HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, SKYE!!!

Yup, Skye's a cat, and he was born on Halloween, 2000. He came into our lives in May, 2001. He's a purebred Persian, and the sweetest cat you'll ever meet:-) We've had other Persians, who have since passed, and they've all been lovebugs. While they are high-maintenance cats, they're also very laid-back and don't get into much cat trouble (no counter surfing unless there's a way for them to step up to it, no curtain swinging, etc.;-).

Skye spends most of his day in true cat fashion, asleep. Because of his flat face, he snores, lol! When he is awake, he just wants to be petted and loved. He'll meow (loud and raspy!) and make a pest of himself until you do:-) He's also got the fine art of plopping down the spot where you're most likely to trip over him - or getting up when you do, and running right in front of your legs.

He's not big on being held, but he loves to be petted - he'll make biscuits the whole time, and purrs as loud as a freight train. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body... Well, except for when it comes to getting a bath. Persians tend to get oily/dandruffy and their hair starts to mat if they don't get bathed. Our others didn't mind that much, but Skye hollers and screams so loud the whole time that the neighbors probably think we're killing him! He doesn't get too many baths nowadays, to keep his stress level down - it wears him out too much. He doesn't mind being shaved (the full body pic shows a little of this year's haircut), which keeps him cleaner longer. We've had to shave him since moving here because summers are so hot. He loves being groomed, and will follow you around when he sees the brushes come out:-)

Skye is strictly indoors, and always has been. We believe all cats should be indoors for a variety of reasons (however, we know how hard it can be to turn an outdoor cat into an indoor one). Persians are foo-foo cats, though, and aren't meant to survive outdoors. They were created at the whim of humans, and are dependent on us to take care of all that hair and to clean that smooshy-face.

Anyways, Happy Birthday to the sweetest cat in the world! Skye, it's been an honor to have you in our lives, and we hope there are many more years still to come. You are so very special, and I wish everyone could know the joy of such a wonderful cat:-)

Hope Holding

You see into our souls,
Your gaze steady but unsure…
Friend or foe, you wonder,
As you prepare to flee.

You have no reason to trust,
Few two-leggeds are ever kind.
Being shouted at, dodging flying rocks -
That’s what you’ve come to expect.

Your body remains tense,
Your stare is oh-so wary,
Yet we see it in your eyes,
The smallest glimmer of hope.

Speaking softly, we retreat,
“It’s okay, just wait, it’s okay…”
We implore you stay,
While we run back inside.

We whip out what we have,
We hope it’s enough,
Cross our fingers,
Dash back out…

And there you are!
Our hearts lift a little
To see that you stayed –
That you still had hope.

Ribs sticking out,
Spine all bumpy,
You had no choice
But to wait.

To hope this time
It would be different –
This time,
Someone would care.

You ate as fast as you could,
Afraid someone would take it,
Afraid it still might be a trick.
You glance up again…

Our eyes meet, our souls touch,
In that instant
We connect
And then you are gone…

Above are some of the faces my mom and I have fed (please click on photos for larger versions). There is a huge stray problem in this part of central California, and the shelters are all seriously overcrowded. The Shepherd and Heeler mixes above came through with the Heeler’s mom January through maybe March of this year, and then disappeared (more info here: Stray Story). They just reappeared, minus the mom. We were shocked! We are on the other side of an almost six foot wall, so have only ever been able to throw food to them (thank goodness we have a step to see over the wall). They’re very leery, though the missing mom had been trained. The pup is old enough to have come into season, and so picked up these pits. The three males have all obviously been fighting. The red male’s face was so swollen, he couldn’t eat hard food. Both pits have mange, which I know is common in the breed, and they’re very thin. Think they’re living off hormones…

The cats are just a few of the strays we’ve seen in our park here. A neighbor told us that someone here only likes kittens, and tosses them out when they get too old. The little furry one is a total sweetheart, and has had the most socialization. We used to see her running around hunting lizards, and she was soooo skinny (too many lizards are bad for cats)! She finally caught sight of us, and started getting regular food. She disappeared for a while, so we thought maybe she’d been reclaimed. However, she’s been back for a couple of weeks now…

The black and white cat is a male, and needs to be trapped and neutered – which we’ll have to figure out. Supposedly, the SPCA helps, but they’re a ways away, and we can’t live trap here. We have nowhere to put an animal recovering from surgery, either. So, for now, he’s become comfortable enough to eat here, and looks so much better than he did! This photo was taken through my bedroom window. I’ve been able to briefly touch him, but he will hiss at me. He’s not a true feral, but is not comfortable around humans anymore, and runs away quickly.

“Ears” is the third cat to overcome her fear of humans in order to eat. The male actually showed up with her one night. She appears to be heavily pregnant. She also has ear issues. Whether her ears are genetically folded, or are like that from infection, we don’t know. She has sores behind them from scratching so hard, though, so they’re not normal. I’ve been able to very lightly pet her, and she sort of welcomes it and sort of doesn’t. Meaning I don’t quite trust her not to turn around and get me – she’s got a little of that vibe;-) Treating a cat with an ear problem is hard enough when they are tame… However, I hope we can get to where we can put some ointment on them. As for pregnancy, we’ll cross that hurdle when we get to it…

If we were able to round these animals up and take them to the shelter, they would not be adopted. They would simply be euthanized because in this over-populated world, there isn’t much room for unsocial animals. I believe with time, the cats could all be handled and would crave affection. Most shelters don’t have that time, though. As mentioned, the one kitty is sweet, but she still needs to be tested for FeLV and FIV…

So is this life better than death? I don’t know. All I know is that we’re here, and they’re here, so we’ll do the best we can. My mom said this today, when we were trying to decide about feeding all four dogs (because we could get in trouble here for encouraging them to be around): “I don’t want the reason that they died to be that we didn’t feed them when we were able to do so.” And so we will…