Black Cats

Many of you have figured out by now that I am in love with the Dalmatian breed. What some may or may not know is that I had pets of the feline purr-suation a few years before. I refer to the actual time as ‘Back in the mid 80’s”. 

TomCat was the first pet I had in my adult life.  He was surrendered to San Francisco SPCA. As the boyfriend (at that time) and I visited the cat room, at a few our friend’s urging, he sat in the back of the crate, wearing the expression of “Well, I’m here! But if you’re not considering me, don’t waste my time’. Yup, he came home that day with us. The funny thing was that the BF’s name was also Tom. The BF was trying to tell me that maybe the SPCA only gave the cat that name. I didnt believe it, as I called the cat, who at the moment was sniffing around his new home and had his back towards us. He turned around and Meowed ‘Yes? That’s Me!”. The BF was known as ‘sweetie’ after that moment.   TomCat was about 5 years old, and full of personality. His card at the SPCA said that he was having issues of being house broken. Turns out he had stomach cancer about 6-7 months after we brought him home.  When the BF and I went to say our goodbyes, he immediately recognized us and started talking. He was loosely stitched together, IV of painkillers from his neck, and yet the Vet Tech allowed the door to the crate open becasue she saw how he loved us.  He would walk along the back of the sofa towards me and head butt my neck if I didnt say hello upon my return. He also knew that I was allergic to animal dander so he purposely stayed away from my face but the rest of me was fair game.  After he went OTRB, the friends who first urged us to see TomCat, said they knew somebody who just had kittens.

That’s how the Kitteh Brothers found their way into our lives. Ming and Leroy.  These boys were very young as one could fit in the palm of my hand. They scampered into the bathroom and humg out under the clawfoot tub we had. It was quite the sight of Leroy standing guard in front of Ming and being protective with his little hissing.  Ming, a Siamese mix with short hair, was always quiet, and reserved, while LeRoy, long hair with that crook in the plume of his tail,  did things that made you think that the elevator didnt always go to the very top.   The Kitteh Brothers were quite unique. or at least I thought so. They loved their canned/wet food mixed with iceberg lettuce. They also ate cantalope rinds and loved eating the stirfry veggies I made. They were great insect exterminators as the apartment was in a very old building.  They were rehomed when we moved out of the Nob Hill apartment to move to the SOMA area of town and that’s a story for another time.

Fast forward to the present:  A couple of neighbors found two kittens but could only catch one of them. The first kitten ended up in my care for a couple of days, and I found him a nice home. You may have seen the YT video I made of Leo. A couple of days later, my other neighbor finally caught the other one. Mr. SixToes.  He’s been here for 3- 4 weeks now. He’s quite the kitteh. He Meeeeeoorrrwww’ed for an hour when he was getting settled in. He has gotten lots of practice honing his feline skills of stalking and pouncing, as well as the general zoomies. He is keeping me entertained with these antics of his, which some say is good for the healing of the heart. Introducing Panky, short for Panther and his hanky-panky ways, as he is now a member of this family.

Did I mention that TomCat, Ming and LeRoy, and now with Panky  that they were/are black cats?