Five Cats. Am I Weird?

"Annie Benson-Lennaman" wrote in
message ...
..

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

Good luck Annie with your gang of five and no you are not crazy just like to
share with your furbabies.

Lois

Seems to me like the more cats one gets, the easier it is to bring in a new
one, because they get accustomed to living in a group.

I think it's honorable that you got a baby to play your other youngster.


"Annie Benson-Lennaman" wrote in
message ...

Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

It happens that our next door neighbors have a new batch of kittens.
They'd offered us one (or all, if we so desired). We talked about it
for the last couple of weeks. "So, you want another kitten?"
"Yes....but... damn, then we'd have five!" "Yeah, five is alot." "So,
do *you* want another one?" and so on, back and forth.

Finally today we decided to go look at them. They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking. They were being kept only
outside. And of course, we ended up taking one back with us. He is
about a third grey tabby, the rest white. Nice markings on the blotches
that have color. Very nice overall effect. And of course, he is
extremely cute.

Normally we would segregate a new cat into a bedroom, but he seems to
want to be with us in the living room, and the other cats aren't
freaking out over him. There have a been a couple of hisses, but no
assassination attempts. Gem seems to be a bit nervous of him. She
hasn't hissed at him. I have a feeling they will soon be great
friends. (Crossing fingers)

He seems to be very people orientated. He's still scared, but has
already forgotten his fear enough to engage in some play. Right now he
has fallen asleep in Lenny's lap. Lenny keeps referring to him as
"she", so I have tentatively named him "Bruce" the most masculine name I
could think of off the bat. And it is kinda funny, since he is so small
and weak looking right now.

This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay inside.
Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.

You're not weird at all; you're just going to be hopping to keep up with the
masters' demands (speaking from experience).
Christine and Omar, Oreo, Midnight, Robin & Tucker
"Annie Benson-Lennaman" wrote in
message ...

Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

It happens that our next door neighbors have a new batch of kittens.
They'd offered us one (or all, if we so desired). We talked about it
for the last couple of weeks. "So, you want another kitten?"
"Yes....but... damn, then we'd have five!" "Yeah, five is alot." "So,
do *you* want another one?" and so on, back and forth.

Finally today we decided to go look at them. They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking. They were being kept only
outside. And of course, we ended up taking one back with us. He is
about a third grey tabby, the rest white. Nice markings on the blotches
that have color. Very nice overall effect. And of course, he is
extremely cute.

Normally we would segregate a new cat into a bedroom, but he seems to
want to be with us in the living room, and the other cats aren't
freaking out over him. There have a been a couple of hisses, but no
assassination attempts. Gem seems to be a bit nervous of him. She
hasn't hissed at him. I have a feeling they will soon be great
friends. (Crossing fingers)

He seems to be very people orientated. He's still scared, but has
already forgotten his fear enough to engage in some play. Right now he
has fallen asleep in Lenny's lap. Lenny keeps referring to him as
"she", so I have tentatively named him "Bruce" the most masculine name I
could think of off the bat. And it is kinda funny, since he is so small
and weak looking right now.

This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay inside.
Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.

in article , Annie Benson-Lennaman
at wrote on 9/18/03 8:28 PM:


Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

It happens that our next door neighbors have a new batch of kittens.
They'd offered us one (or all, if we so desired). We talked about it
for the last couple of weeks. "So, you want another kitten?"
"Yes....but... damn, then we'd have five!" "Yeah, five is alot." "So,
do *you* want another one?" and so on, back and forth.

Finally today we decided to go look at them. They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking. They were being kept only
outside. And of course, we ended up taking one back with us. He is
about a third grey tabby, the rest white. Nice markings on the blotches
that have color. Very nice overall effect. And of course, he is
extremely cute.

Normally we would segregate a new cat into a bedroom, but he seems to
want to be with us in the living room, and the other cats aren't
freaking out over him. There have a been a couple of hisses, but no
assassination attempts. Gem seems to be a bit nervous of him. She
hasn't hissed at him. I have a feeling they will soon be great
friends. (Crossing fingers)

He seems to be very people orientated. He's still scared, but has
already forgotten his fear enough to engage in some play. Right now he
has fallen asleep in Lenny's lap. Lenny keeps referring to him as
"she", so I have tentatively named him "Bruce" the most masculine name I
could think of off the bat. And it is kinda funny, since he is so small
and weak looking right now.

This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay inside.
Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.
I grew up with between 6 and 9 in a 900 sq ft house. You are not wierd.

Karen

Marina wrote:

Yes, you are now officially crazy cat people. You will receive a badge from
the Mothership any day now.

Well.. I guess a badge is a badge. Shiny things are good.

Congrats on getting Bruce into your lives. He and Gem will surely become
fast friends.

I really hope so. Gem doesn't seem in the least bit unhappy, but
she, well, she just looks so alone playing by herself. She is about 3
month older than Bruce (we estimate) and we hope that is close enough
that they will have lots of fun together. And there is a very real
possibility that they are related, maybe that will help things? I don't
know, we are just going to have to see how things go.

Thanks for the rest of the responses so far also. I am pretty sure
Lenny and I did the right thing.

Oh, and an update. Bruce fell asleep on Lenny's lap, and Lenny took him
into his bed with him when he went to sleep. I haven't seen or heard
from Bruce yet (and he was crying pretty loud earlier today) so I have
to assume that he is satisfied with this arrangement. It has been hard,
but I have resisted the urge to go check up on them. It's a _good_
thing that they are sleeping quietly.

Lenny doesn't like it when I point this out, but the fact of the
matter is that he an excellent mother.

--
Annie


--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.

Isn't that a bit early to take him away from his momma?
Lots of best wishes and purrs,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"Annie Benson-Lennaman" wrote in
message ...
snip They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking.

Please return him to his mom. At 6 weeks he's too young to be without her and
the siblings.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

Annie Benson-Lennaman wrote:
SNIP
This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay
inside. Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have
no urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number
to me..

The only time five would be too many is if you couln't afford to care for
all of them.
--
Adrian
A House Is Not A Home, Without A Cat.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 01:28:33 GMT, Annie Benson-Lennaman
wrote:


Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

It happens that our next door neighbors have a new batch of kittens.
They'd offered us one (or all, if we so desired). We talked about it
for the last couple of weeks. "So, you want another kitten?"
"Yes....but... damn, then we'd have five!" "Yeah, five is alot." "So,
do *you* want another one?" and so on, back and forth.

Finally today we decided to go look at them. They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking. They were being kept only
outside. And of course, we ended up taking one back with us. He is
about a third grey tabby, the rest white. Nice markings on the blotches
that have color. Very nice overall effect. And of course, he is
extremely cute.

Normally we would segregate a new cat into a bedroom, but he seems to
want to be with us in the living room, and the other cats aren't
freaking out over him. There have a been a couple of hisses, but no
assassination attempts. Gem seems to be a bit nervous of him. She
hasn't hissed at him. I have a feeling they will soon be great
friends. (Crossing fingers)

He seems to be very people orientated. He's still scared, but has
already forgotten his fear enough to engage in some play. Right now he
has fallen asleep in Lenny's lap. Lenny keeps referring to him as
"she", so I have tentatively named him "Bruce" the most masculine name I
could think of off the bat. And it is kinda funny, since he is so small
and weak looking right now.

This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay inside.
Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.


Awwww, congratulations on the new addition, Annie. Sounds like he's
going to fit right in just fine.

I sure don't think you're weird, but then again, we have seven in a
two-bedroom apartment. Heh. I said I was gonna stop at four, and
then five, and -- well, you get the picture ;-) Seven truly *is* our
limit, though. I said when I was 20 I was going to be a weird
middle-aged woman with 27 cats that all the neighborhood kids thought
was a witch. So, I'm middle aged, Wiccan, and have 27 minus 20. I
guess I can retire now ;-)

Ginger-lyn
and Cosmo, Internet, Sabra, Trill, Wolfie, Brando and Merlyn (not to
mention DH)

William Hamblen wrote:
I think there is a cat critical mass that you reach at about three.
This produces a cat chain reaction that can result in a runaway
number of cats.

Hmmm... there might be something to this. We first had only Quetzie (RB),
although we took care of two outdoor cats too (Blanche (RB) and Xoxo).
After Quetzie died, we got Luna and Maya, and when we moved to the house
we brought along Xoxo. About a year later we got the boys, Basho and Issa.
And now we have the Hoolibrothers Fez (the Stubborn One) and Rufous (the
Purring One).


--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv