Gotcha!

Friends, it's my very first ever gotcha day! or at least, it's the first one that I know that's been celebrated. It was a year ago today that I left my old place and came to live with the human. This would be my forever home, although I didn't know it at the time. Today we both will tell my gotcha story, the human from her point of view and me from mine. I'll let the human start, as mine will follow nicely on from hers.

Human

Do you remember me telling you about my little Russian white kitten? You know, the little nightmare girl that I loved so much but knew I couldn't keep? Bit of an odd place to start with Tia's gotcha story, but it does all start with Anna.





As I say, I knew I couldn't keep her. I'd tried everything else, and I do mean everything, to sort out the problems she was having... Except one thing. Would another, older cat give her company, and through that the happiness and contentment that she obviously wanted so desperately? I knew I'd be devastated if I had to give her up. I knew that it probably wouldn't work getting another cat. I also knew I'd regret it forever if I didn't try.





I set out with very specific requirements in mind. I wanted a cuddler. After Anna not allowing herself to be handled, this was a huge thing for me. I wanted a cat who didn't bite or scratch. I wanted one who got on well with others (after all, the reason for getting her was to be good company for Anna). I wanted her to be a short hair. I didn't even care if she was a he, just as long as the criteria were met. So I began my search.





My fiance was over for a few weeks this time last year, so we decided to take a trip up to Hereford to spend the bank holiday and catch up with some of my old friends. We decided to have a look in general for cats in that area, just on the off chance that there'd be something suitable. We came across an ad from a woman who was ending breeding and selling off all of her cats. But they were Persians. I discarded it, but myself and Bug just kept returning. In the end, he convinced me to go and see her with the idea that even if I didn't like the cats, I'd at least know what a Persian looked like. We were in Hereford anyway, so why not?





Well, we went, he wiht an open mind, me with a closed one. I knew I didn't want a Persian. They had health problems. They had way too much coat (I was already struggling with Anna's shorter hair in relation to my asthma, but of course, what I didn't know then was that shorter hair floats and is breathed in much more easily). I didn't want to devote the time every day to grooming, detangling, eye cleaning, special feeding, ridding the bum of cling ons after them being in the litterbox... Still, I went. Why? To this day, I can think of no good reason why I gave in. It's not my normal practice if I've decided i don't want a particular type of something!





We never did get to see where the cats lived, and in heinsight, I'd never make the same mistake again. Tia and another little cat were brought down to see us. The small one was a year-old kitten. The breeder admitted she hadn't been socialised propperly and advised against having her. Even though she was frightened, she didn't bite or scratch. She didn't even have a name. I was still too naive for this to ring alarm bells.





While I spent my time feeling sorry for the baby, Bug cuddled Tia. he's a good person to have with you when looking for cats, as he'll test them to see what their first reaction is to different things, some of which they don't like. For example, he'll rub their bellies. If they tolerate it, well and good. If not, he wants to see whether they defend themselves with claws and teeth, something I definitely didn't want, or whether they are more gentle and polite and will walk away, or swat with claws in. Remember at the time, I'd only ever had one kitten of my own (our family had cats, but none belonged specifically to me), and I wasn't as confident back then as I am now. I didn't know as much either.





Well, to get back to the story in hand, eventually I had a cuddle with Tia. She was a nice enough cat, definitely cuddly with strangers, but I still didn't know. We went away to think about it. Well, I did. Bug was already set.





I remember saying to him how I didn't expect a Persian's coat to be greasy or full of dandruff. I didn't know enough then to know this was through a lack of bathing. We talked for many hours, me wondering whether I could put up with all the extra work, he reassuring me that she was a lovely cat, and would do my heart good. He knew just how sore I was over Anna's total rejection of me after being such a cuddly kitten. He knew I was beating myself up, convincing myself it was my fault despite having tried every approach under the sun. He knew more than I did just how much I needed this cat, and even how much I needed the commitment of extra care. I needed to see something blossom under my touch.





After a further talk with the breeder, we arranged to pick Tia up on Monday for the long train journey home. I'll never forget that trip. Me and Bug managed to get on a train and had already gone 20 minutes before I realised I'd forgotten my handbag! So it was back to Hereford, then off again. All the while, Tia sat as quiet as you like in her carrier... Oh how times have changed! I took her out a few times for a cuddle on the way home, but she didn't seem amused. All my old worries set in, and were further added to when I got home and she refused to acknowledge anyone, preferring instead to hide behind the toilet. I knew cats hid. I knew it took them time to get used to new people, but I wanted so badly for her to not go the same way as Anna that I just couldn't be rational about it. Oh how I wish I knew then what I do now!

Tia's Story

Wow, that human can talk! I too remember my gotcha time very well, for it was a big change in my life.





Before the human came for me, I lived in a room with lots of other girlcats. The human says that it was 14, but I don't know. I don't bother with counting. My mummycat still lived with me then too, and the little blue baby that the human told you about also belonged to mummycat, although she had a different daddycat. I remember being taken to see the human and Bug. Bug was all right, but I could sense the sadness in the human as soon as I went to see her. I was on my best behaviour. I only thwapped her once! And I didn't put my claws out very far. It was enough to make her think twice though. I could see it in her face, and I regretted my actions. I don't know why, but I kinda wanted to go home with this human! I was also a bit embarrassed about the state of my coat but was relieved when she asked the breeder to give me a bath before going with her, if she agreed to take me, that was. She says this is to remove the scent of other cats and make integration into the house more easy. I was just glad cuz it meant I could look my best when I went to the new place!





On the Monday, I was put into the breeder's PTU and taken to a house. The human says this was her friend's house. There I was put into the human's PTU. It was nice and scary all at the same time. I could see out much better, but everything was so new! I stayed real quiet, wondering if I'd made the right decision in thinking that this human was the right one for me.





I stayed like that the whole way home. Even when the human and Bug tried to cuddle me, i just sat quietly. I never scratched or bit. I don't do that when i'm scared. The human tried very hard to comfort me, and although I was still just as frightened, it made me feel good to know that she seemed to already care.





When I got to the new house, I could smell another cat, and it wasn't long before I saw her. As soon as the human set my PTU down to open the bathroom door for me, she came and had a sniff, then hissed and spat and screamed at me through the door. of course, this made me want to hide, and I did this for many, many days before I'd let anyone touch me for long. I went from behind the toilet to behind the sofa, but every time I came out, that mean Anna would hiss and spit and really shout at me!





The atmosphere in the house wasn't good. The human was upset cuz Anna was no better and was now even bullying me. I never really made a move to ascert myself. Even now I will only hiss and spit when a stupid dogface or something comes into the house, but I'll never launch an attack. I avoided her as much as possible, but it didn't matter. Even when I was hidden, she'd walk around really grumbling at nothing in particular! The person who rehomed her said that she was like that even after months of being in a house with other cats, and even when she was separated, they never got past the stage of scent swapping with her, cuz she'd even growl at that, no matter how long blankets and bedding were left with her!





Back to my story though. A few weeks later, the human's grannypeople came to stay. She told the human that she saw me crouched in the middle of the floor with my head tucked right down, while Anna held me down with a paw and swatted me repeatedly round the head with the other, claws out, for a long time. The grannypeople is too sick to get down and separate us, and although she shouted, Anna ignored her and I was too busy protecting my eyes to move away!





Grannypeople was a turning point for me though. I knew she was sick. I also knew how much she wanted to cuddle me, but how she couldn't cuz she couldn't pick me up from the floor. One day, I jumped up to see her and find out if I was right. I was a little nervous, but the grannypeople had been nothing but nice, and her face got all smiley when I climbed on her. I quickly worked out that one of her hands wasn't so good at supporting me, so I got comfy and just lay there. She couldn't quite manage a stroke, but she patted me gently instead, and although I didn't like it as much, I purred anyway cuz she was warm and squishy and comfy to lie on. The human came in a few minutes later, and when the grannypeople told her she was trying to cuddle me, the human went and got a very soft baby brush that she was using on me to get me used to grooming. She held the grannypeople's hand with the brush in it, and helped her give me strokes with that. oh how nice it was! I stretched all the way out and went right to sleep, cuz I knew that if Anna wanted to get me, she'd have to come up on the grannypeople, and the grannypeople would protect me! From there, my llife went from good to even better. Every day i discover something new and pleasurable, from stinky goodness to tummy rubs, head stroking to sleeping in bed with the human.





So that's my gotcha story. I loved the human right from the start, and, once her heart had allowed her to believe that my love wasn't just a passing thing as it had appeared to be with Anna, the whole depth of her love was mine. She always loved me, she says. She was just afraid to let her heart get hold of that notion cuz she was so tired of it being sore.





They say a purr has health benefits. in this case, the purr has heart benefits. Our love grows stronger by the day. On this day of all days, we would both like to say a huge thank you to Bug. If it wasn't for you, Bug, my human would always have been too afraid to make the commitment, and I would never have met her. Thank you for helping us both heal! Oh, and for telling my human that us cats need tuna as part of our daily diets! For that, I praise you the mostest!

Wordy Wednesday: Why?

Friends, this is going to be a short post, I think. We haven't had much sleep, the human isn't in any fit state really for writing, and I'm on nurse duty which is, at the moment, taking up all of my attention. I told you my days are never dull, and I really did mean it!




We did manage to get on the train yesterday, and we even managed to get all the way home. I'm so comfortable on trains now that I spent most of the journey yesterday on my back and purring fit to burst. The only bad bit about them is that you gotta sit still for such a long time. I don't like that part.





The place we live was very cold when we got home, so the first thing the human did was to put the heat on full blast. I like it when she does this. She didn't stay awake too long, but fed me my stinky goodness, then climbed into bed with the phone that she uses to talk to Bug. Not long after that, she was asleep. This is where the trouble starts.





The human has two phones. One of them she calls a house phone, and the other is a mobile. The mobile goes everywhere with her, even to bed. Bug once asked her about this whenever it rang and woke them out of a sleep, but she explained that she needs to sleep with it close-by in case something is wrong back home where the family are. As I've mentioned before, the HGG is quite sick, and the human knows that if she sleeps through a phone call, it could be really bad if she's to get back in time to see her. The mobile doesn't often ring at night, but lately, when it has, it's been friends calling who just haven't realised the time.





We were startled out of a dead sleep by the ringing of the mobile, and the human is so trained that she picked it up without really fully coming awake. If it was a friend, she would tell them to go away and go back to snoring. But she went from cutely sleepy to fully awake in about half a second, shouting "What? What? Say it again!" She was so upset that she pushed the hang up button instead of the volume up button by mistake, then got more upset cuz the phone call had gotten ended. I watched, not liking what I was seeing. She was sat up, white and shaking.





The mobile rang again, and this time fully awake, she understood the message. Sadly, in the evening on 08th Feb, her humancousin, Gary, was found in a friend's flat about an hour away from where the family live. He had decided that it was time for him to cross the rainbow bridge, and had made it happen. The human couldn't believe it, and was shocked on two fronts. Gary sounds very like granny when you're half asleep, and this is who she thought had crossed initially. The HGG is one of, if not the most dear peoples to her in the world, next to me of course, so you can imagine the blow it would have been if it was her. Gary's passing was so unexpected that she still can't quite believe it.





There's been no sleep since she heard about it last night, and my fur might as well have been bathed in sea water for all the salt she's cried into it, but I let her. Even when I've had enough, I'll come back a few minutes later to see how she's holding up. She has the work hunt this morning, so she needs to put on her pretty face for that, which I'll help her do. She also has the horrible task of telling the HG cuz she's the only one that can get in contact with her while she's travelling round the world. She doesn't want to give her the news, but she's gotta. She's asked the HG to phone her, so hopefully I'll be around when that happens so I can give her snuggle support.





Friends, I'm writing this here just so that you know what's going on if we don't write for a few days. This last passing has taken the heart out of the human, so it might take her a little while to get back on track. But on the other paw, she doesn't know if she'll need the outlet of writing for me to help distract her, so we just don't know. We might write, we might not. You'll just have to wait and see! Remember, snuggle your peoples. Sometimes, they deserve it!

Happy and Sad

We have news, friends, but not all of it is good. My human is going to need some more snuggling, it seems. I'll tell you the sad first, then we can brighten a little with happy thoughts. Last night when it was dark outside, Dogman's grandad went to what some of you others called the rainbow bridge. The human knew him very well for years, and although he'd been sick for a long while with something even worse than runny eyes or even a runny bum, although they all expected it to happen, it's still come as a bit of a shock. Poor Dogman, like the human, found out when he was at work, and both have had to carry on their days there despite their grief. Dogman's grandad, even though I didn't know you, I think I would have liked you cuz the human says you were a happy man and a good cuddler. You will be missed by all you left behind. The human says she doesn't want to talk about this any more, and I can't blame her. It's about time she had a break, don't you think? I'm not one to go soft on her, but it just seems like it's been one thing after another after another for the last few months, with hardly time to surface and snatch a breath in between before the next wave comes. I will snuggle her silly tonight and eas her as much as I can.




Now, on to happier things. Thank you all so much for the human's birthday wishes. She saved them all up till the end of the day before she read them, and they gave her a happy face. She got presents too. Her cousin, the biggest humankitten that lives with little Phoebe actually, sent her some super posh chocolate in the post. The thing from the HGG was a bead for her Pandora charm bracelet. We can't work out what it is though, and the HGG can't remember (she has big memory problems), but it's an animal with a long tail that's kinda sitting up. The human thinks it's either a cat or a monkey. Oh, she's now officially considered the crazy cat lady too, or so she thinks. Her auntie, again the one that lives with Phoebe, says she sent her a birthday card with a cat face on it. When you open it and rub the cat's tummy, it even sings! The human says that when peoples search for birthday cards with cats on, it's a sign that you are the CCL. This singing sounds interesting to me though. I wonder if it's a skill I should start working on? Just as well it's only a picture and not a real cat else I'd have to get jealous! I will study its singing ability with great interest when mr postman finally drops it off in the post box.





When the human got home from the work hunt yesterday, there was a message from another friend of hers, not the one who cancelled, asking her if she was doing anything that evening. The friend, hmmmm, let's call her funny lady (cuz she speaks with a funny accent), wanted to know if the human would go out with her, and of course she said yes. I packed her off to do her cleaning in the shower. It's such a shame they don't have the tongue to do it thoroughly and propperly, isn't it? Then she put on the non-fur clothes to cover her body and off she went.





Well, funny lady had surpassed herself! Instead of taking the human out, she took her to her house where she had made the most beautiful meal. There was chicken pie (why didn't I get some!) and delfinoise potatoes whatever they are, and peas in a cream sauce. This was followed by chocolate cake and champagne. This was all freshly home made (well, except for the champagne), and was simply divine. They finished up by giving her a card that they had got their son, who also has broken eyes, to braille for her. He was so excited about the human reading it. He's still quite a small kitten, you see, so it was a big achievement for him to write it.





The human got back late and was quite tired, but she'd had a super day, far better than she expected it would be. But wait, there's more to come.





The human received perhaps the best present yesterday morning by email. It was news, and boy was it big news. You remember Sparkles, the cat with the lonely heart? Well, she's found her forever home! The human is so pleased about this. She felt an incredibly strong connection with Sparkles and would have taken her herself if there wasn't that huge ocean thing in between. As it was, she worked hard to make sure other peoples and cats and dogfaces featured her on their blogs. We even got her mentioned in Ireland! It simply made her day to know that yesterday, on her birthday of all days, Sparkles was adopted. And as if that wasn't coincidence enough, she's going to live with a lady who calls her blog Kat's Kats,. Her brother was adopted by another lady who writes Cat's Cats. How about that for an awesome confluence of events! Was there a reason for the connection the human felt? Well, I can't say, but it's pretty cool anyway. Sparkles, we hope your transport day this weekend goes super smoothly, and that you settle in well. You're going to a house of tims, so it shouldn't take you any time at all to begin your reign as princess supreme. You'll love it!





The human is waiting now only for her Birthday cards to arrive in the post, and to see whether she will go and be with Dogman to help him through his loss. She's told him she'll come, but he isn't sure he wants company, so if we don't blog for a few days, it's cuz the human has ran off to see him. Oh, that chocolate is certainly going to be needed to help get through the latest tough time. Now, where did I store the rest of my sandpaper kisses?

Christmas Eve!

This will be a joint post from me and the human. I decided that I couldn't let her write alone on Christmas eve, so here I am.




It's been a quiet few days without the human here. Dogman is good, but he doesn't talk to me as much as she does. he's fun to follow though. The human says this is a good sign. I follow her around, so she thinks cuz I follow him it means I like him. What she doesn't seem to consider is that he's interesting to watch, that's all.





Some strange things happened today. For one, Dogface came back when she wasn't sposed to. Apparently, Dogman's mummypeople's daddypeople (so, Dogman's grandad) got rushed back to hospital. He's not very well anyway, but they were hoping he'd be Ok over Christmas. This meant that the mummypeople had to leave in a hurry to go see him, so Dogface got to come stay with me and Dogman. This meant some rearranging though. My foods and my box were out in the open, and if they were left there, Dogface would have gone scavenging. I'm not going to go into details of what she takes from the box. It's too disgusting for Christmas eve, but she eats all my foods too, so Dogman had to move them. This meant I went up in the world though, as I now have a whole room all to myself that Dogface can't get into. It has my foods and my box in there, and even a massive soft flat thing called a massage table for me to lie on. The door only has a little gap in it so I can get in and out but Dogface can't. Hah! So I can have my stinky goodness in peace! The human isn't so pleased that we won't all be separated though. She consoles herself with the fact that she tried.





Dogman's tree is very, very interesting. I keep considering really whapping one of the dangly things, but I'm too much of a ladycat to go attacking things. Instead, I stand up on my back legs and grab them with my front. My human has another one of her word pictures of me for you.





I heard a bit of a rumpus coming from the tree. Dogman has a lot of very expensive glass ornaments which, after heeding my advice, he hung nice and high, so although I knew she could only get at the plastic ones, I was worried about her potentially pulling the tree over. When I got to her, I found a ladycat with fluff on end which means she's in high play mode, and tail a-quiver. There she was with her two hind paws planted squarely on the carpet. Her two front ones weren't there though. They were stretched right up and holding onto one of the biggest baubles. She just held it there rather like you or I would hold a mug between our hands to warm them. Her head was down and she was sniffing like crazy as though she couldn't quite work out what this strange thing was. She was like a little statue until I lifted my hands, then the whapping started. Discovering that the ball stayed fixed to the branch though, she let out the most disgusted sounding meow, gave the offending item an almighty swipe, then pelted away from the tree as though it had bitten her. She sprinted to the other end of the house, then came tearing back like her tail was on fire.





Human, I only ran away to get a ping pong ball. They're much better. They roll. Stupid tree.





While my day has been relatively quiet, the human's has been hectic. She's been wrapping and distributing presents all day. Even though she didn't go out to other peoples' houses to wrap presents, lots of them came to see her and the HGG. She got to see the youngest humankitten in the family. He is only two years old, and it's funny cuz as soon as he saw her, he went crazy. He is deaf too, so instead of making the talk noise at him, she waved and made a big smiley face. He let out a big squeal and ran at her, right past the HGG, dived on her and gave her a big, sticky fat hug. His mummypeople says she's never seen him do that with anyone before. The human was pleased. I don't know why though. Little stickies pull your hair and put slobber on you and they're so noisy!





It's only 20 minutes till Christmas, and the human says the last visitor has only just left. She always gets up with the babies to see them open their santa presents, so there won't be much sleep for her. The HGg is very tired from all the visiting, and hasn't been too well today anyway, so she's going to have to put her to bed too and get her settled before she can sleep. Then once the kitten presents are done, it's time for her to open hers. Sadly, Dogman hasn't bought me or Dogface anything to open. I'm disappointed, but the human says that I shouldn't be. She says all the stuff she bought for Santa Paws initially will be mine, as we couldn't send it in our package after I got sick again, just in case Mr Bug had stowed away while we weren't looking. Plus we will have our own Santa Paws package when we get back from Hannah and Lucy, and we have the toys from the Kazba Kitten too. Oh, it's so exciting! But I want something now. The human says she'll tell Dogman to give me extra stinky goodness, but it's not quite the same. We don't know if we mentioned before, but we sent our Santa Paws package out way earlier this week, and we can only hope that it's reached the recipient on time!





The only thing that remains is for me and the human to wish you all a very, very merry Christmas. Thank you all for being with us over the last few months. we know they haven't been easy, what with us all complaining about being sick and all. We hope you all get everything that you want from Santa Paws or santa clause if you're a people, or santa claws if you're a cat who prefers the paw of guidance with claws extended. Either way, we hope you all have a peaceful and happy day tomorrow with lots of food and love and time with those nearest and dearest. I feel it only propper to remind the peoples that stinky goodness should not be rationed on this day of giving. It would be mean to do so! Also, laps should be available at all times for cuddling in, even if you see sitting still as an inconvenience. The turkey is for our consumption, so please don't be frustrated if we eat first. We promise we'll leave some for you.