The CAT room!

Vivien, I think all cats walk on their toes. Mikey is no exception. When he walks, the toes on his front feet seem to work--the thumb in position. But his back feet have two extra toes each, and they seem to be distributed in a random sort of way. Mr. Mikey is not the most graceful of felines, which, of course, makes absolutely no difference to me.

How many toes does Paddy have (total)?

Roberta, thank you, and yes Paddy didn't have an adjustment to make and I doubt if he would have handled it as well as Lacey did.

Lacey spent most of the day outside on the porch, loving her little corner where she can watch the birds and the camelions, and squirrels.

Paddy has been sort of pouting, it's also obvious he isn't happy his friend is here, but he has no say in the matter.

I love having Lacey especially for the weekend, she's so ready to spend time outdoors even if it is screened in!

There's a bouganvilla bush outside of the porch which sort of blocks the kitties view, so that had to be chopped down, now they can see all the little critters.

Right, Roberta. All animals except bears and the primates walk on their toes. Cats and dogs, at least, have such an incredibly long foot by our standards, it's like having an extra knee joint - pointed rearwards, of course.

Thought I'd toss that in there. . . .

Just so ya'all know Lacey is safe and sound:

Today's photographs, Misti? But I thought it was winter in the northern hemisphere? It looks lovely outside. Your place is obviously a pleasure palace for feline critters.

I don't know why I have never come into your lovely room before, Olga, but I am certainly glad that I am here now.

I was never allowed to have a cat as a child....my mom said she was allergic to them and I didn't get my first lovely feline until about 12 years ago. She was a gift from a very dear friend of mine who has since passed away, but I still have my gorgeous black Bombay, Elvira to remind me of him quite often.

Of course, I also have Bob and Widget and Duncan and Daphne now as well. I love to hear my mom sneeze when she comes to visit.

I want to write more, but it is really late right now and I have to get some sleep! I'll be back tomorrow though!

Welcome, Lady J, Elvira, Bob, Widget, Duncan and Daphne! My goodness, there certainly are a lot of you! And how come it taken so long for you all to find us?

Looking forward to stories about you all & (if possible) photographs! Oh, this is exciting!

(Pssst, Lady J, you'll have to call me msolga here, unfortunately, otherwise I become a lingerie advertisement!)

Yes msolga, it is winter here, and our winters are mostly gorgeous. It was around 70F yesterday, just lovely.

Lacey is truly enjoying her visit because she can be out on the porch which she loves.

Lady J, it is wonderful to have you here and I'm also looking forward to your stories and photos.

I meant Paddy walks even more up on his tiptoes with his front paws somehow - maybe I'm imagining it and it's just his toes.

Paddy hasn't got as many extra toes as Mikey Roberta - just one on each foot - on the back paws you notice he has big paws but it doesn't show so much - it's the little sideways thumbs on his front paws that strike everyone as soon as they look at him. They must help with his tree and fence climbing.

On his thumb he has a dew claw as well but it is only small ( is that the correct term, I think it is), so the thumb isn't the dew claw that has overdeveloped.

I've tried to get a close up photo but he moves too much!

hi Lady J

A dew claw on his thumb? This is getting complicated. His thumb helps him climb trees? I had no idea that it was of use. Can't tell stuff like than with an indoor cat.

Welcome Lady J. Waiting to hear more.

We lost our Maine Coon Reebok this week. He was 15 and was under a vets care because he had a myopathy. I found that this isnt unusual for bigger breeds like Maine Coons or Ragdolls.
Reebok was our constant companion. Hed follow you all over and had that endearing quality of laying in almost obsene positions. In the morning, I was usually first up and as Id make a pot of coffee hed come over and bat at your toes. I believe that was a "feed me" kind of bat cause his normal batting was kind of like a caress.
God damn, I hate to lose pets . Hes given us so much just by his little dumass habits like jumping up on a windowsill and peering around curtains , waiting for someone to come close and then BAM, hed pounce.

He was pretty active up to the end .Even his going was kind of like an Irish joke. He went to take a dump and had a heart attack we guess (Maine coons dont just dig a little spot of litter then cover it, they MINE it with lots of flailing. We were constantly vacuuming up after him.

We are now down to 7 cats (2 inside cats, booger and lucky) and 5 outside(they actually live in a heated building that was the old milk house where they have freee range of all the other buildings and barns (Miss Feely, Lewis, Clark (2 twins) Mooney, and Lefty) Lucky was totally depressed cause she used to sleep next to Reebok who would clean lucky like an adoptive father.
People constantly drop cats off in our lane, and we take them in and make them part of our family.
Reebok was the only cat we ever went out and bought (except for a little cat that we smuggled in from Canada once but she only cost us like 10 bucks at a pet store in St STephen)

We buried Reebok this morning and we all cried and had a small service where evryone remembered a favorite Reebok story. Like , as a kitten,when we had im in our old RV in Maine and he was sleeping in a bin of wash and wound up in the wash machine and he didnt make any noise until Mrs F looked in the window and saw him looking out
Its hard to say goodbye to one whose been part of our lives for 15 years. He was special.

So sorry for your loss, farmerman. It is hard to say goodbye.

Pets mourn just as hard as humans, sometimes even more so. I expect Lucky will be depressed for a long time.

In the last couple of years, my closest friends have lost their two oldest cats to illness and they lost their youngest to feline leukemia. They now have one cat left . . . and she is so DEPRESSED it is heartbreaking.

I constantly tell them that they MUST get another cat (for the sake of their remaining cat), but they refuse.

You have great memories of Reebok, but his daily presence will be missed by all. Again, so sorry for your loss.

Awww. That's sad. It's a good thing cats live for the present. Whatever they've got, they just seem to accept as normal. We're so lucky to know that things are supposed to be better than they are.

Farmerman, please know we are grieving with you, and our prayers are also with you.

I just can't imagine losing one of our cats, it must be a terrible and lonely feeling.

You know Reebok is in a better place and is probably watching over you all at this very moment!

Hugs!

Oh I'm so sorry, farmerman. It is very hard, the knowledge that that special friend will no longer be around to entertain & to love. It takes quite a while to sink in, that they've actually gone, never to be seen again. I guess we get better at coping with these losses, the older we get, but .....

This has been a bloody sad day here at A2K, that's all I can say.

farmerman, So very sorry to hear about Reebok. Pets hold such a special place in our hearts that when they die, it seems especially painful. Their passing leaves a little hole in our lives.

My thoughts are with you.

when I posted that, I had no idea about cav's death.

The one doesn't diminish the other, you know.

Farmerman, Roger is right. Your loss and your feelings are real and potent. You remain in my thoughts, and does Cav and his wife.

Such a sad time.

Bloody sad day indeed.

My condolences, farmerman.