How I met my Angels

Moin friends, is´s been some since our latest guest blogpost here. Me is very happy to welcome my twitter friend InokumaT here ( I am still tempted to call her Lani) . She send me her adoption stories, lovely pics ( and some more;). It is no easy-to-read story, since 2 of her lovely cats already went over the bridge .

(WordPress seems to have has some problems with a lot of our loved twitter emo chars, so i had to edit the draft; if i get any good tips/advice, i can change that with an updated blogpost.)

Please read her story!

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How I met my Angels ❤

Brownie

Brownie 1

I met Brownie on December 1, 2009 when I first moved to Kapolei. She moved in with her owners next door the same day. She was previously abandoned kitty. Brownie used to love hanging out in my back patio. She only went home to eat. She didn’t like loud noises so I let her in during the day. Her owners didn’t mind at least they knew she was safe and always knew where she was. She was very friendly and bonded with my parents and me. Later her owners moved and asked me if I would like to keep Brownie because they couldn’t take her with them. Brownie became a permanent member of our family.

Brownie 2

She was good company for my dad. She used to watch TV with him along with Jamie the turtle  and take afternoon naps with him. When she became a permanent member of our family she stayed indoors most of the time. Only going out front for a couple of hours. She slept with me in my bedroom. She eventually took over my bed so I slept on the floor:) She would wait for me to get home from work and greet me at the door or my mom would let her out and she would greet me at my car. She was a loyal companion and an excellent gecko hunter. She would bring home birds and geckos and make them her pets. Brownie passed away on August 29, 2014 of Cardiomyopathy 😦 . She would have been 6 on September 29 2015.

Rest in peace
Brownie

Kamalani aka Lani

I met Kamalani on October 11, 2014. After Brownie passed away, I wasn’t sure if I would get another kitty. My friend who is a reserve police officer and is on the board of directors at Honolulu Community College stopped by to see me at work. He also takes care of a feral cat colony at the college. He left and a little while later he called and said he had a kitten he wanted me to see. I looked inside the carrier and saw this tiny little kitten. She was so cute ❤ . She let me give her head rubs and that’s when I fell in love with her.

Lani 1

My friend told me he stopped by the local humane society and ran into the security guard from the college. He said he found a kitten by the cars and caught her and brought her to the HHS. He asked my friend if he wanted the kitten. My friend thought of me and called me. I think Brownie led him to the HHS that day. My friend lives in the opposite direction and wasn’t going that way when he left my work place earlier. I brought Lani home that evening.  She was about 4 weeks old. She was very tiny and cute. She was friendly but shy.

Lani 3

It took about 12 days before she finally crawled on top of me. She was very fiesty and had a lot of energy. Like Brownie she was an excellent gecko hunter 🙂 . She also was a loyal companion. She loved to wrestle. She also slept in my bed at night:blush: She remained smaller than Brownie by the time she turned 1.

Lani 4

Rest in peace, Lani

Sadly she passed away on September 28, 2015, only Days after turning 1.

Kolohe

The first time I saw Kolohe was on October 31, 2015. Another friend, whose wife and coworkers look after a feral cat colony behind their place of work told me, that there were 3 kittens there. They looked so cute. On the night of November 5 he texted me saying that one of the kittens had been caught. He didn’t know which one had been caught and was on its way to get fixed. I asked my angels to give me a sign if this was the kitty for me.Later that night a photo of Brownie that is in the hallway fell off the wall and landed by my bedroom several feet away from where it was on the wall. When I heard the noise, I got up to see what it was and found the picture right side up and Brownie looking at me.

Kolohe transport box

I figured that was a sign from my angels that this was the kitty for me. My friend called and I told him I would take the kitten. Didn’t know yet if it was a boy or girl. His wife went to work early to get Kolohe before he was to be released back to his colony. I picked him up from my friend.
I brought him home on November 6, 2015 :-). I took a picture of him in the borrowed carrier. Didn’t know the flash was on and he was upset. When I looked through the vent hole, he was looking at me with one eye and said softly grrrr:smile: I thought that was cute:smile: .

Kolohe 1

The first night he meowed all night. Thought he was missing his mommy and siblings. The second night I figured out that he just wanted to sleep with me. So I made my bed and slept on the floor for several weeks until he could jump up on the bed. Like Lani he loves to wrestle:smile: But not as rough as Lani. He loves to do zoomies all over the place and outside in the patio where I now live in Waipio Gentry. He adjusted right away and has bonded with my mom and Jamie the turtle. He will get his first checkup, shots and microchipped on January 11. Found a new vet who only does cats:smiley_cat: Kolohe was born in September just like Brownie and Lani ❤ .

Kolohe 6

Kolohe 4

(copyright all pics – as usual – in this blogpost by InokumaT , all her photos here used with her permission, please respect this! )

Your Hugo

 

cat photography #1 a start

One of our long deferred plans .. let´s write some words about cat photography. In our daily twitter “life” we often get asked about this topic, about experience and some ideas, tricks, tips, some technical details, equipment and more .. (there a hundreds of details to write about). Your first thoughts should always be your cat models, they are often not easy to shoot, they have different moods, they like to move unexpected, so it can become tricky. Sometimes an occasional snapshot is ok . Some ideas here:

Your cat should be fine, healthy, relaxed or playful for a shot or photo session (and u should be relaxed too). We learned NOT to photograph shy, anxious cats or cats, who are ill (with very few exceptions).

Actually your start then is quite simple:

#1 get a camera, find (better have) a cat,  then #JustDoIt 😻🐾

Xmas Hugo 2015

Maybe we should start with some absolutely basics, remarks and what we call “rules of thumbs”. Rules of thumbs means, you can apply the rule 90-99,9% of the time you try to get a good pic, after several 100s or 1000s shots you can try to start breaking the rules:

Bunny paw Hugo

#2 u need a camera device ( from smartphone, tablets .. up to high end DSLR equip). For the start

let´s talk about smartphones, the most common device, more below)

#3 light is your friend

#4 forget flash

#5 try to get focus right

#6 best camera? the one u have with you ready at your fingertips/paws

Shelter cat end of 2016
#foreverhome now

About 3 years ago, Hugodad started his regular shelter visits and shooting lots of cats photos ( of Lady Minky, me and a to of other cats in the shelter, actually the number is several x ten thousands, so we think we write about some experiences from it (Equipment used see below).

#1 just start taking pictures of your cat(s), u will get better and more experienced with time (and you will hopefully learn, where and why u “failed” or are not happy with the results). We wanted to start with #2 (see above) smartphones and will talk about pro/contras and some limits of what you can do and expect.

Nisha shelter cat
still waiting for a
foreverhome

“#3 light is your friend”

Smartphones became quite good as cameras during the last years and many people use them as (the only) camera today. Many smartphones ( and even larger cameras) often have problems with getting a good shot in low light conditions, pictures often can get “noisy” / bad photo quality and often getting a good sharp focus can also be tricky. Best solution (if possible) is try to get more light for your cat models (without switching on flash on your camera smartphone) see #4 .

 #4 forget flash

Using Flash to get more light with a flash can be a possible (last IMHO) solution to get a photo, but very often photos are not satisfying (flat look, zombie eyes etc ..). Some cats are also afraid or shocked if u use a flash, so we do not like using flash for cat photography. RTFM or online help, how to switch off flash.

#5 try to get focus right/sharp

We often see blurred (out of focus) pictures, because the smartphone “decided” to do an out of focus shot. Please do not confuse this with a blurred picture from your cat moving too fast, this is/can be a different problem. setting the focus on the iPhone here is just a finger tap to set the focus point. For cat photography there is one simple rule: try to get the focus on the cats eye(s) (for longer distances the nose will work too). RTFM or online help, how to set the focus (if possible) on your smartphone.

black shelter cat
needs forever home too

#6 don´t ask about “the best camera”!

the one u have with you ready at your fingertips/paws is best, an expensive DSLR at home won´t help you, if you want to get a shot right now (one of the greatest smartphone advantages). Another consideration: practically no one has unlimited financial resources to always buy a good or best/newest camera  (and you will need learning time for a new device too) , get, what can afford and then stop thinking about new equip for 1-2 years and (learn to) use, what u got.

Hugi sunlight

That´s it for today, feel free to ask me questions on twitter or in the comment section.

Topics for next photo blogpost: pro/cons and limits of smartphones and some ideas about minor image editing and publishing cat pics on the net)

Yours Hugi and his photographer Hugidad

P.S.: since i will be asked anyway, here a short list of equipment used during the last years:

smartphones: old Samsung S2(drowned, rest in peace) , i(Cat)Phone 5s, iPhone 6plus

tablets: iPads several generations

good old Panasonic Lumix

DSLR Nikon D7000 first, then D7100 was added, several lenses and additional equip for both

All Photos in this blogpost shot with an Iphone, they may not be purrfect, i just needed some examples, what can be done with a smartphone without major image editing.

Some Hugi Meows and tools..

we are playing with.

Moin friends, we spend a some more quiet relaxing christmas days here and got a lot of mail and gifts. Staff visited the large family of Hugimum for some festivities and noms .. i will have to put staff on after xmas diet now 😉 . Me and Lady Minky are fine, we have ridiculous spring christmas weather here, we had sun and about 13-15 deg C here at xmas.. crazy climate for germany.

christmas Hugo 2015

christmas Lady Minky 2015

Hugodad managed to do his regular shelter (my former home 2,5 years ago) visits quite often and happily a lot of kitties found a forever home this year (we don´t have the complete numbers yet). (twitter clue: we decided to tag all our shelter tweets with hash #owlcats, so we can find them later, OWL is the german region where we live and our city is the largest in this area here). Here some of the best moments, when these cats found their #foreverhome:

Löwi aka Löwenherz

Martin

Paulina

Smitty aka Schmidtchen

Hugo Twitter year 2015

It was a real interesting year for me, Lady Minky and our staff – we really learned a lot. We met a lot of really nice animals and their humans, we learned a lot about animal communities on twitter, we started little bit of blogging again, but there are/were also a lot of downs during the year. A large # of animal friends we know went over he bridge (too many to mention), some accounts of pals we know went inactive or simply disappeared and even some friendships went broke.

In other news: the #weetigang got their own blog/website, we started it, it still needs a lot of work but we have a start, some help/assistance/ideas with would be appreciated .. feel welcome.

On the technical side of Twitter, there were also some news (some ok, some bad or just stupid):

1. Most annoying for me: notifications on the Twitter networks seem to be notoriously unstable/unreliable/notifications get lost (mobile devices worst), we get and see a lot of complaints about this topic.
2. Twitter made the very stupid decision to replace the non-broken fav-star(!) with stupid FB-like hearts (do u really love to put the hearts on sad news tweets and links ?)
3. Twitter gave us twitter direct message groups(!), a good idea with some pro and contras)

In the last blogpost i mentioned some (software) tools, we play around to publish tweets, photos, stories and more (that´s one reason, why we don´t have too much time for blogging here).

Here is a short list:

Storify, a very good tool to documents events or collect some tweets, which would be gone forever, if we could not “record” and collect them. Some friends started to use it too, we will write about it more in the future. If u want to see, what can be done, here the link to my Hugo storify site,  just for fun i will do a short #unfug collection storify in some minutes. If you want to see more Stories:

here my Hugo Storify site

Medium, another tool to create an article or blogpost (really very easy to use, Hugodad gave it some tries and now i plan to use it for several topics(ideas: learning from “masters of cat photography”, split in two categories: photo professionals Hugodad found during the years and then good cat photographers, who tweet pics regularly .. maybe add some background story. 2nd idea: introduce some of our animal communities for new twitter friends, sometimes it is not easy to find/get some information and links). My First medium post:

Cat empire: Aoshima, cat island Japan

The last tool, i want to mention today, is a communication tool, we started to use some months ago.

Tool is called Slack, short description is: mix the best of email and twitter DM groups, add search and archive functions and you get the/an idea of it. For me it is just the best way i know ( til further notice, to keep lots of links/ tweets and information organised and distribute them. if want to get an impression here is a Slack is link (be less busy nails it..) , i use it on a invite only base. Cu in Slackland (won´t be the last time, i write about it 😉

Yours Hugi

christmas nap Hugi

#foreverhome day anniversary 2015

Moin, it has been some time since the last blogpost here. We (me and Hugidad) were quite busy and a lot of things happened. Two years ago i spent my last day in shelter, i was adopted then on 7th December 2013, a very important date in my life.

i did a storify about it:

Hugo and Minky gotcha day 2015

 

Hugo in shelter

Since then a lot happened.

What else happened in the Last Months? about 3 months ago our Lady Minky here became very ill for about 10 days, Staff was very worried. She did’t eat, drink, pee and poo (and quickly lost a lot of weight) , so she got the whole vet program, xrays, blood test and more.. she got a serious urinary tract infection. After some infusions and antibiotics treatment she recovered quick, so staff and me were really happy. Now she has reached her normal winter weight again and she does her outdoor pawtrols, as if nothing ever happened.

Minky on pawtrol

11 years ago Minky was adopted by HugoDad, here is her first photo in her #foreverhome.

First Minky pic ever
17th Dec 2004

About this blog .. we neglected it, since we spend more time on twitter and use a lot of other tools (storify .. i will have to test how-to embed them here, Slack and Medium site) to publish interesting stories and links, but we would like to use it as a our “central link archive” collection site.

btw .. there are rumours about a #weetie website.

May have our friends have a mice happy crispmouse Xmas fest

yours Hugi !

Some Links from the last months in the next blogpost.

#unfug Roxy rocks

Moin friends, time for another guest blogpost day. Me is very happy to welcome my twitter friend Roxy here. She send me her adoption story, lovely pics ( and some more;). So let´s start with her story!

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Roxy:  My story begins like the thousands of other orphaned kitties in Los Angeles but I consider myself one of the lucky ones, mine has a happy ending.

To be honest, I don’t remember my birth mom too much, or my brothers and sisters.  We were born on the streets and it was all my wildcat mom could do to take care of herself, much less the rest of us.  She tried her best but I was always so hungry and it wasn’t long before I set out on my own.

It’s not easy being on the streets, especially in Los Angeles.  I got pretty skinny and my coat was thin. I constantly had to steal food or stand my ground against the other animals I ran across.  I even lost part of a canine tooth in one fight!  Eventually I wandered on to a golf course.  I figured this would be my new home as there were plenty of places to hide but it was easy to see anyone coming up on me.  Problem was, I was still so hungry.  One day, in early February of 2011, I saw some food inside a strange looking box.  I snuck in but as soon as I took a bite, a door slammed shut behind me.  I was trapped in a cage with no way out.  Eventually a human came up to the trap.  I remember him saying “you’re no possum” and he took me to the local animal shelter.

Roxy posing

The humans at the shelter were caring and friendly.  They cleaned me up and put me in a holding cage.  Hey, at least it had a blanket and litter box.  Plus I got fed regularly!  There were about 50 other cats in the same room as me and we all got to know each other pretty quick.  Every few days there would be a steady parade of humans who would come in and look at us.  They’d peer into the cages and maybe take one of my new friends home with them.  Me?  I got looked at too but I never really hit it off with anyone.  Until that day I met Mom…

Sharon:  When my husband and I moved to our new home we felt a cat was what we needed to complete the household.  I had in my mind that I wanted a tabby, similar to the one that my sister had so I started searching for one online.  I looked through hundreds of photos and found myself wanting all of them.  But when I went to see one at the shelter they were either already adopted or I didn’t feel connected to them.

Then one day I saw a kitty named “Betty” online and decided I’d go see her. The staff walked me back to the shelter and pointed to her cage on the top row.  I walked up and peered into the cage.  This skinny kitty came to the front of the cage and put her paw through the wire bars.  I reached out and she licked my hand through the cage.  Looking at that little face and those big, big eyes – I was hooked.  I brought her home and named her Roxy after the music club in Hollywood.

Roxy sending nose kisses

Roxy: I felt the same about mom.  The second I saw her, I knew I was meant to be her companion.  There was this other guy there who wanted me and I kept looking at mom, trying to tell her “please, please don’t think about it and give him a chance”.  I saw mom go off and call someone on the phone.  I knew if she left I’d never see her again so I did everything I could to tell her I wanted to go home with her forever.  I was so happy when they put me in her carrier!  But it wasn’t long before I was hungry…

Instead of taking me straight home, mom took me to her parent’s house.  They put me down and everyone just stared at me.  Like I had any idea what to do!  But I knew what I wanted – I wanted to eat – and I let mom and her sister know right away.  “Feed me” I said but they just looked at each other.  So I said it again “FEED ME”.  “What’s she want?” mom asked her sister.  “I don’t know” her sister replied.  “FOOD.  I WANT FOOD!” I screamed.   “Maybe she wants to eat” mom said and they proceeded to scrounge around until they found a few scraps of meat to give me.  Hey, no one ever said love was easy.

Roxy’s first day at home

Eventually mom took me to my new home.  I spent a few hours casing the place out – figuring out a few vantage points to monitor anyone coming or going, finding a few hiding spots in case I needed to escape and, most importantly, figuring out where the litterbox was.  At one point I heard mom on the phone.  She said, “we’ve got a cat! I named her Roxy.”  “Who’s this ‘we’?”  I thought.  I was kind of under the impression that it was going to just be us two.  A couple hours later I heard a car pull up.  I quickly ran behind the couch just in case it was someone from the shelter come to take me back.  But then I heard mom say “she’s behind the couch” and I saw a man with big blue eyes peer over the edge.  I knew right away that this wasn’t somebody come to hurt me – it was dad.  I reach up with my paw and tapped him real quick.  “She’s so cute!” he said and he smiled down at me in a way I’ll never forget.  Ten minutes later I was piled on top of them, purring in joy at my new home and my newfound family.

Roxy working on blog post

Sharon:  And then you sneezed and the cutest little snot bubble came out your nose!

Roxy:  Yeah, thanks, mom.  Thanks for sharing that with the entire world.

(added by me – Hugi -.. “i like your #unfug MUM;)

So anyhow, I spent the next few days figuring out everybody’s routine and trying to get them to understand that there were going to have to be a few changes now that I was there.  First thing I had to teach them was what they thought was their bed was actually my bed.  And that I sleep wherever I want on my bed.  Second thing was that when I say “wake up” you wake up.  And finally, you don’t make me wait on my food.  I broke into the cupboards a few times when I got hungry and helped myself if they left anything out on the counter.  I’ll never live down that time when I got busted licking the frosting off a birthday cake.  Anyways, I taught them that running around the house with a shoestring in my mouth meant I wanted to play and that if I gave ‘em my big green eyes, they’d pretty much drop everything and come over and pet me for as long as I wanted.

Roxy excape artist

Things were going pretty well and I was shaping them up pretty quick but a couple weeks after they rescued me, both mom and dad had to leave town for a week.  They took me to back to grandma’s house.  Grandma wasn’t so easy to train.  She was horrified that I was such a wild child and called me a “holy terror”.  She would have none of my antics so she trained me to stay off the tables and counters with a squirt from the water bottle.   I learned real quick and am proud to say that I came back from my stay at Grandma’s as a well behaved young girl – although I still sneak up on the counters when I think Mom and Dad can’t see me.  Still hate water bottles though.  Just the sight of one will send me scrambling full speed to under the bed.

Roxy and Scooter

I’ve had lots of adventures in the four years since mom and dad brought me home – many of which I share with all the wonderful friends and furfriends I’ve met on Twitter.  From the neighbor boy Scooter to my new duties on Zombie Squad, there’s always something going on!  I’ve also come to love mom and dad in totally different ways.  Dad protects me and comforts me.  I love to ride around on his shoulder while we explore the house together or snuggle up with him for hours when he’s watching the game.  Mom is my co-conspirator and also my best friend.  She takes me out on my harness for sunny afternoons in the backyard (something about the time I bolted through and open door and ran away for the night really spooked them.  Apparently they’ve never heard of a girl’s night out for old time’s sake!) and we play endless games of hunting, chasing and just running around the house.  I follow her everywhere and pretty much stay in the same room as her whenever she’s home.  Why?  Because she’s my forever mom and this is my forever home.  I never let her forget how much it means to me that she found me and to anyone reading this who is thinking about adopting a cat, I can only tell you that there’s one out there right now, just waiting for you and hoping you’ll be their forever companion.

Roxy on #zshq patrol

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Some Hugi notes: Roxy is very helpful with #unfug hashtag explained!

And recently she joined our Zombiesquad #ZSHQ kitty team, so LA should be zombie safe now, great !

Blogpost not complete , will hit pawblish button anyway now, but so stay evil tuned 😉

(copyright all pics – as usual – in this blogpost by Roxy Mum , all her photos here used with her permission, please respect this! )

Your Hugo

How I chose Sulu #blackcat (and Sulu chose me)

Blogpost day again .. it is a very special day for me today: 2 years ago i met Hugodad for the first time in our shelter. My guest today is Sulu #blackcat and his Mum Rayne Hall telling the story, how he was adopted. Sulu is a lucky #blackcat, who found a loving home. Black cats often have a very hard time in shelters waiting to be adopted, they are often overseen and some humans even think black cats are/bring bad luck(example from our animal see below). Hugodad grew up with a black cat named “Blacky” – translated – (very long ago) in Cologne and Blacky is still in his heart. Now to Sulu and his story.

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HOW I CHOSE SULU (AND SULU CHOSE ME)

by Rayne Hall

For many years, I could not have a cat, even though I longed for one. I moved from country to country, lived in bedsits where pets were forbidden, shared a home with a partner who didn’t want a cat.

Then I had the chance to rent a garden flat – and my first thought was ‘hurray, now I can have a cat!’

Together with a friend I visited a cat shelter (the Hastings Sanctuary of the Cats Protection).  The volunteer who had interviewed me in my home showed us around the spacious kennels. She knew what kind of cat I was looking for (I hoped for a young, intelligent, healthy, black female, though I kept an open mind), but she didn’t do any matchmaking.

Sulu first meeting

We saw several nice-looking cats who came close to my ideal, but none stood out. Then the volunteer said, “In the next kennel, there’s a cat I’d like you to meet.”

The sign on the kennel said he was Smokey, male, nine months old, and suitable for any kind of home. As soon as she opened the door, the little black kitty dashed out into the corridor, but she coaxed him back. “He’s a bit skittish,” she explained, and encouraged me to spend some time with him, so I did.

After couple of minutes, he came to sniff at my hands. After five minutes, he allowed me to stroke him, and after ten he didn’t want to let me go again.

Still, I went on to view all the remaining cats before returning for a second look at the little black one. He recognised me and was clearly pleased I had come back! This settled it.

The cat, the volunteer, my friend and I all agreed on the choice. Smokey (as he was called then) matched almost all my criteria, and the gender of a neutered cat didn’t really matter.

I signed the paperwork there and then, and spent the next few days getting everything ready for my new cat. The following week, the volunteer brought Sulu into my home.

Sulu

He dashed out of the carrier and vanished for several hours, but once he came out of hiding he settled in fast, exploring his new home and his human.

From the start, I made it my priority to gain his trust, allowing him to progress at his own pace.

People often ask me if it was love at first sight for Sulu and me. I’d describe it more as liking at first sight – the real love grew gradually as we came to know each other.

Sulu garden

This was the first time in his life that Sulu was being loved. As a kitten he had been a Christmas present to someone who didn’t want a cat. At the shelter,  visitors were rare and not keen on a black cat, so he remained ignored for five months.

Feeling safe and loved, Sulu radiated happiness. He explored, cuddled, purred, played and tried to please me as much as I pleased him. We both felt lucky and grateful. (We still do!)

Sulu

He’s the perfect writer’s cat. When I sit at they keyboard to type, he snuggles between my arms, purring happily.  He even loves to ‘read’ my books!

Before adopting Sulu I had initially arranged with a different cat shelter to adopt a pair of kittens. When that fell through, I was frustrated. But in retrospect, I think a higher power arranged everything to bring Sulu and me together.

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we are very happy to see Sulu found his forever home (and we really like him on Twitter .. every cat should have a twitter account IMHO!). Here is another #blackcat waiting for a #foreverhome atm in our animal shelter:

Storm(y) #blackcat

Anniversary Hugo pic, me exactly 2 years ago, when i met Hugodad for the first time

Hugo in shelter 23.8.2013

See u later your Hugi!

(copyright all pics (except the last 2)  in this blogpost by Rayne Hall

all photos and her text here used with his permission, please respect this! )

 

Scricciola, the bionic cat

Staff was on a short holiday trip, so we are a little late with our blog. Today we have a guest post by our old twitter friend Lidia. She had (and has)  a lot of cats, so we start with a adopted cat named Scricciola.

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SCRICCIOLA

Here we go. I am @LidiaPhilema on Twitter. In almost 30 years my son and I have rescued several cats, some from tragic situations. The cat I am going to tell you about is SCRICCIOLA, who became the fourth addition to my feline family nearly 23 years ago.

Thanks for your attention and friendship. I am mothertongue italian, so – please – forgive me my Italenglish!

Milan, Italy

Gratitude is not a feline prerogative. At least, not at once. This fact is well known by the thumb of my right hand and, having reached the fine total of eight cats at home over the years and with 30 years of feline experience behind me, by yours truly, too. But way back in 1992, when the cats roaming my house numbered ‘only’ three, I was ignorant of the fact. In any case, it depends on the cat. If they are particularly lively young cats, and still lack confidence, it is better not to expect gestures of affectionate gratitude. A cat is a different animal to a dog: it takes a long time before they place their trust in friend human, perhaps years, during which the human friend must not make mistakes. The test is long and difficult, but the final prize is very rewarding: you are promoted to the rank of “felino ad honorem”, something which (provided you don’t make mistakes) will last a whole lifetime.

SCRICCIOLA

all my cats at the time

So, back we go to 1992. One spring day, it was time for the annual vaccination of my three cats. Carried in two different transporters (one single and the other double-sized) we headed for the surgery of “our vet”: Diki, Philema, Paperino and I. One by one they were examined despite their protests, attempted escapes, sudden shyness, hissing and tremors of repressed rage. One miaow, though, rang out louder than the cries of my menagerie. It was coming from a room off the surgery, where the vet was examining the ears and checking the teeth of my cats. The miaow was strident, vibrato, almost a cry for help.

“Who is that howling in there?” I asked at one stage. The vet answered: “That’s Scricciola. We operated on her yesterday!” A moment of silence, then my curiosity got the better of me: “Operated for what?” And that, that simple and apparently innocuous question, is where it all started. Because, after the vet’s answer, of course I was no longer the same.

SCRICCIOLA

photo of Scricciola

“We had to put a plate in her paw and suture her palate. She was brought in more dead than alive but she’s out of danger now. Some people should be locked up!” The explanation only increased my curiosity and I pestered the vet with a volley of questions. Then I found out that in a certain block of flats the caretaker, in an attempt to get rid of the stray cats living in the garden, occasionally grabbed one and literally flung it off the top floor of the block in question. The building is tall, and most of the animals died. The caretaker believed she had done her duty: she had “cleaned up”, and for sure somebody – in that block of flats – would have said to her “well done! You keep the garden cleaner than anyone!” But not everyone was prey to such cynicism. So, somebody grumbled, “that’s no way to get rid of the block cats. What the heck, enough of this barbarism!” When Scricciola was thrown off the roof, that same “somebody” found her and rescued her, then brought her immediately to the vet and paid the cost of her operation. But the person did not adopt her. Meanwhile, though, they reported the caretaker hoping to see the ‘diligent’ coward go through some suffering of her own.

“So it’s just a kitten, all on its own?”, I asked the doctor, having listened to Scricciola’s tale. “Can I go and look at it?” “Certainly!”, answered the vet. “But don’t get too close!”

The sight that met me filled my heart with sadness. Scricciola was tiny, no more than a couple of months old, the colour of her fur not what you’d call attractive, a dishevelled and dull mousy-grey, and she had a long, mangy tail. The kitten was in a cage, forced into an unnatural position, belly and jaw pressed firmly to the floor. A bubble of blood and snot swelled and shrank at one nostril to the rhythm of her breathing. Her front paws were splayed straight out from her sides. They were sticking out of the transporter through two holes drilled into its two sides. A complicated tangle of elastic bands, bandages and straps was holding the poor animal in that pitiful and obviously uncomfortable position. She looked like a laboratory animal, undergoing some unspeakable torture.

Horror rose within me. “But why does she have to stay like that?” I asked the vet who, meanwhile, was handling one of my fat little fellows, with shiny fur and long whiskers. “That paw can’t be moved. The bone was fractured in several places and it has to heal. That’s why we put the plate in her. She’s a bionic cat!” And how does this bionic kitten eat? I asked. The vet tells me that she doesn’t eat, she is surviving thanks to the drip.

flowers

pic of my flowers

The check-up was over for Diki, Philema and Paperino. As I paid, I came to the realization that I had arrived with three cats that day, but I was soon going to have four. “OK if I drop by tomorrow to see Scricciola?” I asked from the doorway. The veterinarian smiled: “but you already have three cats! Think about it. Scricciola is a cat that is bound to have a load of problems. I don’t know if she’ll walk again, or even eat! When she was brought in, her face was all caved in, actually there wasn’t much of it left at all. We had to reconstruct her nasal septum. Do you want to adopt her?” I am confused. “I don’t know, but can I come and see her tomorrow?”.

SCRICCIOLA

Scricciola & toys

Next day, and the following, and the day after that, and every day for two or three weeks, I went to visit Scricciola. She looked at me and hissed, she didn’t want me to come close and I respected her wishes. I spoke to her in a quiet voice and I didn’t touch her; I crouched down to her level and told her that when she left the surgery, there would be a home waiting for her. Of course, she’d have to deal with three other cats that were twice her size, but – dear Scricciola, I said to her – if you managed to survive the fall from that height, surviving a trio of house cats will be a piece of cake. You’re a female and, mark my words, we females are strong. And we will help you, my son Stefano and I. Chin up! Hang in there and you’ll soon see the doors of paradise opening for you.

Finally, the day dawned when I could take Scricciola home with me. The vet gave me a list of dates for a series of check-ups, and once we were home I introduced the kitten into her new environment. Not at all reassured by the fact that she knew me (she had seen me every day for at least three weeks), she scurried off into the bathroom, limping noticeably, and slipped into the narrow opening behind the bidet. From there, she stared at me with wide, terror-filled eyes. And now, pay attention! I am about to make an error of judgement.

SCRICCIOLA

Scricciola at my home

 I expected gratitude from the kitten, that she would show some trust and confidence in me. After all, I had spent time with her, I had respected her pain and shared it with her, I had encouraged her, spoken to her, expressing love and comfort using only my eyes, I had got her used to my face, my smell, and the sound of my voice. She knew that nothing bad would come from me. But whereas on the human calendar, three weeks might be enough to gain the trust of any unknown human patient, on the feline calendar, three weeks is nothing. For Scricciola, less than nothing.

As though seeing me for the first time, she hissed angrily at me, grinding her teeth and flattening her ears back against her head, with the most threatening appearance her little kitten face could conjure up. I paid little heed to this and moved my hand close to pet her and try to bring her out of that uncomfortable place she had chosen. I was sure that I was her friend, but Scricciola hadn’t yet promoted me to the ranks of felino ad honorem and was not prepared to show me her gratitude just yet. Such egoism on my part! And what a formidable lesson I was about to receive! She seized my right hand with canines sharper than razorblades and bit down with all her might. I didn’t want to scare her more than she already was and I tried to detach her from my thumb, which had begun to bleed copiously. But Scricciola’s fangs dug deeper, and she had no intention of letting go.

But Scricciola’s fangs dug deeper, and she had no intention of letting go. In fact, she let herself be lifted right off the ground, continuing to bite with all the strength her jaws could muster – which was quite a lot for a cat. They’d fixed her face up well. Those jaws were working a treat. Scricciola had a textbook bite.

SCRICCIOLA

Scricciola at my home

 Then, only when she decided, she let go. Quick as a flash, she darted back into her hiding place, and I examined my hand and thought it best to go to hospital. There they gave me three stitches and a tetanus shot. That was the price I paid for my recklessness, for expecting trust from a cat that couldn’t give it after having been treated the way it had by a human, at least not so soon.

For the next five years, Scricciola kept to herself: she never so much as let herself be touched, she ate after the others had finished, and kept out of sight most of the time. Her paw healed quite quickly (by chasing her, my cats had performed a kind of physiotherapy on her), but she never jumped and the high-up surfaces in the house remained the exclusive realm of the first three to arrive. When I had more or less accepted the idea that I had three cats and a four-legged ghost, she showed up one evening and timidly jumped onto the sofa beside me (the sofa was the highest point she could reach with her damaged paw) then she started rubbing against me, wanting to be petted. I was moved almost to tears.

SCRICCIOLA

Scricciola at my home

 Scricciola, the mousey-grey cat, promoted me, even if it took her five long years. I could touch her paw and her face. I did it very delicately. She closed her eyes and purred contentedly. I couldn’t have got rid of her then, even if I wanted to. And the caretaker? She was reported to the police for cruelty to animals. The courage displayed by my kitten and her will to survive helped to keep goodness knows how many other cats free from harm.

SCRICCIOLA

Scricciola again

And now Scricciola is #OTRB. She lived with us for 14 long, love-filled years, with her two odd front paws (one muscular and the other skinny); she underwent another operation on her palate and yet another on her paw (the bionic one), but she was always active and lively, chubby, playful and curious. In a word: happy.

I am @LidiaPhilema. Thanks for accompanying me for a part of my life with my cats and with Scricciola.

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(copyright all pics in this blogpost by @LidiaPhilema ,

all photos here used with her permission, please respect this! )

 

 

 

 

Tristan the Terror

nice, @Myfourcats started own blog, great !

Our Five Cats

I was volunteering for the RSPCA when I first met Tristan. He was crammed in a temporary cage with his four siblings at the back of the dog kennels. The cattery had been condemned & knocked down and a new state of the art one was being built. But in the meantime, no new cats could be taken in and the ones we already had were stuck sharing a building with the dogs.

Tristan and his siblings had been born on the streets and at some point after their birth, their mother had been hit by a car. She was rescued and then someone found her kittens and rescued them too. Unfortunately, kittens and mother were never reunited since her leg had to be amputated. So, at two weeks old, Tristan lost his mother and was put in a tiny cubicle.

One look at him and I just knew he…

View original post 886 more words

Basil’s Adoption

Hello friends, me is very happy, that we have another guest blogpost today. it´s bee in the “pipeline some time, but Hugodad was very buy this week.

So today here is our very fluffy friend Basil @fluffyBasil .

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Basil mum here. Here’s our story.

Getting Basil (or getting any cat), was a long and serious decision for me. Generally, I think people make the decision to get a pet to lightly. Its hard work and a commitment – and I was concerned if I could make that commitment.

I’ve always loved cats, but was never allowed one at my parents home. My mum can’t stand the fluff! (although she seems to like Basil ok). Then, for years at and after university, I lived in shared digs which were not suitable, but even when I eventually got my own home about 9 years ago, I still did not go for it. I was concerned about the time I spent away, both for work and travelling at weekends. Then my brother got a cat, Pepper (adopted) who I fell in love with, and then another, Oscar (‘the terror’). My brother worked long hours too, so I thought, maybe I could manage a pet too.

Basil

Last summer I went on a big trip to Canada and whilst I was away I decided I needed a cat in my life! When I got back I committed to not go away for 3 months and to adopt.

There’s a Cat’s Protection adoption centre near by, so I went there one evening after work. They reassured me that my life, as busy as it was, was perfect for a cat who enjoyed the quiet life (no children) and that it would be fine for cat to be alone for most of the day.

The first visit was heart renching. In fact, its been difficult on every visit since (I now volunteer occasionally). On average they have 70 cats there. Kittens are only there a few days but many older cats are ignored. The staff do such a wonderful job, in difficult circumstances for all the kitties.

Basil

Many cats put on a real show for me, purring and flirting against the glass. One girl kitty called Jess really tugged my hearts strings. She was so friendly and had a beauty spot just below her nose, with white and black long hair and was an indoor kitty like I ideally wanted. (This indoor thing wasn’t a deal breaker, but it would just be easier in the area I live as the roads are very busy.)

Then I spied Basil. God he was grumpy. He did not look at me and refused to move from the corrugated card scratch post he was sleeping on (he lived on it they told me) but, there was something in that face…… I took a picture and said I would think about it overnight and come back the next day. I thought about Basil’s little face all night. All the ladies at work said he was the one, but I worried about his nature and how hard it would be to look after him.

Basil

I went back as promised and got to actually spend time with several cats, Jess and Basil included. They just open the front of the cage area and you can stroke and touch them, if they let you. Jess and a few others were very friendly and loveable, purring and brushing up against me. You could tell that in a few weeks they would settle in at home no problem.

Basil however, hissed as I went to stroke him and seized up in nervousness. He cowered away from each touch. They told me they thought it would take longer for him than most cats to adapt to a new home, as he was very stressed. So we shut the door and my head said ‘go back and see the others – as a first cat, he will be far too much work’. But, as I walked away I looked back, and Basil had crept off his scratch post and looked round the corner at me. That was it…. My head lost and my heart won! Smitten.

So I agreed and signed the paperwork. I collected him after a few days.

It was not easy sailing. He yowled in the car all the way home, peed in the carrier & hid straight away. He ruined rug in the first week by using it as a litter tray and I spent about 3 months on my knees talking to his silhouette behind the sofa, tempting him with treats & talking in hushed tones. No visitor would no I even had a cat! He only ate when I was out of the room and gobbled it so fast the bowl shot across the room. He cowered if you went anywhere near him and hissed.

it upset me to think about what had happened to my Basil for him to be this scared? All they could tell me was he had not gotten on with other pets in the house. I know deep down it was worse than that. He was so traumatised.

I spent about an hour or more each night tempting him with food and play. My social life suffered, but all I wanted to do was try and help him get to a happy place.

After 4 months I’d still not managed to touch him, but he was by then, out from behind the sofa about 70% of the time, lying in the same room and playing with feather wand toys. When he first appeared so I could see him properly I couldn’t get over how stocky he was and how chunky his paws are. He’s like a Teddy bear.

Basil

Then I went away for Christmas. I left with some trepidation, but I found a lovely petsitter, Amy, who loves all animals & comes to our home, to save Basil the stress of the cattery. She sent me pictures most days and kept me up to date. She fell for him too.

When I got back we had a real turning point, he let me stroke him for the first time and purred. I cried. They were tears of happiness and relief, but also sadness as my boys coat was thick with matts and un-groomed from months of neglect, when I’d been unable to get near him. His coat was all lumps and bumps.

Fast forward to today (9 months since I adopted him) and all his lovely followers know the handsome sweetie he is today. He loves his daily brush, and, after months of dedication I’ve slowly cut and brushed out all the matts and tangles.

Basil

He struts around the house, is fun and lively and loves showing off his belly and chin rubs. He has even accepted my new rug -although those who know us are well aware this took several weeks! We have a daily cuddle & I can’t imagine life without him. Everyone who meets him melts – all he has to do is roll over and show that lovely curly floofy belly.

He can still be grumpy though, and as yet, has still not sat on my lap. That might be next year 🙂

Please Adopt don’t Shop

Gretchen & Basil

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(copyright all pics in this blogpost by Mum of Basil @fluffyBasil  , all photos here used with her permission, please respect this! )

Your Hugo

no more cats ???

Hello friends, me is very happy, that we have another guest blogpost today. Some weeks ago I wrote about my friend Jan @tribeofma . We were very worried, that he would have to leave twitter for a long time and that we would not see his beautiful photos ever again.

Since then some things happened, he setup a fundraiser for his tribe and although his situation is not good, it is better than some weeks ago, a lot of our friends supported the tribe (we really have a great animal friends community!).

Please take the time visit this fundraiser link,

it has some additional information and updates. So now his first guest blogpost here .. be warned, it is a long read and a lot of photos!

Your Hugi ( very happy to see you here @tribeOfma AKA Jan AKA DadOfMa)

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What A Strange Question

Since you are reading this, I shall assume you know @TribeOfMa on Twitter. If not:

What Is Wrong With You?

Anyhow… This Mr Hugo asked me to explain how I found Ma and her Tribe…

Ma

The answer is pretty obvious: she found me. Apparently I seemed acceptable enough for her to move in. And move in. And move in some more.

She now runs the show, owns my deeds and pays my wages… Yep. And it started in the late summer of 2012. I had lost 5 cats in 8 years to mostly arrogant vets. Vets who didn’t listen – the kind that throws you daggery glances for using a medical term in their exam room! Well, anyways… 2012.

Flodder (OTRB 2014)

I was pondering whether I could stand losing another cat. Dealing with vets. ‘Having’ a cat after Flodder? Could I? Probably not. Sure. Probably not. Maybe… Aargh…. My old friend and former stray Flodder was getting very old. A heart and lung condition had recently made him very fearful – his heart had given out and almost up twice; and although new meds improved his ticker, he still lacked the old confidence. So: to motivate him I would carry him to the far side of my property 4 times a day, and walk back home with him. Our cross-species chats were frequently interrupted because we both felt watched. You know: WATCHED. And since I knew how poor Google’s maps of my middle-of-nowhere property are, I assumed it wasn’t the NSA that  was creeping us out… Nah, something else.

Ma

Then, one day I noticed a tiny tuxedo lady checking out my birdfeeders. Just a glimpse…and whoosh, she was gone. Next, Flodder and I would both notice two bright eyes follow us around in the dark.

Every evening. Stealthily, two cats eyes followed us from a distance. Flodder was intrigued, as was I.

Next, you know, autumn came with a chilly force. At that point I set up a motion-controlled trail camera in my garden. In winter deer would frequently invade to find shelter and birdfood, and the resulting videos are usually boring, but sometimes hilarious. I even take boring if it involves deer and foxes. It’s the west of Ireland after all.

Ma

And then… Scanning the footage recorded by the night camera, I spotted the cat. The 2 eyes that had tracked us for weeks were attached to a limping little tuxedo lady. Since, at that point, I had decided to never “ever” have another cat, I obviously started to put out food for that little lady ASAP! Sucker….

Weeks went by… and what I noticed was this: tuxie would find the food I put out for her. She’d nibble a bit. Then she would try and catch a mouse or a bird (see, she already had a sucker), disappear for an hour or two. Then she’d return and eat the rest of the catfood.

I knew the explanation to that puzzling behaviour, but I couldn’t access the file in my head. Instead I organised a trap. Surprisingly, I managed to catch her painlessly. Off to the vet. Here I have to say: she looked like a kitten – on the night camera footage tuxie had appeared bigger.And more feral. I wondered if she was even old enough to be spayed, yet. But her crooked J-shapedtail and the limp made me take her to the vet anyway. She needed a check-up.

At the vet’s I said: look at her. Can you give HER a thorough check-up, and if (!!!) you don’t think she recently had a litter or is pregnant now, can you neuter her, also? Tick tock tick tock….

Phone call. “You can pick her up”….

So I did. Again I asked, “Do you think she’s pregnant or had a litter recently? On some night camera videos I took of her she looks funny bellywise. Teats-wise…”.

“No”, the vet says, she’s too young and we would have noticed.

Ma

Aah…phew. Some relief. I could keep her indoors for a few days, feed her, keep her warm and dry. But could I ever? Within hours it was clear that this little lady was not one for the indoor amenities. I tried (though, Flodder’s intriqued growling probably didn’t help)…. I really tried. But after 6 hours she put her paws down. Not too soon, either – my living space reduced to rubble.

I opened the door, and she left. A cheeky I’ll-be-back look over her shoulder, and into the bushes she went.I thought the whole experience might have put her off for good. Trap. Vet. Snip. Cage. Car. ‘Indoors’… WTF, she thought. But no… The next day she was right back. Hunt around my birdfeeders, take the food I left out for her and so on…

Ma ( love u.. your Hugi)

Oh…jump… Now it’s New Years Eve 2012. And yes, just in time for Flodder’s walk there’s the little tuxedo lady. And oh so many of her. Hers, I mean… The little lady – we can call her Ma now -, she came with 4 kittens. Thanks, vets – so she WAS either pregnant or had had a litter just around the time you “thoroughly” checked her, eh? Good times.

Luckily, Ma had already found a great home for her kids. Me. More specifically: an old caravan parked on my land. Which is odd, because it had been locked up for years. But, hey – we’re talking Ma skills. And a quick inspection showed that she had discovered a tiny crack in the caravan’s side panel. The put in a revolving door. The rest is history. Her Story…

Cappy

Mini Ma

Stripey

Flakey

Over the next few weeks her 4 kids got used to me. Ma would slowly allow me to deliver food to her caravan. And I better stick to the time table or else…

So… that is how I found Ma. She found me. Ma nd her 4 kids – Stripey, Mini Ma, Cappy and Mr Flakey.

In early March 2013 – still cold and harshly wintery – two little torties joined the family.

By ‘joined’ I mean “launched occasional raids on the tribal food”! And since, after Ma and her 4 kids, I would never have any more cats, I obviously put out extra food bowls for the tortie babes ASAP. Then I built them a shelter…. Oh…D’oh… That’s 7. Plus Flodder = 8!

In October 2013 Flodder’s age and medical history finally caught up with him. He had finally gotten used to the idea of Ma’s Tribe moving from the old caravan into HIS house – my little cabin.

For 5 months he enjoyed the company. Ma couldn’t show it, but she was scared of him. Flodder was a big boy. BIG. And her kids showed Flodder a lot of respect, too. He enjoyed that. They didn’t know he could hardly run anymore. For moments every day they made him  feel strong. And feared. And young. This may ‘sound’ strange, but I KNOW he died a ‘happier’ cat than he would have had we never noticed Ma’s eyes in the dark. And here’s the crazy teary part: Ma, her kids and the tortie sisters Miss Shaggy and NemesisCat hate the cat carrier. Usually they run and stay away for hours if I as much as thought ‘cat carrier’. They remembered their vet trips all too well.

And when I prepared the cat carrier for Flodder’s final journey to the vet’s, nobody else was in sight. As I turned to pick up Flodder and turned again to softly place him into the carrier for that last trip, all 7 cats of the Tribe were suddenly there. Sitting quietly on and around the plastic box. They stayed until I closed the little door, and for the first time in 12 years Flodder purred in that stupid carrier…

Flodder (OTRB 2014)

Minima

Stripey

Cappy

Flakey

Still there?

The very day I made the last ever vet appointment for Flodder a little tuxedo boy walked into my kitchen.

I was on my knees cleaning up the Tribe’s post breakfast mess, and Newb just climbs onto my legs. At first I thought it was Ma’s son Flakey. Even as I could see Flakey outside the kitchen, I thought, hey, it must be Flakey… It wasn’t. Newb’s the new Number 8.

Combining my resources with Ma’s resourcefulness… well, what can I say? The most interesting, most fun, and thrilling difficulty I ever experienced. A smooth ride? Nope. But every single day since that New Year’s eve I have learned something new, about them and about myself and the world.

I also met great new ‘friends’ on Twitter.

So… If you ever feel like your heart cannot take the pain of losing another soul, don’t say “never again”… Put out a bowl of food instead.

PS: If you enjoy the @TribeOfMa on Twitter, please take a moment and visit this

YouCaring Fundraiser Page

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To Jan #DadOfMa: special big thx from Hugi and #HugiDad for sharing all your beautiful photos with us, you are one of the best !

(copyright all pics in this blogpost by  , all used with her permission here, please respect this! )