Cat-topia
By Lisa M Furbush
I
always joked that one day I would be the crazy cat lady… little did I
know that it would come true and my fiancé, Sean, would join in the fun.
I
have always loved cats (and dogs!). When I was little we had Muffin
and Pandy. They were indoor/outdoor cats and very independent. Pandy
lived to 18 years old and Muffin...well he had 9 lives. I have no idea
how old he was when he crossed the bridge.
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| Me at Halloween (as a mouse!) with Muffin |
When Pandy passed, we picked up twins, Ping and Pong (super cute!!!) to learn hunting and cat stuff from Muffin. They were the best little friends a girl could have!
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| Me doing homework with Ping. He loved to do paperwork. |
At
the same time, my grandma also adopted a sister of Ping and Pong’s and
her name was Meetoo. When my grandma passed, Meetoo and Puffy (her
second cat) moved in with my parents and me. We had five cats for quite a
while! Unfortunately, Muffin, Ping, and Pong passed and Puffy and
Meetoo reigned the house. Meetoo managed to outlive them all and moved with me when I bought my first home. Here is her picture on her 18thbirthday. It was a very sad Christmas when Meetoo passed at age 19.
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| Meetoo on her 18th Birthday. There are no words to express how much I loved her! |
Ping, Pong, and Meetoo were in my life for so long – I didn’t know if my heart could love another fuzzball. Well,
as fate would have it, a friend realized how broken hearted I was and
literally showed up on my doorstep with Luna the summer after Meetoo's
passing. It was love at first sight. She is one of the most unique cats I have ever met. She acts more like a dog than a cat. She
will fetch, she will talk, she waits by the door for your return. She
is a wonderful companion and I am so grateful we found our way to each
other.
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| Ms. Luna |
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| Yes, we got her a stroller! |
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| Such a princess. |
Now,
my fiancé and I had our own places. He always had dogs but two little
cats appeared at his work office and he started caring for them. He
built them a shelter, brought them blankets, and fed them…and fed
them….and fed them…. constantly. We named them MJ and Stella. MJ
clearly knew how to be a cat; Stella, not so much. It was impossible to
touch her. When winter came around, in CT, one of them started
wheezing. He managed to catch both of them and we brought them to the
vet. We essentially were told that if we left them outside they
wouldn’t last the winter. So, Sean adopted two cats and brought them
home! We had them fixed (or so I thought) and they lived happily ever
after in a beautiful home where they were fed off our plates and enjoyed
steak, salmon, pork, basically any carnivorous product. Our little
garbage disposals. Stella is almost better than a dog, but she will not
lick the floor.
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| MJ and Stella - inseparable. |
In
2016 we decided to merge households… in Georgia. I had accepted a
dream job offer and Luna and I left Connecticut. In 2016, Sean, MJ, and
Stella made the journey down the east coast.
The
merge of Luna, (now 10 years old), MJ (probably 8), and Stella (probably
4), continues to this day. Now, I had never ‘lived’ with Stella, and
noticed that she didn’t act quite right. Sporadically, you’d watch her
screaming at the top of her lungs, looking for some love from MJ, and
marking certain areas of the house. NO ONE wants to live with that
craziness. I brought her to a local Georgia vet and thank God, I
did. Unbeknownst to me, when Stella was originally fixed, the 80 year
old vet my fiancé used, only found ONE ovary… well that certainly
explained a lot. My new GA vet, for a few pennies, 78,100 pennies to be
exact, did an exploratory surgery, and found the withered
nonfunctioning ovary and removed it. He also found… or didn’t find a
kidney. She’s a wee bit of a freak of nature. While I still cannot pet
her, hold her, or sit in the same room as her, she’s a beautiful, long
legged, carnivorous, feline with an incredible personality.
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| Stella after her second fixin'. :) |
Last
summer, while Sean was hanging out on our back patio, a pipsqueak cat
appeared. He had no tail, was all cut up, hungry, and looking for
affection. Needless to say, he adopted us. He wasn’t interested in
coming inside so we made him little tents all over the patio for him to
rest and stay dry. This eventually led to his name, Scout, because like
all good boy scouts, they know how to set up tents and camp.
Scout is now a 4thdependent
in our household, has had his medical ‘tail’ of woes, and has now
become fond of coming in for breakfast and dinner and a little loving.
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| I don't think he's afraid of coming inside.... Scout. |
It’s
quite a crew and there is never a dull moment. Sean is looking forward
to moving and adding a puppy to the mix. I can’t begin to imagine the
nuttiness that will ensue.
I hope you are all having a crafty happy summer!
xoxo
Lisa
