In July 2019, I was still mourning the loss of Cary, my big lovable doofus who had over the previous six years since I caught him as a feral kitten and offered him the joys of professional housecattery thoroughly captured my heart. I even learned to write with a 20-pound mostly Maine Coon lying in my lap.
I'm more of a dog guy, but anyone who does not love animals is fundamentally broken as a human being. Pets make us better and teach us a lot. Watch how humans treat their animals and learn what sort of humans they are. It's rock solid.
I'm a sucker for a tear-jerker animal story. This post, TC, and the marshmallow-heart-beneath-the-gruff-exterior (yours) it revealed made me hit the "subscribe" button tonight after monitoring the newsletter for the past several months. Well done, sir. Hello, TAFM community!
It's a love story. What a surprise, a love story by TCinLA. I never expected it, nor ever dreamed that I could like TC this much, as much if not more than Sweetie. TC and Sweetie, what an adorable pair. I can't stop smiling.
This was lovely, and, for me, a tough one. On February 3, 2005, two new kittens arrived at our house--around three months old. Abigail died at the end of April and Kirby at the beginning of August--and we had to make the decision to do it. It was nice to be reminded that there will be others.
I love it TC. We must be kindred cat spirits. I live in the country and between the feral and abandoned cats, I’m taking care of 15. I live-trapped them over time and got them all fixed, shots and dewormed. Six of them are now very tame and house pets. The other nine are “friendly ferals” that I feed and provide shelter for. Several of them are now letting me pet them and sitting on my lap. I love them all....
Oh, Tom, brother, I love you! I'm a cat person too and have been lucky to have been owned by quite a few in my life. We have three adopted kitties, which is the threshold for crazy cat people.
I have held my favorite black cat ( our home must always have a black cat), Bundy, named after Al not Ted in my arms when he died at age 20, 14 years ago.
With all the cats in our lives, the pain we feel when they die is nothing compared to the absolute joy they gave us each and every day. And we have the scars to prove it.😽
Finally I don't know about you but I have never trusted a person who never had a pet in their lives. It says a lot about them. Doesn't have to have fur, but the joy of loving something other than yourself is amazing.
They know how to capture even the most standoffs of males. Suspect you will have a lot of hearts of tough guys shared who got captured with a purr and winding ways that could lead to bone breakage unless you know to lift and run fur with the grain. Ah. My Molly says hi.
This beautiful piece didn’t surprise me at all coming from you. You are a man of many parts and talents. But I will concur with others that your timing in presenting us with this is impeccable.
That makes perfect sense, I love animals and have had both cats and dogs for the entirety of their lives, I cried like a baby for days when they died. For now I have to make do with the birds 🐦 and the chipmunks 🐿️. My cats both Chole and Willie talked to me all the time, I have found that they will respond if you talk to them, I would be having a conversation with someone and then say “isn’t that right?” and they would respond with “yap” like they had been paying attention to the entire conversation, people always got a kick out of it, all I had to do was throw my voice towards them and they would respond. I miss them both and still have every whisker they ever dropped for me to find, they will go with me to my grave right over my heart ❤️. I may be and am a warrior but I’m a softie underneath 🤷♂️😎
Thanks for this great story. Being able to hold them when they go is such a gift. I had to do that for my heart cat, Wonka. He told me it was time to go (he had a rough 6 months with focal seizures and heart issues. We had a mobile vet come to our house; he was able to go on the deck where he and I spent so much time together.
About a year and a half later, my niece’s cat had a litter, and we got Artemis and Apollo (dilute torbie and orange boy, respectively.). They light up our lives.
I'm more of a dog guy, but anyone who does not love animals is fundamentally broken as a human being. Pets make us better and teach us a lot. Watch how humans treat their animals and learn what sort of humans they are. It's rock solid.
I'm a sucker for a tear-jerker animal story. This post, TC, and the marshmallow-heart-beneath-the-gruff-exterior (yours) it revealed made me hit the "subscribe" button tonight after monitoring the newsletter for the past several months. Well done, sir. Hello, TAFM community!
It's a love story. What a surprise, a love story by TCinLA. I never expected it, nor ever dreamed that I could like TC this much, as much if not more than Sweetie. TC and Sweetie, what an adorable pair. I can't stop smiling.
This was lovely, and, for me, a tough one. On February 3, 2005, two new kittens arrived at our house--around three months old. Abigail died at the end of April and Kirby at the beginning of August--and we had to make the decision to do it. It was nice to be reminded that there will be others.
OK. This one knocked me out. More later on this subject. For now, I can only say that this story is what life is all about. For some of us...
Thank you.
I love it TC. We must be kindred cat spirits. I live in the country and between the feral and abandoned cats, I’m taking care of 15. I live-trapped them over time and got them all fixed, shots and dewormed. Six of them are now very tame and house pets. The other nine are “friendly ferals” that I feed and provide shelter for. Several of them are now letting me pet them and sitting on my lap. I love them all....
Anyone who could love an animal in such a manner earns 100% in my grade book for "ability to warm hearts." Hats off to you, TC!
Nicely done TC. Thanks.
Oh, Tom, brother, I love you! I'm a cat person too and have been lucky to have been owned by quite a few in my life. We have three adopted kitties, which is the threshold for crazy cat people.
I have held my favorite black cat ( our home must always have a black cat), Bundy, named after Al not Ted in my arms when he died at age 20, 14 years ago.
With all the cats in our lives, the pain we feel when they die is nothing compared to the absolute joy they gave us each and every day. And we have the scars to prove it.😽
Finally I don't know about you but I have never trusted a person who never had a pet in their lives. It says a lot about them. Doesn't have to have fur, but the joy of loving something other than yourself is amazing.
Thanks for posting before election day.
Egads. My eyes are leaking.
They know how to capture even the most standoffs of males. Suspect you will have a lot of hearts of tough guys shared who got captured with a purr and winding ways that could lead to bone breakage unless you know to lift and run fur with the grain. Ah. My Molly says hi.
This beautiful piece didn’t surprise me at all coming from you. You are a man of many parts and talents. But I will concur with others that your timing in presenting us with this is impeccable.
Something got in my eyes.
That makes perfect sense, I love animals and have had both cats and dogs for the entirety of their lives, I cried like a baby for days when they died. For now I have to make do with the birds 🐦 and the chipmunks 🐿️. My cats both Chole and Willie talked to me all the time, I have found that they will respond if you talk to them, I would be having a conversation with someone and then say “isn’t that right?” and they would respond with “yap” like they had been paying attention to the entire conversation, people always got a kick out of it, all I had to do was throw my voice towards them and they would respond. I miss them both and still have every whisker they ever dropped for me to find, they will go with me to my grave right over my heart ❤️. I may be and am a warrior but I’m a softie underneath 🤷♂️😎
Thanks for this great story. Being able to hold them when they go is such a gift. I had to do that for my heart cat, Wonka. He told me it was time to go (he had a rough 6 months with focal seizures and heart issues. We had a mobile vet come to our house; he was able to go on the deck where he and I spent so much time together.
About a year and a half later, my niece’s cat had a litter, and we got Artemis and Apollo (dilute torbie and orange boy, respectively.). They light up our lives.
Cats rule! Thanks for the story about Carry and Sweetie. I still miss Gerard, Weasel and Bobo. Sammy is butting my leg as it is time for his mid-rats.