Five of them moved on to other homes through adoption, and here's hoping they are still alive and still rooting for the team they first saw winning the Super Bowl.
As for Mal the Krazy Kat, who remains here waiting for this coming Sunday matchup between his beloved Seahawks and THE EVIL EMPIRE PATRIOTS?
This house is a 'Hawks House this weekend, kiddos. 12TH CAT UP.
Next week we're back to plotting out Tampa Bay Bucs draft options.
Ocean gave birth to six kittehs that night, but I held off on naming most of them until I could determine which ones were which and name them to the characters of the TV show Firefly. Until they opened their eyes, and I took them in to the vet to have them checked out. And then I waited to see which of them was the bravest - or craziest - of the lot to where I would name him Mal (two of the tuxedo kittehs were River and Simon, obviously as River was the daughter to Ocean and so the male tuxedo was Simon, the pretty grey female was Inara (almost Kaylee), the remaining male black kitteh was Jayne and the female black kitteh Zoe).
I wanted to keep one kitteh so I could feel okay about one of Ocean's babies growing up well - the animal rescue I took the remaining kittehs would not allow me to share contact info with their future forever home adoptees - and so I kept Mal thinking he would be the friendliest and fearless of the lot. Instead, Mal turned into a scaredy cat around my parents - essentially the only ones who've visited me over the years as my domicile isn't well-meant for hosting a lot of things (sigh) - and well that's how it turned out.
To ANYONE who adopted Inara, Zoe, Jayne, River and/or Simon, I can only hope they are still with us and that they've enjoyed loving homes.
In the meantime, I got stuck with THIS guy.
Happy birthday, Mal!
Ten years old. In hooman years that means he's getting AARP mailings.
Almost wrote "For 2022" but yeah it's a new year, ya moran.
ANYWHO, Who wants to say hello to a krazy kat on a Friday the 13th!!!!
This giant Feline of Ferociousness was only willing to pose with a bowl of dry food over his head, heading the yearning eyes, the quick meowing insisting on FEED ME, etc etc.
Mal the Krazy Kat will also be rooting for the Seattle Seahawks this playoff weekend because he was born during their Super Bowl win 9 years ago (has it been that long already?).
Of those tiny kittehs, one remained with me, Mal the Krazy Kat, a mighty Pan-Furr (play on panther) of the house. And a big one too, he's two armfuls to hold!
Here I am trying to talk to Mal to stop him from abusing my face (ow ow ow):
See how mean he is to me?!
Sigh.
Never mind, I snacked him today for his birthday! This makes him... 7 years old now. Time flies when you're wagging that tail.
Facebook reminded me that I posted images of Ocean giving birth to her kittehs this weekend, right around the 4th Quarter of the Seattle-Denver Super Bowl where the Seahawks were just mashing the Broncos.
Mal is in that pile somewhere.
I named them after six of the characters from Firefly: Mal, Zoe, Jayne, River, Simon, Inara. I kept Mal because black cats are harder to adopt out (River was a tuxedo kitten like her mom and Inara was the grey kitteh: they went first).
So here we are five years later, and here's Mal being the same crazy cat he's been since Day One:
I hope there is a kind and loving family in Polk County FL looking for a friendly, purrfect tuxedo kitteh who will rub their legs and purr like a Porsche engine.
I am helping out with a library co-worker with fostering a feral kitten rescued from the Bartow Civic Center a few days ago:
He's an 11-week old tuxedo kitten who had a sibling reverse-tuxedo being fostered by someone who plans on adopting the brother. This one has health issues including an infectious respiratory illness, so I had to isolate this kitten in the guest bedroom.
He also has, sadly, a gimpy leg. Somehow one of his hind legs got broken and did not heal properly, so he doesn't sit up well. He *is* however still able to run fast, using his gimpy leg to steady himself as he does.
He purrs near constantly, wants to chase after toys, and has been receptive to a human presence. I have to keep interacting with him so that his feral instincts don't return.
I've taken to calling him Gent, because he is so well-behaved. He does not cause the property damage that Mal tends to create.
Speaking of Mal, I need to add a video of the two meeting at the room's patio door as soon as I can.
UPDATE: Here we go (had to add it to YouTube first):
Mal's too busy hiding under the bed to do it, so here's me honoring Ocean for her matriarchal instincts.
To the hoomans who adopted Zoe, Jayne, Inara, River and Simon, I hope they are well and let them know that their mommy is contently stalking the lizards at our windows...
Back in 2013, on Halloween eve without any trick-or-treaters knocking at my apartment door, instead I had gotten a tiny mewling and hungry kitteh, who quickly bonded to me and pretty much wiggled her way into my heart.
My first pet cat Tehya had just passed away a few weeks before, leaving me heartbroken and not entirely sure I could care for another cat. But Wiggles insisted on being my kitteh, so by Thanksgiving time - which is another sad anniversary time because that's when Page's skin cancer got worse back in 2011 and... and... - I took the effort to bring this new tuxedo kitteh to a vet for a checkup and adoption as Ocean.
And of course that all led to baby kittehs, and keeping Mal the Crazy Cat, and dealing with hissing fights between Ocean and Mal the last few weeks, and...
Sigh.
But then Ocean hops up on my chest and purrs away and wriggles back and forth looking for rubs and I find myself content.
