cats

The picture right below is Homer, the latest addition to my household. Not exactly a large cat, he is pretty good size. He is big enough that he can knock me down, although, that is not particularly hard to do anymore. He is a rescue cat. He was found wandering the streets of Ventura, badly injured, almost starved to death. Once the vet fixed him up, it only took him about 3 days to recover, which is pretty amazing because the Vet thought his back leg would have to be amputated. He is also one of the most aggressive cats I have ever had. My nephew is afraid of him. He bites me on a regular basis, not mean bites, play bites. At least he doesn't draw blood any more, well, most of the time.

Update: Homer is now about 5 years old. For the most part, he is a very health kitty, although he has had a urinary blockage three times now. That problem seems to be brought about by the stress of being boarded, so, now he gets a cat sitter to take care of him at home. Although, he still doesn't like it when I am away. The last time he put on quite a demonstration of being glad to see me. It was hilarious.

Homer is also finally beginning to calm down, just a little. He is not quite as wild as he used to be, although, he will on ocasion chew me up quite badly. He has turned into a quite affectionate pet, something I did not think was going to be posible. When I first got him, he would really get pissed off if I picked him up. In fact, the first time I did that he bit me on the leg real hard when I put him down. But it is almost imposible now for me to be alone. Where ever I am, Homer is right there with me. He sleeps on the bed with me every night now, and if it is cold outside, he will insist on being under the covers. He will keep tapping my nose with his paw until I let he go under. On other nights, he seems to like to play a game that I call "Let's see if I can keep Jim awake all night". It may be that he just doesn't like me snoring., still it is quite annoying to be woken up every half hour.

The two photos above were taken on June 5, 2004
This is what I call Homers Teddy. It is actually a toy skunk. I originally purchased this toy for Lucky (see below). And she played with it quite a bit, but, when she outgrew it, it was in pretty much like new condition. Homer really took to this toy, almost from the moment I brought him home. And, the above two photos show the results of five years of pretty hard playing. The poor thing is about ready to fall apart. I stopped washing it a couple of years ago, becuase I am afraid it would not survive another bout with the washing machine and dryer.

This is Spots, the newest member of my household. I got spots June of 2004. I got him from ASSAP which is a no kill shelter for cats here in Stanta Barbara. He had only been there for a few days when I picked him up. Why did I pick him over many of the other cats...well, he was about the same size as Homer. Homer is easily intimidated by larger cats, and smaller cats he picks on. I almost did not choose Spots because here was very timid at the shelter. Turns out, he was a lot less timid than I thought, which is good, but he is still more timid than Homer.

The big surprise was how quick he got accustomed to Homer, and vice versa. There was only a three day period where I kept them sperated. Homer seemed to accept him pretty quick. However, Spots gets along with Homer a lot better than Homer gets along with Spots. Homer puts up with Spots, but that is about it. So far, after about a month, there is still no warmth between them. I am not sure how long it will be, if ever, that they are buddies.