates by putting his legs together and bounding around the house like a rabbit, which has led us to dub him the “cabbit.”
Surprise!
We were planning to stay with 3. However…
I went on a Mountaineers hike one day. (The Mountaineers are a Washington state outdoor activity club.). One of the other hikers started talking about some kittens she was fostering, who would be needing permanent homes. I was only half-listening, until she mentioned that one of them was half Maine Coon. I’ve always wanted a Maine Coon, so I told her I wanted that one, but would have to talk my husband into a fourth cat. I went home and talked to him, and while he was unenthused he also realized quickly he wasn’t going to win this argument, and so we acquired our fourth cat, Rocky Maine Coon (a pun on Rocky Raccoon from the Beatles’ song).
ROCKY RACCOON
…And Then There Were Four
So we now have the mother, Bandit, the goody two-shoes older sister, Chicago, and the rowdy two younger brothers, Scribbles and Rocky.
The latter two love to chase each other around the house, wrestle, and on occasion harass Chicago.
ROCKY and SCRIBBLES
ROCKY, SCRIBBLES and CHICAGO
Family Dynamics
Poor Chicago always gets upset, which of course only encourages them. In addition to mothering the other cats, Bandit goes through periods of deciding that my shoes are her kittens, and carries them in her mouth around the house.
Bandit has developed diabetes as she’s gotten older. She puts up with the indignity of twice daily insulin injections without too much fuss.
Scribbles is by far the most vocal of the group, and meows at me when he wants treats.
Rocky, aka Rocky Raccoon
Rocky is about eight months old now. For most cats that would mean he would be getting close to full grown, but I read in Wikipedia that Maine Coons keep growing until they’re about 4 years old, which is why they get so big. So far he’s a regular size cat, about 9 ½ lbs, but who knows where he’ll end up. If Rocky is any indication Maine Coon genes are very dominant, as he has classic MC looks, including the floofiest tail you’ve ever seen, which he carries aloft and proudly.
He is also very playful. His favorite game is “kitty handball,” which consists of him sticking his paws under the bathroom door when one of us is in there, in order to bat small balls and other toys back and forth with us. He also went through a period one of my brothers dubbed Dishwasher Fascination Syndrome, in which he would jump into the open dishwasher and carefully examine the contents; clean or dirty, he didn’t care. He only rarely does this now, which given his continued growth is probably just as well.
ROCKY INSPECTS THE DISHWASHER
Love, love, love.
As you readers can undoubtedly tell, we are hopelessly besotted by our crew, who manipulate us shamelessly and very successfully on a daily basis for attention, treats and anything else they want. They are a great deal of fun, and have been wonderful company during quarantine. I even got a T-shirt with avatars of each of them:
WHO DOESN’T HAVE A T-SHIRT OF THEIR CATS?
.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and that you get as much pleasure and love from your pets as we do from ours.
SOCIAL DISTANCING!
*****
If you think you might like to have your furry family featured here, please send an email to watergirl at balloon-juice.com. If you check out the banner picture for Furry Friends, you’ll see that we’re not limiting this series to cat and dogs! ~WaterGirl
Alison Rose
Precious and adorable. There’s no such thing as too many cats!!
I mean, unless you’re one of those hoarders with like 74. Otherwise, it’s all good. My kitty Zoe is definitely an “only cat” kind of cat, and I love her to bits (when she’s not driving me crazy with random yowling and crapping on the floor) but I do miss having multiple cats like I did when I was a kid. Today is actually Zoe’s 16th birthday, and I plan for her to live to be, oh….28 at least :P In the very far future once she has departed, I definitely want to adopt a bonded pair so I can have twice the snuggles and cuteness (and hairballs, yay).
germy
Mark Twain on cats:
A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.
A home without a cat — and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat — may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?
Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
germy
Four cats is not too many.
mad citizen
I really enjoyed reading this and looking at the pictures. My wife and me did a similar path to 4 cats: we had two, then adopted two from her son across the country when his pregnant wife said no cats with the baby (she just didn’t like the cats). The black female cat died a couple years after from cancer or something. Down to 3. Then just before Christmas a black male kitten was playing on our street when we came home, and we snatched him. He is 8 this year, but his 3 cat-mates have all passed on, so he is solo until the stray cat god gifts us more.
Enjoy your 4 cat years–plenty of entertainment! All the best.
JPL
What a sweet story and I love you T shirt.
We should chip in and have a shirt made for John.
Major Major Major Major
Omg, they’re all amazing, I would die for these cats
Tom Levenson
Rocky Maine Coon is one of the best cat names I’ve come across in a month of Sundays.
And he’s soooooooo cute.
(They all are.)
My son wants a kitten. A Maine Coon. I want a shelter or foster/rescue cat, and am unwilling (unable) to pay a breeder’s price in any event. Hope we find Rocky’s soul sib somewhere near Boston.
different-church-lady
I have only one hard rule: never let them outnumber you.
laura
@Major Major Major Major: Hey a gentle reminder- you’ve got a fog-pelted, snazzy bow tie wearing cat with a face that stole every heart that gazed upon him. But if four cats is the right number for becky57, it might be right for you too!
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: uh oh.
Spanky
Four cats is not too many.
We had 4 once, long ago. After the first two died we got a pair. Then after the other two died some years later we got 3. Then, after a horrible 10 month span through 2017 where we lost 3 to cancer, we got 3 again. So, still have 5, including a middle aged boy with urinary issues AND diabetes, my nymsake.
Five is not too many, but I think I can see Too Many from here
ETA to say: Where’s werebear to tell you that the solution to most cat problems is Moar Cats!
The Pale Scot
Is that a salt lamp? How Aughty of you!
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
cats have a way to fill ones heart
zhena gogolia
Wow, epic. I want to wallow in this post, but my university is keeping my nose to the grindstone, even on Saturday at the end of June. That’s the pandemic for you.
Villago Delenda Est
SQUEEE OVERLOAD!
rikyrah
You have a t-shirt with your ??? on it.
,????
They are adorable ?
Major Major Major Major
@laura: oh dear not with our square footage. Barely enough for Sam.
Major Major Major Major
@different-church-lady: the one I’ve heard is, no more cats than hands.
J R in WV
Fabulous post of photos and kitties !!!
We maxed out with 5 intentional cats, the last two were a pair of Maine Coons gifted to us. Then the pair of Maine Coons reproduced, at an age far younger than Vets and Coon experts told us was possible! Then there were nine!!
They were all great, The Coon pair were delightful, secure, loved a crowd back when we had frequent pot luck dinner parties. The other cats made themselves scarce, the two Maine Coons acted as if they were the host and hostess. This was long before there was a vaccination for feline leukemia, and we lost the whole batch to that dread Kitty Aids-like disease.
Now we have 2 cats, the same gradually increasing age, one pretends to be feral, lives outside 95% of the time, except at dinner time. The other goes outside when the weather is nice, briefly, and then insists it must be dinner time, when dinner is served to the critters after we eat in the evening.
We also have 3 dogs, an older white Lab mix at 75 pounds, and two 50 nearly 50 pound black puppies, tall and lean, almost like a greyhound. They’re a quarter great pyrenees from their father, who was half pyrenees and half lab, and half Aussie cattle dog from their mom. We’ve had the Black Puppies since late last summer, they were born on a goat dairy and grew up in the farm yard with all sorts of farm birds and, or course, many goats. Were never inside until delivered to us.
They adapted quickly to being house dogs, especially in the winter, although the girl loves to sleep outside under the eave of the back porch, even when it’s really cold and wet. She loves the smells that drift past from the deep wooded ridge behind the house.
Lately a small brown dog (WV brown dog is a type around here) has been hanging out with the black puppies, and as he was really skinny, I of the soft heart have been feeding him. He allowed me to touch him last night for the first time, a very skittish and probably mistreated pup. I plan to feed him with the black puppies, dog biscuits by hand, until I think he will take a flea and tick medication, to protect the black puppies from his parasites.
Don’t know if we’ll let him in the house, or take him to a shelter, he seems like sweet-natured and cute little guy, and the other dogs like him. But four dogs is a whole lot of dogs. What to do? What to do???
ETA: Neighbors have said, welcome to your new dog, JR!!! Maybe, we’ll see…
Yutsano
KITTEHS!!!
That is all. And four is definitely not too many.
peej01
The most I’ve ever had is 2 cats. I’m currently at 1…of course that one is a Tunch-sized ginger so he’s enough for right now.
WereBear
Love, love, love the cat t-shirts!
We had four. Now we have six :)
divF
Here is a song about a household with many cats.
Ang
Either I missed it or no one has asked the most important question.
Where did you get the shirt?!!
Timill
We have a hard and fast rule – no more than six cats at a time. Well, seven sometimes, because we also always take kittens in pairs when possible.
However, there is also that bit in First Law: “or, through inaction, allow a cat to come to harm”.
That would be why we currently have 18.
WaterGirl
@Timill: Holy cow-ski! Are they indoor or outdoor cats?
Joy in FL
I loved reading about your awesome and beautiful cats : )
Cermet
As long as they are strictly kept indoors; just saw a neighbor’s cat carry away one of my Chipmunks. Considering amerikan cats kill well over a billion animals every year, it is fucking irresponsible of owners to let them run free outdoors. Keeping cats is fine as long as they stay indoors! Otherwise, its mass murder of our wildlife – which is getting wiped out due to so many other factors this needless and irresponsible extra loss is criminal neglect on the same order as being a tRump voter
glc
I think the threshold for too many cats is when you are not sure how many you have (typically, 16 or 17).
ETA: I see Timill provides an exception to the last point.
TupeloPhoney
@Spanky: with dogs I found that the marginal additional work of having an extra dog was significant only with the odd-numbered dogs; the marginal additional hassle of any even-numbered dog was negligible. This principle held true, regardless of the dog’s size or temperment, up to and including Dog #5 (so named). We were afraid to test it with a dog #6, even though science told us that should have been no problem.
P.S. we didn’t really name our dog “#5”
Spanky
@TupeloPhoney: We DID name a cat “#5”, back when we lived in a much smaller house in a more urban area. We had 3 when another started hanging out. He was huge, so he got named Sumo. But he wasn’t ours, really. Then when another showed up we knew that naming him assumed a form of ownership, so #5 he was.
Sumo & #5 just disappeared one day. Since it was a college town and the end of spring semester, we tell ourselves the kids just took their cats home.
eddie blake
that’s a great story. what cute kids.
kindness
So cute.
WaterGirl
Big thanks to becky57 for sharing all her kitties and kitty stories with us!
I ?Rocky Raccoon.
beckya57
@The Pale Scot: yes it is!
beckya57
@Tom Levenson: I hope you do too. He is even cuter in person, er cat, and has the most winning personality.
beckya57
@zhena gogolia: I can relate, I work at a university too, and I have a summer class this year.
beckya57
@J R in WV: I’m sorry to hear about your kitties with FIV. We had a great cat years ago, Pirate, who struggled with that her whole life. She never let it slow her down, but we used to joke that our vet was going to build a new wing with the proceeds from her care. Also Great Pyrenees are awesome dogs.
beckya57
@Ang: Trendingcustom.com. Lots of great pet patterns that can be personalized with your pets.
beckya57
@J R in WV: oh just adopt him already you know you want to. ?
beckya57
@Timill: OMG ?
beckya57
@Joy in FL: awww thanks glad you liked them
beckya57
@Cermet: you’ll be glad to know that ours are always strictly indoors. We live in the middle of Tacoma, WA, near a busy street and a gully full of wild animals. No way our babies are going out in all that.
beckya57
@WaterGirl: thank you for all your help putting this together. I enjoyed doing it. They really are great.
WaterGirl
@beckya57: You are most welcome! It is fun pulling it all together.
Next week is still open if anyone wants to tell us about some or all of your pets. Come on, you know you want to! :-)
If you think you might like to have your furry family featured here, please send an email to watergirl at balloon-juice.com. If you check out the banner picture for Furry Friends, you’ll see that we’re not limiting this series to cat and dogs!
Timill
@WaterGirl: One is indoor-outdoor – the 17-year-old. The others are indoor only.
Yes, we have a big house :-)