My life started out pretty rough. My Mom lived on Lori's grandparents farm. Her name was Grace. Lori thinks she may have been a Maine Coon but she had long hair. Life on the farm wasn't easy for the cats. Mainly because the farm was right on a highway. Mom would cross the road to hunt mice in the fields. She was a good little mouser according to Lori's grandmother. Everyone loved my mother. She was a very nice cat. She had several litters of kittens before me and my siblings but not very many survived the road and other malady's. So I guess I am a real luck cat to be able to tell this story at all.

My mother had me and 3 other kittens in what was part of the hog shed.(Mom might have been a good mouser but she wasn't too smart.)One of my siblings crawled out of our hiding place and was quickly made into lunch. Mom wised-up or so she thought and moved us to a bucket in the back of an old pick-up. Wouldn't you know it rained and we almost drowned. Lori's uncle Duke rescued us from the bucket and install my family on the enclosed front porch of the house. We were warm, dry and presumably safe.

Lori's family would let mom out and into feed us or for her to go do what she needed to do. One night they called her to come in and she never came. We were only about 2 weeks old. The next morning mom was found dead on the highway. My family and I thought we were goners. Who was going to feed us, keep us warm and give us love? Lori's grandmother didn't have the time to care for 3 orphan still half blind kittens. Neither did her uncles nor her aunt. But we got lucky Lori's mom, a lady who isn't a cats person, let her humanity prevail. When Lori's mom came to visit and heard our story she knew that Lori would take care of us. She packed us up and took us to her home, an hour from our birth place.

Lori had a time with us 3 small wiggily creatures. She had to make all sort of calls trying to trackdown a kitten formula or recipe for one. Then came trying to teach us to us a animal nurser. We were hungry so we caught on fast. Pretty soon Lori got to wraping us in a soft blue clothe, fliping us on our backs and giving us our bottle. We held onto the bottle just like little babies do Lori says.

We grew fast. Lori and her father fed us every four hours day and night. When we were done Lori, who had read that momma cat's lick their kittens bottoms to stimulate their bladders and bowels, would take a wet cloth and wipe us. You know unlike a lot of hand raised kittens we never got the trots.

My sister, brother and I were a handful. Lori named us Snowy, Polkadot (polky for short) and Macavity. Polky was really Lori's favorite when we were small. Polky was also a white long hair with blue eyes but he had one grey spot on the top of his head. No other grey anywhere on him. And Macavity well she was a short haired grey tabby. And she was always into mischief. She learned to climb out of our box and up the stairs before Polky and I had yet figured out that the box was not the whole world next to Lori and her dad. That's how she got her name from the musical "Cats" by T. S. Elliot.

I was the biggest of the 3 but I wasn't the healthiest. When we were about 5 weeks old Lori found me one day totally sopping wet and stinking. She gave me a bath and blew me dry. A few days later it happened again. This time she found me somewhat lifeless. She gave me another bath and blew me dry and I seemed to revive so that I was close to my perky self. But she still called a vet and he said bring me in. Well he examined me and Lori told him my symptoms. He thought I was probably diabetic so he said if it happened again that I should pass out to give me a dose of corn syrup.

Well not more than a week later Lori's dad came down at 5 am to feed us and I looked dead. He couldn't revive me. He was heartbroken and knew Lori would be devestated too. But he did what he thought was best. He put me in a plastic bag and carried me around to the side of the house so I could be buried later in the day. Bless Lori's mom because she told her husband he better go make sure I was dead before he got Lori up. They just knew she'd be a wreck. He came outside and I was screaming my head off. He rushed me inside while Lori's mom got Lori. Lori came down and got a syringe of Corn syrup and stuck it down my throat. I wasn't pleased.

Lori had a class that morning so her dad called the vet and took me in. Turned out I had low blood sugar and needed high protein food. I had to begin on that immediately. My sister and brother weren't too happy since that meant we all had to be weaned of the bottle. Dried cat food wasn't too tasty after those bottles.

Then friends of Lori's family started to take interest in us as pets. A boy in Lori's mom's class wanted a cat. They came and looked us over. Lori said she couldn't let me go because of my health problems which I was supposed to grow out of by 9 months old. Then a woman that Lori's dad taught with came and took Polky. That was hard for Lori. But she had me and I had her. By the way Mac and I still have our original names but Polky? Oh well I might as well tell you, his name is now White Dog. Don't ask why because I don't know. That lady's other cat is named Crawlspace. I don't envy Polk at all.

Life was really good for me. I had the run of a house, great food and a doting pet. I also gained 3lbs a month for 3 months. I now weigh 17 Lb. I look bigger but it's mainly fluff.

When I was 4 months old we found out I'm allergic to Kilt. Kilt is a plaster repair cover paint stuff. Lori's family was having some house work done and they were using that stuff. My through started swelling. I couldn't breath and my collar got too tight. It was a Sunday and Lori had to call 6 vet's before she found one that would take me immediately. That vet was 35 minutes away from our house. Thank God they took me in because I would have died.

After all the trauma I had been through Lori just couldn't see making me an outdoor cat. She didn't want to risk me dying on the road not after fighting so hard to keep me alive. So I'm a fat lazy cat now.

I am neuterd. I am also declawed. Lori knows that it was a partial amputation of my toes. She hadn't planned on declawing me. Her furniture already showed my marks.(Lori and I have moved to our own house now.) She tried to break me of scratching furniture with a water bottle. She also got me scratch posts and catnip sceted things to scratch but aww I loved that couch. But this isn't why I'm declawed. I liked to play this game when I was little errr maybe not so little. I would sit in the floor beside Lori's bed and then reach up and pat at her with my paw. Sometimes I forgot and left my claws unsheathed. One night I did this while Lori was sleeping, I accidently caught her eyelid with my claws. She knew it was an accident but if she had had her eyes open when I did that she would have probably been blind. And there was know way to know if I would do that again. So she made the decision to have me declawed but only my front paws. She wanted me to have some ability to defend myself if neccessary. Please don't judge her too harshly for doing this to me. I don't love her any less for it.

I have a sister now! Her name is Lady Victoria... Vicky for short. Lori got her for me for my 6th Birthday. She's a white and smoke grey long hair with gold eyes. I love to chase her and be chased by her. It's not so lonesome now when Lori has to go away for a day or so.

Vicky was born on the same farm I was. She's probably a great-great niece of mine but it's hard to know for sure. Lori doesn't even know who Vicky's mama was. It seems there were 3 mama cats with kittens. Lori never saw Vicky with her mama to know.

When Lori got Vicky she was a wild little thing. Lori caught her using food for bait. I know it doesn't sound to nice but I can't complain I now have a playmate and sleeping buddy.

It took me about 3 weeks to stop hissing and smacking at her when she first came home. Lori laughs at that cause I was 17 times bigger than her. All I had to do was put my paw on her head and she'd be unable to move. Okay so I'm a big wuss! Now we get along great. A little to great at times... good thing Lori got me fixed or we'd have a million kids by now.

Vicky was born around the end of May to some time in early June of 1999. LOri would like to claim May 22nd as Vicky's birthday but that's only cause it's Vicky's namesakes birthday. Currently, Vicky weighs about 4 pounds. I still dwarf her. I probably always will afterall she seems to be a normal sized cat =^..^=

Lori will get a picture up of Vicky as soon as she gets one developed. I'm sure you'll think she's as pretty and sweet as I do. Oh yeah... one of my new favorite activities is too give Miss Vicky a bath. Lori thinks we are sooooooo darn cute together.

My favorite things

Tuna	Please Gemme! Lori won't let me have it often because of some chemical in it that cat's can't digest.
Paper Bags	That crinkle crackle is so much fun when I'm in the mood to play.
Chasin' Flies	I'm not outdoors so I have to stalk something Flies are such joy!
Lounging	by a window I love to watch what happens beyond my Kingdom.

My Vital Statistics

Color	All white
Fur	Long and curly on my belly
Eyes	Gold with brown flecks
Mom	Maybe a Maine Coon
Dad	White short hair with faint yellow tabby marks on his legs
Weight	Aproximately 17lb
Length	about 38 in. nose to tip of tail
Height	18 inches from top of head to the floor
Birthday	Estimated to be about Aug. 25, 1994

---

My Favorite Cat Banners

---

My Favorite Cat Prose and Poems


CAT KISSES
(author unknown)

Sandpaper kisses
on a cheek or a chin-
that is the way
for a day to begin!

Sandpaper kisses
a cuddle and a purr.
I have an alarm clock
that's covered in fur!


From Cats Are Better Than Men, by Beverly Guhl
They never complain about your weight.
They never leave the seat up.
They don't care how much money you spend.
They don't use up all the hot water.
They don't talk about themselves.
They think you look just fine without makeup.
They don't require closet space.
They don't care what you wear to bed.
They're never late for dinner.
They love your fuzzy terry bathrobe as much as you do.
They never complain about your housekeeping.

From Cats Are Better Than Men by Beverly Guhl, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. (Doubleday Online)
Copyright 1994 by Beverly Guhl.

---

My Favorite Cat Links



Diabella Loves Cats

Raising Orphan Kittens

The Helping Paws Society

---

My Favorite Cat Music

Alley Cat

Jellicle Cats from "Cats"

Macavity from "Cats"

Memory from "Cats"

Aristocats from "The Aristocats"

Everybody wants to be a Cat from "The Aristocats"

Cats in the Cradle

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Born Free

The Circle of Life from the "Lion King"

---

Please email me, Snowy the Cat