Hi there....my name is Lori, and I've been lurking here for a few weeks. I finally decided to join, based on my belief that this is a place with members who have a real love for their cats and a sense of community.
I've always been a cat person, and always had a cat in my life, but up until the last year or so, my life has centered more around that of my family and raising my children. My cats have always been loved and cherished, but they were definitely "pets" if you understand my meaning. I don't know how to put it another way. I was also married to a man who didn't see cats as all that important. Needless to say, I got rid of the husband and kept the cats....LOL! I'm been remarried for 5 years to a wonderful man who, while he claims he's not a cat person, certainly indulges me in my love for our babies and gives them plenty of love and attention, too.
Now that my children are grown and doing their own things, I guess I've had the empty nest syndrome descend upon me. The kitties have really become the foreground in my life. I have two sons in the military; one is in the Army and currently deployed in Iraq, and the other is in the Navy and a sonarman aboard the USS Alabama submarine. Anyone who's seen the movie Crimson Tide knows my boy's boat! I have a daughter living in South Korea with her Army MP husband and her son....my two other daughters live at home with us, but are pretty independent. I'm the proud Nana to 5 grandchildren, and one is scheduled to make his or her arrival sometime early next year. I guess my worries about my kids have given me this need for comfort that my cats provide. In turn, they are spoiled rotten.
My brood:
Edward, my big, fat domestic short hair. He is the most loveable, sweet guy on earth. He's also insanely jealous and loves attention.
Lucy, a kitty we rescued last year after some tenents of a house across the street were evicted and just left her behind. She's an Oriental mix, and was skin and bones when we found her. Now she's fat and happy and loves to give kisses.
Chicken, my daughter Kat (!)'s cat. She's a gray domestic longhair. She's very sweet and a little kooky.
Seamus, a mackeral siamese mix. He's absolutely the most affectionate boy in the world.
Morrigan Rose is our newest baby....she's Chicken's offspring. She's gray and white, shorthaired, and the love of my life.
The reason why I began reading this forum is because when Chicken gave birth to Morrigan and her brother, O'Malley, there were a lot of complications. Both kittens were promised to people who backed out at the end, and when they were 4 weeks old, Chicken went a bit crazy and stopped caring for them. They were tiny and tenacious and I began caring for them in earnest, and something in me took over. It was like caring for a newborn. Both had some problems, and little Morrigan, who was the runt, developed an upper respiratory problem when she was just 6 weeks old. Frantic vet appointments ensued and she pulled through, but her brother contracted it, too....and he was just not strong enough. For 5 days we fought...he saw two vets....but in the end, he passed, and my heart has been broken ever since. I've never lost a baby like that. He was 13 weeks old. I held him in my arms and sobbed, and saw my husband cry for the first time in the 10 years I have known him.
I guess I just need to be around people who understand.
