Happy Holidays from the Cats
December 5th, 2006
Hello everyone, I'm Lucy, SBG's wife.
I used to write on this site once in a while and I posted pictures of our cats. But, I don't post very much anymore. However, we got our annual cat pictures back on Sunday, so I thought that I'd take over this site and post a couple of pictures.
SBG tells me that some of you may never have seen any pictures of our cats. Also, the old pictures have been destroyed apparently. So, I'm going to tell the story of our cats.
When SBG and I were dating, I had a cat named Puddy. Puddy was an old cat and she wasn't very friendly to anyone besides me. I used to tell SBG to pet her and he'd try and she'd hiss at him. I really thought that was funny, but he didn't. He wasn't much of a cat lover. In fact, he didn't like cats at all.
One day I was at work and a co-worker brought in this little kitten. He was only four weeks old. My co-worker had found him on a country road on the way in to work. His mother and siblings had all been run over. He was lying in the middle of the road when he got rescued. I wanted so much to take him, but Puddy didn't like other cats, either. So I called SBG and asked him if he would take him. Much to my surprise, he agreed to do so. So, SBG took in this little cat, named him Jags and little Jags became SBG's buddy. Jags is a big cat now. When I say big, I mean he's REALLY big. He's a Maine Coon cross and we've measured him at 36 inches nose-to-tail.
SBG was going to law school and working when Jags was a kitten and Jags had some serious separation anxiety. Every morning, Jags would lie in front of the door when SBG was leaving for work. He was making a stand! SBG figured that he wouldn't eat at all when he wasn't there. What to do? SBG said that Jags needed a playmate. So, when a client of the clinic where I worked at brought in some kittens one day, I picked out one to be Jags's brother. SBG named him Theodore Finkle (Theo for short). Theo is about nine months younger than Jags. We got him when he was about six weeks old. For two days, Jags hissed at poor Theo. Then Jags got over that and The Boys have been partners ever since.
Here are Jags and Theo. Theo is the gray cat. Jags is the beauty with the big white paws.
After we got married, SBG and I were at the pet store getting some food or litter or something and the store had cats to take from a shelter. There was a cute little girl that looked a little like Jags. SBG thought we should get that cat and I didn't disagree. We brought her home and were a little worried about how "The Boys" would react. Well, the boys were very excited and welcoming to Eleanor Rigby ("Elly"), but Elly hissed and growled at either one of The Boys whenever they got close to her. That went on for about a week. I thought that we'd have to get rid of Elly, but eventually, she relented. Now, she gets along with them okay, but I must admit that there is some tension between them. She fights with both of The Boys, especially Jags.
Here's Elly:
With Baby SBG coming, we are little concerned about how the cats will react. We think Jags and Theo, who love pretty much anyone that they come in contact with, will be okay. Elly's a little more skittish and we worry about her. However, the cats have their own little social network and I think they will be fine.
Anyway, I wanted to show off our little guys. Happy holidays from the SBG and Lucy cat family!
Categories: Lucy
Great post. I don't know much about cats, but Theo has excellent coloration.
You work at a clinic? What kind of work do you do?
Thanks!
I used to work at a Dermatology clinic. I recently left my job at a daycare now to be at home! I am relaxing and getting things ready for the baby. SBG works so many hours so it's nice that I can stay home and take care of home things.
Those are really beautiful pictures.
I'll bet. And you take the cats to a portrait studio every year?
Oops! I was trying to edit a comment made by Lucy using my name and I accidentally deleted it.
She said that it was hard to get three cats to sit still.
Then frightwig responded: I'll bet. And you take the cats to a portrait studio every year?...
And the answer is yes, we do.
I'll tell Lucy to ID herself when she comments. It is difficult for me to get our computer to log out from my account.
I have a cat at home. It used to be my cat, followed me around everywhere, slept on my bed... then I went away to college. Now when I go home it likes to pretend that I don't exist. Fickle things, those cats...
I LOVE cats. I always have. Growing up on the farm, we always had cats and I spent a lot of time with them.
For a couple years, I had "access" to my neighbor's cat - he'd come over whenever he felt like it, and fall asleep on my chest while I lay on my couch. I loved it. For me, there are few things more relaxing and soothing than a purring cat.
Sadly, he died several years ago, and I really miss him. I live alone, and have to work quite a bit, including some travel. I don't feel right having a cat at home all alone every day, and when I travel I just don't have any good options for alternate care.
So, thanks for sharing those pictures. They look like very nice cats.
This is SBG (not Lucy) here. I really didn't care for cats at all until I got Jags. He's a fantastic animal. He is extremely affectionate, much more so than the other two. He's also very playful. Theo is a card. So even tempered and quiet, but he's also the most fearless and curious. Break out the laser light and he goes absolutely crazy! Elly fights with the other cats a fair amount, but she also is very affectionate.
I'm allergic to cats and can't stand them anyway, but the story of Jags sounds exactly like Sheenie's dog, Hildy. Sheenie adopted her during her time as a 1L at the SBG College of Law, and the dog still, two years later, has some seperation anxiety problems.
Hildy had a health scare last weekend and her vet said she would probably need to be put to sleep. Thankfully, we got a second opinion from my parents' vet and the outlook wasn't quite so bleak. However, it has required us to give Hildy an IV from home every other day - that is not fun.
Before I got married (during the living-in-sin period), I promised my other half that we would get a cat if I got a particular job. Which I did, followed almost immediately by one of my new co-workers offering up a barely-weaned kitten, so small that she could curl up on the inside of my shoe.
she lasted all the way through two moves across country, grad school and the birth of my first child before suffering a mental breakdown soon thereafter. It broke my heart to have to take her to the vet to be put down.
almost 10 years later, we acquired a new cat, handed down through my wife's family. A boy this time. Incredibly affectionate, incredibly spoiled. Only drinks from the bathroom faucet (my side, of course). But, thankfully, I've trained him to only bug my wife at oh-dark-hundred when he demands to be watered, then walked down to his food bowl.
I never had a pet as a kid but my wife grew up with cats, so she was pretty set on having a cat.
So we adopted one from the Humane Society and she became my buddy, always laying on me whenever I watched TV or played games. Unfortunately she had either FIP or FIV and had to be put down after a year. Man, that really sucked and it really got to me.
After 9 months or so, we adopted another cat. This time we got a 2 year old and have had her for about the past year and a half. She's a real character--spends time with my wife during the day and evening, but at night she sleeps on me and then follows me around all morning. It's taken her a long time to open up to us, but at least she's gotten there.
Then there's our youngest, another kitten from the Humane Society, who is currently residing with my in-laws after a nasty fight (likely caused by redirected aggression) between her and the oldest. Not sure if we're just going to allow my in-laws to keep her or if we're going to give cat co-habitation another go. Having both of them around was a riot, so we're hoping they'll find a way to coexist again.
As you can tell, my wife turned me into a cat fan pretty quickly!
Butch is an animal lover, Mrs. Butch is not. When they come to visit, Butch plays with Theo non-stop. He's a real fun cat.
The cats sleep by me for the most part. They like me better than Lucy because she can't stop picking them up.
And the answer is yes, we do.
I'd call you crazy, but the results speak for themselves.
This is Lucy. The cats do not like SBG better! He just thinks so!
This is Lucy again. Theo put his tail on top of the toaster this morning and his fur got charred a little. He was not hurt at all thank goodness. He is so curious!!
And what's that costing you?
besides your sanity, that is.
Many years ago, I was staying over at a friend's house in a hide-a-bed at the end of a hall. They had a huge Siamese cat - beautiful, but very standoffish, almost arrogant.
At one point in the evening, this largish cat ran down the length of the hall and leapt up onto the bed, right onto my chest, staring at me intently. It was quite clear who the boss of the house was.
A nightly occurrence at SBG World Headquarters, my man.