The Kitty Gang

Esmerelda is the king of the cats. King?! Yes, he was found when he was a young kitten, wandering along near a small airport. When we brought him home we quickly checked and thought, it's a girl. Since we figured he was born around Halloween and was almost completely black, I named him Esmerelda, thinking that was a a nice, sweet name. At that time I was naming everyone sort of fairytale names.

As Esme got older it became clear, the little girl kitty was in fact a very masculine male. He got bigger and bigger and is now a huge, tough tomcat. Don't let his size fool you though, Esme a real pussycat. He is super sensitive and can't ever be yelled at for the few things he does wrong. If he gets in trouble for jumping on something he won't ever jump up there again, even if coaxed, that is unless he is picked up and set there and praised so that he knows it's okay. Even if all the other cats are up there, he will simply sit and stare at them. He won't jump up.

He is also super sweet to all the other cats. The kittens curl up next to him so that he can baby them and give them baths. They take real unfair advantage of him since he will put up with anything. Even the older cats will curl up next to the big tom so that they can get their faces washed.

Esmerelda is so quiet and composed it's easy to forget that he's there. He sits like a big black shadow overlooking his domain as the other cats play and squabble.

Hootie Fish is so named because she has big, golden eyes like an owl or a hawk. She has the personality of a bird of prey too. Hoo watches what goes on and seems to ignore everything until suddenly she pounces! If there's nothing that piques her interest, she just acts like a queen on a throne.

Hoo came from a house down the street from mine. Late one night in a huge storm, we were driving home and at the last minute I noticed a white spot in the middle of the road. I shouted "stop!" and we slammed on the brakes. There was a kitten in the middle of the road and we almost ran it over. It was lying there because it had already been hit by a car. So, we rushed it to the vet's and then went to tell our neighbor about what had happened. It turns out that he didn't really care and several other cats had been hit and died. I asked if he minded if we took any of his other cats home with us and he told me to take whichever ones I wanted. Since they were wild I was only able to catch one and that one was Hootie.

Hootie was about 2 or 3 months old and very wild. I wrapped her in my jacket and we took her home. She then spent the next four months under the bed, or if she was sure we were asleep, on top of it with the other cats. She got a little braver after a while and would get on the bed when we were awake but still and quiet. When she had Jerry and his sister, Chinnook, and brothers Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, suddenly she became a little braver and would let us pet her and eventually cuddle her.

Interestingly, each of her kittens took a different color from her coat. Her main color went to her kitten Chinook, who was long-haired and smoky gray. Hoo's light patches went to Marc Anthony, who was short-haired and an almost apricot color with amber eyes. Jerry is grayish-blue and short-haired, while Cleopatra was a medium orange and long-haired.

Now, Hootie is fairly friendly. She will always be a bit skittish, but she sleeps against us and loves getting pet. Every once in a while I just have to pick her up and cuddle her and she puts up with it for a bit before she shoves me away and walks a little ways off so she can effectively give me the look.

Alissandra is adorable, and she knows it. She even chooses which places to curl up based on whether or not they match her fur. She typically chooses baby blue or pink to sit on since it sets off her creamy fur and her beautiful blue eyes, but in a pinch she will take green or brown. I know, it sounds impossible. No cat chooses places to lay based on color coordination, but it's true. I've seen her bypass chair and couch to lay on a piece of fabric on the floor, simply because it was one of her approved colors. She then expects everyone that comes over to admire her and compliment her beauty-which they usually do.

Alissandra came from an ad on Craigslist. Her then-owner posted an ad asking for help. It seems she got 8 week old Ali and didn't know what to do since Ali kept biting and scratching her three year old daughter. She wanted to know if there was anything she could do to prevent Ali from biting the little girl all the time. I wrote back and gave her a few ideas, like to give the kitten a safe place were the little girl couldn't get at her, and I also told her that if she couldn't make it work I knew someone who was interested in a new kitten since their cat had recently died. Well, a few weeks later, I got an email asking if I still was willing to take her. When we brought the kitten home, everyone fell in love with her. Esme, Hootie, and other cats I had at that time gave her bath after bath and fought over who would sit closest to her. She treated all this as though it was her due and has been Princess Alissandra ever since.

She had one litter before we could afford to get her fixed and in that litter were Trinity, Alpine-who we no longer have, Mendicino, and William. Two long-haired females and two short-haired males.

Jerry is the epitome of cool. He has no need to be needy like the other cats. He sneers at the thought of begging for pets like a dog. If we want to pet him, he thinks, we will come to him. He's usually right.

Jer looks a lot like a Russian Blue, but he is actually Hootie's son and so a mixed breed. He is also pretty big. He is much heavier than he looks and is really long.

He loves to sit on my lap on his butt, like a baby. He'll sit there for quite a while and then suddenly, he's had enough and he wants down. Jerry loves to watch TV this way. That's right Jerry watches TV. Several of my cats will watch the TV occasionally, but Jerry will sit and watch an entire program.

Jerrimiah and Hootie love to cuddle together and will both squeeze into a spot that barely fits one of them. They will then love on each other and give each other baths for hours until they both fall to sleep in a pile. Whenever Jerry gets scared or worried about something, he runs for the comfort of his mommie, Hootie, or me, so we can love on him and reassure him that everything is okay.

Mendicino has never had a second of self-doubt. He spends his days absolutely sure that everyone around him wants to take care of him and give him love. He picks this up from Alissandra I believe. If he sees one of the cats bathing another, he shoves himself in the middle so that they both start giving him a bath. If I'm asleep, often he will come up and bite the bridge of my nose until I wake up, so that I can pet him. He picks the best places to sleep and simply lays on anyone in his way. He is a sweetheart and puts up with the kittens climbing on him and trying to nurse from him, he really is good natured, he just doesn't seem to realize that there are others things in the world besides him. He thinks he's a kitten that we should all take care of.

His name Mendicino is based on the county Mendocino and the Indian henna tattoo, Mehendi which reminded me of his markings. Mendi is super lazy and spends most of his days sleeping, usually snuggled up to someone or something since he's very clingy. Other than that his little idiosyncrasies, he's basically just a laid-back male cat who watches everything with a sleepy-eyed gaze.

Trinity is Mendi and William's sister and is pushier than both of them put together. She is addicted to attention. It really is incredible how pushy she can be. If you have a hand dangling she will rub up against it. An elbow hanging over the edge of the couch, she'll rub against it until you move it. She'll even rub herself against your foot if that's all she can reach.

You can't make eye contact with Trini either. If her eyes meet yours she will think you want to pet her and she'll be there in a flash. I love petting Trinity, but it is really difficult to do every moment of every day, which is what she wants to have happen.

Whoever you are, whatever you do, Trini already loves you and wants to show you that she loves you by having you pet her and while she gives you a bath. If another cat lays next to her, she will give them baths and love on them until they cry to get away, and then she just might follow them to take care of them even more.

Update- May 2011: Trinity found a new home with a family that will give her lots and lots of attention and love. We think she'll be a bit lonely without her kitty family, but hope that her new humans make up for it.

William is a bit of a fraidy cat. He worries about everything and then runs and hides at least once a day. He is also super sweet and thinks he's very important. I think he gets that from his mom, Alissandra, since Alissandra, William, Mendicino, and Trinity are all crazy about about getting pet and will shove themselves in front of anything you're trying to do, just to get your attention.

His favorite place to be is the back of my chair while I'm typing. Either that or the bookcase right next to the chair. He likes to smell my hair and I reach back and pet him every once in a while. William also likes the view from up there. He can watch everything going on and be prepared to run if a loud noise happens or the vacuum gets turned on.

Marin is Butte's brother. He is a well-behaved little boy usually, although he is still young so he does have his moments. Marin is scared of just about everything though. He runs and hides when anything out of the ordinary happens and he can't stand loud voices or too much action going on around him. When everything settles down, Marin comes out of hiding and throws himself on the floor, all sprawled out. He careful watches everything going on and waits until I make a move to go to sleep and then he's suddenly there, walking around where I'm going to lay and purring. When I finally have room to lie down, he scratches at the blanket until I lift it and let him in.

Butte and Marin are brothers. As kittens they were being gotten rid of in front of a supermarket and so of course I stopped and had to pet them. The poor things were terrified of all the people and stuff going on and so crying for protection. The owner didn't seem to get that and was getting sick of trying to get rid of them, so she was packing up to just take them to the pound and dump them there. I hated to see the poor things dumped in an even more terrifying place and abandoned, so I broke down and took them home with me, thinking I'd find them good homes. Well, we got so attached to each other it didn't happen and they too were added to the menagerie.

Butte is a lover-cat. He wants nothing from us, but love all the time. He spends most of his time walking from room to room, looking for someone to pet him and yelling. Butte is a very, how do you say, vocal cat. His voice is horrible and he talks to everybody and everything, all day long. Since he's just getting to that age, he's also started calling for girls too. But Butte doesn't call for girls in a male voice. His voice sounds more like the sound of a female cat in heat.

Yuba is super sweet and loving and hyper. He runs circles around the apartment and gallops up walls. Not only is he a bit crazed but he is also a bit confused. He thinks he is a tiny baby. He tries to nurse from everyone, even though he's getting bigger than they are. He also has recently taken up a new habit. When he needs to get reassured, he runs straight for me and then sits on my boobs like they're a ledge. He automatically expects me to wrap my arms around him and hold him so he doesn't fall and then he tucks his head almost into armpit and starts doing the claw thing. It's super cute, but really hurts.

Yuba and his brother Yolo were the ugliest kittens I've ever seen. When I got them from some people that had to get rid of them, they both had a terrible case of ringworm. Their little faces had bare patches all over them and it was an uphill struggle to get rid of the virus and prevent it from infecting me or the other cats. They were also severely malnourished and it was quite a while before they got healthy again. Yuba is now an outgoing, healthy, happy kitty, with a beautiful coat.

I often forget about Contra. It sounds mean I know. But Connie isn't usually seen around the house. If you look under the couch or chairs he may be there, watching everything that's going on, but he picks places to lay that you won't see him unless you really look hard. Connie just sits and waits for us evil humans to leave the area or until we're so busy we won't notice him and then he slinks out and finds another cat to give him some love.

If you haven't guessed by now, Connie is a feral. He and his brothers, Costa and Colusa, were born in a feral colony and lived there until I caught them. I caught Colusa first. He was incredibly sick and his entire face was sealed shut with goo. I caught sight of him and put down a can of cat food and Yuba in a cage. He was able to sense Yuba and the food and went into the cage to eat too. I took him inside and cleaned him up and got him warm. He was very weak and lackluster though. Colusa barely even made a fuss after a few minutes.

Costa got caught of his accord. He called and called for Colusa and Colusa called back. I then opened the door and he walked in. Costa was ridiculously friendly for a feral. He loved getting pet and was willing to get loved on by everyone after he realized how great it was.

Contra was a bit more difficult, well he was just contrary. He walked around and hollered for his siblings but wouldn't come near me. I opened the door and he stayed away. I finally managed to grab him while he was climbing on the window screen looking for his brothers. I don't think I've ever seen such a fat and heavy kitten! Contra, the fat little kitten, scratched and fought and snarled as I got him inside and finally the brothers were reunited. Contra and Costa then went and hid under the bed.

Sadly, Contra was the only healthy kitten and Costa and Colusa were just too sick to survive. Perhaps Contra was able to figure out to catch his own food and the others were just too immature to do so still. We're not sure why he weighed three times their weight but Contra was definitely fat and sassy. Contra misses his brothers but he has bonded really well with the other cats. They take care of him and he takes that as his due.

Contra is about three months old now and is getting a little friendlier. He is still contrary though. Anything you want him to do, he does the opposite. We put down food and he comes and winds around our feet trying to trip us. We put down food to try and catch him, and he won't come out. If we want to pet him, he'll stay right out of reach. If he wants attention, he's right there staring at us. Connie is a sweetheart though and just waiting to trust us so he can be himself.

i just realized Contra is going to be about a year old in June. He's getting much friendlier and if I walk up slowly to him he'll lower his head so I can pet him. He walks all around me while I'm seated, steps on my computer while I work on it, just like the other cats, and loves attention as long as it's on his terms and I don't move too quickly. Contra also regularly comes out and hangs with everyone. Every time we start eating he usually appears, ready and willing to clean our plates for us if only we'll let him.

He is a little mystified about why we have a small bird, that flaps its wings and chirps a lot, yet none of the cats are eating it or even trying to eat it. Since we think his mother taught him to hunt the small chicks and baby ducks in the yard where he was born, this just goes against all he knows. He just stands and stares at it, trying to figure out what's going on and why Trinity is trying to give the bird a bath instead of biting it.

Hopefully he won't have too much of a relapse in attitude. He's going to the vet's soon to get neutered, and we hope it doesn't make him scared of people again.

Barbara is the little sweetheart. She's very quiet and isn't mixing with the other cats much yet but is becoming more one with the "pack" as time goes on. Barbie doesn't have much to say, she usually just watches the other cats meowing and running around and sits high above it.

Santa Barbara was found when we went to look at a house that was for rent. The people who had been in the house before didn't bother themselves to take Barbie with them when they moved. When we got out of the car to see the place she came walking up, crying, and with a little coaxing she was in my arms. The neighbors said she'd been begging at their house for a while but they didn't like cats so they didn't feed her. Since she was skin and bones it was pretty obvious she probably didn't have anything to eat since her owners left her behind. I took her home, fed her, and gave her a warm place to sleep. She spent hours purring and purring and rubbing against me, thankful for the care. No one ever stepped forward to claim her and so she's the newest cat in the brat pack.

Interestingly enough, her first buddy out of the group was Esmerelda. He was fascinated with her and followed her all over the place. Butte was also intrigued, so the three black cats often hang out together. They don't cuddle too much, instead they seem to just like being near each other.

We got Tessa with her son, Hendrix. Tessa still not quite part of the group. She's extremely antisocial towards the other cats, and goes back and forth between sneaking up to whap them when they're aren't on their guard to the other extreme, running across the room, screaming about how one of the other cats is chasing her. Of course the other cats don't quite get it, and waver between trying to give her kisses(which she screams about) and trying to chase her since she obviously thinks there's something to fear about them. Just general havoc reigns. She adores people, and follows us around demanding attention, but her animosity towards the other cats gets in her way. We're hoping for a break through soon since she is getting a little better. Perhaps her aim of being top cat will soon give way to reality.

Update- June 2010: Tessa now has a wonderful home with a lovely lady where she will get lots of attention, and best of all there are no other kitties to bother her!

Hendrix is Tessa's son, and a very sweet boy he is. At the vet's office where we went to pick Hendrix and Tessa up from, he was such an aggressive kitty, towards Tessa and anything in his site, that we were worried. When he first came to our place, we thought our worries were well founded and that he would never acclimate. He hid all the time, attacked anything that came near, whether friendly paw, or helping hand. We kept him in the bedroom for weeks since he got so belligerent sometimes and we thought someone was going to get hurt. After a while, we released him to mingle again and he was a bit better, though still temperamental about everything. A cat too close got snarled at. Cats walking by caused temper tantrums. But finally he realized they didn't want to hurt him, that if he was nice to them, the other cats would give him kisses and he could sleep in the kitty piles with everyone else.

Hendrix is much better now. He still turns around and snarls if someone gets too close, but the other cats generally ignore him and maybe he realizes how stupid he looks since he's doing it less and less. We have to be careful while playing with the cats though since he doesn't understand the playful romping the other cats do, and thinks they're going to attack him when they're only trying to play.

He's also a mama's boy. He tries to get as close as humanly (kittanly?) possible to me, and if picked up will dig in his huge, sharp claws and won't let go. He sleeps on my side at night, a small battle that was waged against Hootie and Jerry since that's traditionally their spot and Hootie doesn't allow just anyone on the bed when she's in a mood. Now it's a contest to see who can claim the good spots on my first, which is usually Hendrix since he leaps onto me and sets his claws to stay in place as soon as I start laying down.

Jerry and Hendrix are getting to be great friends, and often are spotted laying in similar ways, or sometimes giving each other baths. They really resemble each other, which is interesting since Hootie and Tessa, moms of Jerrmiah and Hendrix respectively, are both highly opinionated tortoiseshell queens. Jerry and Hendrix are both long and lean, one is gray, the other is black, but they both think I belong solely to them.

We really, really wish to find a home for Hendrix where he's feel comfortable. Our home is a bit too active for him, and Hendrix needs a place where he can be with only one or two other kitties. We're going to be picky about his home though, since Hennie uses his claws a bit too much and his new home needs to understand that he needs to cling using those claws when he feels nervous. Our biggest worry is that his claw usage will lead people to wanting to declaw him, and of course we'd never want him to go to a home where he would be mutilated in such a way. Hennie is a bit neurotic already, something like that would destroy him.

Peekaboo was a surprise kitty. One day we went outside to look inside our storage shed for something and a little face suddenly peeked up at us. There was a heavy rainstorm earlier that day, so we think she came inside to stay out of the weather. Peekaboo was obviously a stray. She was matted and had a chipped fang, so we brought her in to at least clean her up a bit and get her some food. She fit into the group so well and bonded so much, that it wasn't long before we realized she couldn't be rehomed, she was ours.

Now, Peekaboo may look like a sweet and gentle lady, but she's actually quite a diva. Everything has to be perfect for this little lady, and she's not afraid to tell everyone if it isn't. She wants her water fresh, either stirring the water dish and splashing it all over until it's mixed to her liking or finding some human's water glass and getting a proper drink. She likes to sit and watch you eat, knowing that of course you want to give her a treat. The only thing Peek-ies isn't fussy about is her coat. She always looks a bit raggedy, but the ragamuffin look is part of her charm.