We lived in a very small yard spaced home in Florida, we felt that a medium to large size dog couldn't thrive, so we had cat's. Each were unique and because of our dog knowledge a few of them were quite dog like. There's a story behind each one and i would like to share.....Smoke.....we moved into our new home in 1996, in June after much bugging of the husband, he never had a cat, I came home from work to this beautiful 10 week old grey fluff ball, although her baby pics were pre digital, we have a few before she passed in 2004. She played fetch, better than most huskies, lol, chase us around and vice versa, patrolled the house, and growled at strange cars in the driveway. In 2000 she had a tumor wrapped around her jugular, vet was successful in removing it. In October 2003, she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. our vet did dialysis for 10 months(twice a week, last 2 months 3 times a week). August 2004 was a horrible year for hurricanes, and also the time we said good bye to our first angel....Pics are not the best, I hope you can see her beauty like we did....







All other pics are too pixelated, just not good for viewing. Last pic makes her look so big, she was only 8 or 9 pounds, but because of the dialysis, her weight would go up a few pounds. She was so sweet, we would do it again no question about it, no matter the cost. Btw all cat houses were hand built by us. I also wanted to add Smoke was a Russian Blue.

Awwww, she's so beautiful Renee, great pics!!! she doesnt look big in the last pic at all...she has the perfct cat face...very cute.

Thank you, that's the start of it....digital has come a long way, didn't know if it was quality enough to do. Tough project, I showed Casey a pic of kitty number two, and she was wowed by her, so i decided to do this in chronological order. Give you an idea pic under Loki's scrapbook.

Renee you are making me want a kitten so bad! Loki is actually my first dog. I've had three cats. Whiskers, my 22 pound diabetic long hair orange, he died at age 17. Sid, my gray tabby, he's 14 and lives at my mom's house down the street. And Emmy, my calico. I only had her for a couple months. She was still a kitten and my old room mate let her out of the house and didn't bother bringing her back in. I searched for weeks and never did find her.

She was very beautiful. I agree that she doesn't look big either. Very cute!

Thank you everyone....Smoke was a very lithe girl, unlike kitty number 2 Flash......By 2000 we were working full time and Smoke seemed sad, so we thought a friend would help her. Friend of ours worked at a kitty and puppy place. My husband has always said I have husky eyes and the next cat we would get would have blue. Flash was sold to this kitty store as a non standard Siamese, they lied to the store, in fact she was a Ragdoll, (Burmese, Persian, Siamese created the breed). Her main "flaw" was a kinked tail and wasn't pointed as Siamese should be. we got her in February, and in May she started having problems, She was a jumper, she could jump 3-4 feet in the air to catch a toy, and she was growing fast at 6 months she weighed 6 pounds. I knew she wasn't a Siamese. In May she would start collapsing, hiding, and not a kitten, we rushed her to the vet with a fever (104-106, near death type temp). Our vet gave her ice baths, ran every test known to man for cats.. He was clueless, got her back down to normal temps, told us not to over exercise her and hope she would live. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy was not discovered for this breed until 2007, apparently a very common genetic disease for Ragdolls, we just let her do her thing. In 2010, we decided to move to Texas, she was almost 11 and at close to 30 pounds we rehomed her for fear she wouldn't make the 1300 mile trip. She was sweet as could be, chirped rather than meow and was Smoke's best friend. They played and slept together, and was quite sad when her bff passed. She also loved to play in water, very uncommon for cats. I named her Flash, because she was all white with the split down her face(husband wanted to call her 2 face), at maturity, which is roughly 3-4 years for her breed she had turned into a tortie point......Flash








The first pic, I would guesstimate flash at 4 or 5 months old.

My uncle has several Russian blues and a grey Scottish fold of similar hue. It is a beautiful color. Smoke had a face very similar in shape to my black cat, pagan. The two-two-face on flash is so striking. And those eyes. Wow. Beautiful.

Thanks for posting these Renee!

You are welcome, thank you for looking.....Florida is a vast center for cats, there are as many good breeder as there are bybs....so our next girl.....Kitana. She is still with us, she made the trip and is currently a senile, grumpy 14.5 year old. Since this is a chronological and yes a rainbow bridge reflection, this is our journey to getting our Miya. When Flash was sick we decided that just in case let's get another. A Siamese breeder who knew my mother in law had 2 litters and was quite frankly going out of his mind with 3 adult and somewhere around 16 kittens, Siamese are far from quiet and they are needy. Flash had the ice blue eyes and Kitana has Sapphire. Kitana was the runt of the second litter, crawled up my husband's pant leg and curled in a ball and slept, she picked us! The breeder was more of a byb, they are pures, but they do have show faults. Kitana has the dreaded Siamese cross eyes, only fault really. He had his litters mixed up, and she came home to us at about 3 weeks old, she weighed 11-13 ounces on her first vet visit. I had to eye drop feed her, teach her how to eat, drink, and use litter pan. She sleeps under the blankets with us, always has. Smoke and Flash didn't really like her, she tried nursing off of Flash, and Flash couldn't figure out what this little monster wanted. I have some cute pics of her growing up. We had to sign a waiver with our vet, because even at 6 months she weighed about 3 pounds, in order to spay they should weigh about 6 pounds, even today she doesn't weigh much more than 5. She had another surgery when she was about 3 years old, vet kept her overnight and called first thing, she wouldn't eat, drink, and hid under her blanket, wouldn't do a thing without us, she recouped at home. We call her our forever kitten. There was less than 6 month age difference between Flash and Kitana. There will be one more kitty after this so please stay with me on this....Kitana

This last post is my hardest. When Smoke was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure we knew we wouldn't have long with her. We wanted a kitten before she got real bad. We tinkered with the thought of another Russian. Our vet had the solution. A client of his rescued a pregnant feral cat, she was a tabby. He passed on the info and to my surprise it was a woman I had worked with when I first moved to Florida, my husband and both her and her husband all said the 3 tabbies were female and the cute little black and white was male. i picked up one by one each of the tabbies and laughed, they were all males. The cute black and white one, who was in the process of beating up her brothers was female. It was love at first sight. None of our three other girls were a handful like Sonya, if you have caught on we played Mortal Kombat, 3 out of 4 of our girls names were named after the game. It was down to Mileena or Sonya, and since she was an American Short hair Sonya won. She would run up the curtains, she would harass the other girls, she would knock their back feet out, start walking away and then do a 360 in air and pounce on them. Instead of hissing at them she would walk away and hiss, she was a hoot and a breath of fresh air for a household dealing with a terrible disease. I would let her fall asleep in my arms while cleaning and then place her with Flash. It worked, they became as close as Flash and Smoke were. When we moved from Florida in 2010, Flash was almost 11 and Sonya almost 7, they were inseparable, Sonya would clean Flash, like Flash would clean Smoke. I wanted to bring her with us, but i felt it would not be good for Flash to be all alone. Although I feel Flash has passed, she would be close to 15 today, Sonya would be almost 11, and that feisty girl i just feel is still around. Long story short, i wasn't the one who re-homed them, so I never knew the people who got them, the only thing I knew, it was an older couple who had lost their 2 senior cats recently and missed them, but didn't want to deal with kittens.

I know that Kitana hasn't many years left, she has kitty dementia, we have some very difficult days, Miya tries her best, and quite frankly I think having Miya has made Kitana more alert. Anyway, I know I'll be seeing my girls again, I miss them so. But without them, I don't believe we would have ever went the husky route, 4 Cat's with differing personalities and activity levels, prepares you for a husky,lol. Please enjoy my Sonya......











Her black chin made her look like she was always smiling....

Smoke...4/1996-8/2004

Flash...1/2000-?

Kitana...6/6/2000-Alive and still screaming, lol

Sonya...3/2004-?

Miya...11/6/2012-My crazy and beautiful girl

I'v been following your thread Renee, I do know how hard it is to bring up all those memories, but at the same time, as is evidenced in your thread/your words, there were A LOT of happy times. Do take comfort in that. They were/are SO beautiful!!! I do believe Miya is helping Kitana and Kitana will more than likely live a longer, healthier life because of it. Bringing another pet into the mix does that. I'm truly sorry about all your losses...its never easy...but as you said, you will be seeing your girls again. While they were here on earth, you gave them the best possible life

Thank you Jimmy,

We have laughed before about how much care and love we have given to all our girls over the years, many people have told us it's just a cat or dog, No they are not, they are our family, people like us who are devoted to their companions will move heaven and earth for them.......they will always live on in our photo book memories....

...and in our hearts, Renee

Indeed, I didn't word that the way I intended, I really meant our photo book memories of our minds, I can still envision them playing, napping, antagonizing, especially Sonya, she was so mischievous.....

Or I just didnt read it correctly Renee, I'm REALLY good at doing that, LOL. I actually SHOULD HAVE known what you meant no matter how it was worded.

Very cute kitties. I completely agree with your statement about how 4 cats prepares you for huskies. For many years I had two bengal rescue cats who were extremly high energy along with a tuxedo and tabby who were lower energy. It made me understand moreso how to control the environment while dealing with different energy levels. I think it also makes me much more understanding of husky stubborness since I'm so use to cats. Awkwardly, I wonder if the fact I trained a cat to fetch helped me train a husky to fetch.

Jessica,

First thank you for looking. My husband never had a cat, I grew up with both. He didn't believe me about training cats. They were all taught where to scratch, Smoke was soooo much like a dog. I guess Sonya would have been considered a tuxedo and she was hell on wheels, erm, paws, lol. Yes agreed, being able to control the dynamics of 4 cats, prepares you for the unique qualities that come with the husky. Btw, I love your new avatar pic!

I love the inquisitive expressions on all of their faces for the camera. Makes me miss having a cat around.

Jenn, they were photogenic, it's hard having a cat with a husky. Although Miya only wants to play, she squished Kitana this morning, which was funny, but......I think a kitten or a younger cat would be more of a challenge,lol. Kitana runs away and will only stand her ground if she's backed into a corner. My neighbors cats will put up a fight that Miya can't win, and that's pretty funny too.

Thanks! That is how I see the boys most of the day while I work. Most days one of my cats sits there too.