Sooty the Second from the Lost and Found Department.

Came out of nowhere and hid under the house for two weeks as a petrified stray.

Was instantly accepted by Gizmo and Muffin as part of the family. I've attached soft material reflectors to their collars because in the evenings I let them stroll around the front yard before locking them in the house for the night.

As you can see, Sooty the Second has learnt how to relax since becoming one of the family...

Ohhh isn't he lovely....but then all three are beautiful...Well done Sooty the Second - you chose your new slave well....

Lovely furries. It is wonderful that they all get along.

That's fantastic Herbert. Welcome to Sooty the 2nd

He is very cute!!!

The PERFECT addition I say...:)

Thank you, ladies... I've passed on your generous messages to Sooty the Second who's preening himself at the moment.

But WAIT! There's MORE!

Here's the Catmobile that I use to run the critters... er... I mean, the furrkidz - to and from the vets that's a couple of miles away.

It's my new toy. An electric bike. No petrol, no noise, no maintenance. Simply plug into a socket and leave overnight.

The crit... the cats love it.

That's a huge surprise to me. I'm still shaking my head over it.

Since the Cat God guided Sooty-the-Lost to my place to be a haven and a refuge from a Cruel World that's often hostile to the feline species, I've witnessed him on four occasions deal very harshly with three different cats that have dared to step onto the property.

Two males and one female.

He gets so cranky with them that he actually snorts while sucking in his breath in between letting out a ferocious roaring sound.

He's like a miniature black bulldog.

But right from the beginning, with Gizmo and Pepsi there's nothing from him but affection and a protective attitude.

****

My greatest worry is what is going to happen to Sooty, Gizmo and Muffin after I'm gone. Gizmo and Muffin are brother and sister, and totally devoted to each other. And Sooty now makes a very happy threesome.

I don't want them separated.

I don't expect to live for more than a couple of years. I have no family except a niece, and I don't really know what she would do about the cats after I'm gone.

I live in Sydney. I've been thinking that eventually I should take all three of them to the moneyed and leafy North Shore suburbs of Sydney, and try to bribe someone with a fat cheque to take care of these three in good surroundings and with all the proper treatments and care.

Hi Herbert,

There are quite a few organisations who will take on your pets after you "fall off the perch".

DON'T go to the RSPCA. They used to have a good program, which they decided was obviously too generous, so made it so expensive you have to be a millionaire to afford it now, and because they are charging a huge amount per year per pet, most people couldn't afford them, and estates would be held up for years and years if the dead (RICH) person left a kitten behind!! Just stupid.

After weeks and weeks of searching on the Internet, I found a no-kill shelter near where my sister lives in Qld (SCARS - Sunshine Coast Animal Rescue Society) who was willing to take on any of my cats which outlive me - I make a tax deductible donation to them of $25 per month at present, and have bequested them with a certain amount per cat after I die - they will be responsible for the cats for the rest of their lives, although I've given them my permission to let the cats go to carefully selected foster parents, so long as the shelter stays in overall control of their welfare.

Since I approached them and got this organised, they've established an official Legacy Cat program. This place is good for me as it is right near where I will be living at some point in the future. I have also bequested them the same amount that I am leaving them per (one) cat should I die without any cats left behind, just for being good guys!

The Animal Welfare League seems to have quite good programs - the last time I looked at their sites they didn't ask for a specific amount to be left to them, but obviously a generous bequest would benefit yours and other cats as well, and is the right thing to do.

If you decide on a place that you'd like your cats to go, know what you would require for them (i.e. no fostering/fostering OK, keeping all the cats together, whatever), correspond with them by email to find out what they require of you insofar as the appropriate wording in your Will, get your solicitor's opinion and then change your Will.

It's actually quite easy, once you find a place that you like.

I have a few nieces who love my cats, but - no offence to them at all - I don't believe they would look after them as well as a shelter that is being supported by me and who will receive a large amount of money to care for the pusses as per my requirements.

It's a good call Lyn to try & sort something like this before hand as I could never expect my family to take my furkids. So ro start doing some reseach is perhaps a good idea Hervert & that way you know they will be looked after when you "fall off your perch" I do hope it's not in the near future, we enjoy having you here.

Hear hear Muffy.

I also have just assumed that my children would take my cats. My son loves them all just as much as I do.

Lyn, it's a wonderful program that you've prompted.

Herbert, I love that bike!

Sooty is pretty damned impressive too. I've always had a soft spot for black cats. No one knows how to sprawl quite like a confortable cat.

Thank you for your lengthy reply, lynh.

And thank you for your generous comments, Muffy and Mymphf.

I adopted my 'Pepsi' (the black one in my avatar) from the Animal Welfare League at Hoxton Park outside of Sydney - but I think they've gone now.

I really would like my three fluffballs to go to a good home. I'm thinking that when the time comes, I'll leave them in a covered basket outside the front gate of Kirribilli House - the PM's residence in Sydney.

They'll be like foundlings found outside the gates of monasteries in the Middle Ages.

I actually wasn't joking when I said I'll try to find them a wealthy home to go to. They'll need big lawns to run around in. Plenty good care where money isn't a problem.

There's a business opportunity here. We need an agency that places our cats with people who we can trust will give them all the care and affection that we ourselves have lavished on them.

A cat placement agency.

***

It's a bit ironic that for the past year I've been 'doing' my Family Tree .... mapping out who's who, and who belongs where - but apart from my niece there's absolutely no one I can farm my cats out to before I fall off the perch - (I hope I don't hit my head on the seed dispenser on the way down...).

I forgot to say the most important thing in my post yesterday Herbert - your cats are really lovely. Sooty II in particular is very handsome and shiny. He's a magnificent example of how beautiful black cats are. It never fails to puzzle me that shelters have so much trouble rehoming blackies. It's fantastic how Sooty has fitted in with the brother and sister duo with so little fuss.

I got a bit confused though, you've referred to Gizmo and Muffin and Gizmo and Pepsi. Is there a FOURTH cat about??

Thank you for your kind remarks.

Every time I look at Sooty (the Second Edition!) - I feel a sense of unreality. It's almost too good to be true that he's slotted in so well with Gizmo and Muffin - and yet is ferocious with other cats.

I suspect he's had a very loving home in the past. I'm thinking that maybe he was given to another household by the original person or family who for some reason had to re-home him. And the second owners of S2 became disenchanted with him when they realised that cat ownership and routine veterinary fees can sometimes be horrendously expensive - especially if bite-abscesses need to be lanced and drained (TELL me about it!)

'Pepsi' was my Bombay breed of cat ('all-black cat') which died a couple of years ago from cancer.

Bombay cat

*****

Gizmo got bitten again.... on the stump of the tail - again! Each time this happens it costs me $233 at my local vets.

The score so far: Born: 7 Mar 2011 > bitten Nov 2011 ($233) > bitten Mar 2012 ($233) > bitten May 2012 ($223).

No wonder so many cats get dumped in the bushland outside of our major cities when people realise they are way more expensive to keep than even a big dog.

He needs to run faster ...poor boy is trying to get away ...

I asked him what the problem was, and he said, Quote: "I would be unstoppable if I could just get started... "



I think I know which neighbour's cat thinks Gizmo's tail is a tasty shish kebab beneath that fur.

Sooooo.... what I'm going to do is present this neighbour with a silver bell to hang from her cat's collar.

And soooooo.... when Gizmo (and Muffin) hear a little tinkling sound approaching stealthily behind the bushes ... it doesn't mean it's Dinner Time - but RUN LIKE HELL!!

ROFL Herbert, you're a wag...

More piccies of the Three Mousketeers...

Fantastic photos Herbert, so good to see them all being so nice at their food bowls

Thank you, Muffy.

One of the very cute things about 'Muffin' - the 'white' Ginger cat - is that she has a permanent 'tide mark' half way up her nose from drinking water and eating tinned cat food that contains 'gravy'.

If I wipe it off with a damp cloth, it soon reappears as an irregular horizontal tide mark across her nose.



Because of the cold weather, just this last week Muffin has started crawling under the blankets to snuggle up to me for warmth. Because she's under the blankets I can't actually hear her purring, but I can feel her whole furry little body vibrating against me.

A very contented little furball.

Geez you ARE picking on me ..lol

But maybe I need to bell all MY enemies ..lol ..might get ME started ..lolol

Muffin broke her leg in two places!

I heard the scream, and ran around to the side of the house where she was wailing in pain. My guess is she got chased off the roof by a neighbour's cat that has been a pest for a couple of years now - or she was being chased under the house and got her leg caught up in all the piping down there.

The vet said she couldn't see any bite marks.

Muffin's all bandaged up now with a splint, and the vet says it will take at least 3 months for the bones to knit together.

Never a dull moment. Always a drama soon to happen.

Because I don't keep my three furballz as Batch-house cats, they're vulnerable to accidents and being attacked.

Meeeeanwhile...

Oh no..poor kitty, mind you that looks cosy in the sun for a girl with a broken leg..




I know it's my weird sense of humour, but you got free range cats and battery chooks ..something wrong with that picture ..giggle ..my chooks are free range and the CATS are battery ...the benefit is good tasty eggs ..and i wont even try to correlate the other thing .

They're not my little peckers in those cages. They're google-chooks. I wanted to stir you into action!

My newly-acquired Sooty-the-Second has turned out to be a wonderful cat... but! ~ the central theme of his whole existence is .... FOOD.... Glorious FOOD!

He's bonkers about.... eating.

He no longer stays with us in the lounge-room.

He's worked out that 'dinner-time' happens in the kitchen - and NOT in the lounge-room ... and that's where his next meal will appear like magic in front of him.

So he spends most of his day snoozing - with one eye open - on a bar-stool in the kitchen. My comings and goings are noisily noted by him with pleading calls for .... FOOD! (He makes a curious half-croaking/half cackling sound).

"Nope!" I tell him, before disappearing back into the lounge-room where Muffin and Gizmo are relaxing and waiting patiently for dinner-time around 5.00pm.

Hehehe google chooks ...

Mine DO have a much better life ..lol...wandering aimlessly and eating what runs or crawls..or just sits and grows ..
And their eggs are much yummier ..I eat mine fresh out of the chook.

Love that Sooty has a food fetish, I have found cats who have to forage for themselves get fixated until they realize that in MY house there is a never ending supply.
I had a visiting cat who had lived on a rubbish dump and she couldn't believe that food would still be there so she ate and ate and ate. I ended up one afternoon opening can after can of her fave food until she looked like she'd swallowed a tennis ball..and couldn't stand up..let alone eat any more...and she finally GOT it ..
He'll work out that he doesn't miss a meal JUST because he's not sitting waiting ..lol

Poor Muffin. Is she able to get around, use her litter etc on her own? What do the others make of her bandaged leg? That's a very odd window (?), with a solid door which opens to the outside? Is the ledge a special addition for the cats, or is it just convenient for them?

Fusses to Muffin. May your bones knit much quicker than the vet anticipates!

@ fleabag.

Sooty's my new eco-friendly Dish Washer. Leaves no Carbon Footprint. I don't have to wash up after meals any more. Spick and span. Pots, plates, cutlery - they shine after he's finished with them.

lynh: On the first day Muffin was flopping around helplessly. I had to carry her everywhere. She pooped on my bed.

But within 48 hours she'd learnt how to crawl from room-to-room like a pirate with a wooden leg... draaaag... THUMP! ... draaaag ... THUMP!

At 2 in the morning she'd fall off the bed... THUMP!. And then there'd be a pause of a minute or two. Dead silence as she recovered her senses and got her bearings.

And then... draaaag... THUMP! ... draaaag ... THUMP! as she'd make her way to the water bowl in the kitchen. Then some scratching sounds in the kitty litter box.

Then... draaaag... THUMP! ... draaaag ... THUMP! getting ever louder until she would be beside the bed again. Then she'd haul herself up like an abseiler, and flop down exhausted on the doona after her little adventure.

Last night when it got a bit chilly after midnight she burrowed under the blankets with me. Little furry hot water bottle.

Does she need to lose weight? A few weeks of draaaag THUMPing around should burn a few calories!! Poor old girl.

She's not much more than a year old!

I thought of changing her name to 'Stumpy' ... but my neighbour's cat 'Stumpy' got run over the other day.

Perhaps 'Thumpy' ?

"Good morning, Thumpy! - How much did you leave for me in the litter-tray last night? Hmmm.... ?"

(Moments later... ) "Oh my God!"

And then I turn to look at Thumpy, and she's going....

Muffin's broken leg bandaged tight by the vets.

Then Muffin reclining in aesthetic pose after having her bandages removed. That's an 'art' shot that I might enlarge and put in a frame on the lounge room wall... It reminds me of some of Rembrandt's paintings.

Poor baby. It's amazing how well they cope

amazing how they cope with things like that, but sadly these are the things that will happen when you allow the cats to free range here there and everywhere - injuries and expensive vet bills go hand in hand

The problems my cats have encountered have never occurred anywhere except on our own property.

It's other cats coming onto the property that has always been the cause of FIV or abscesses needing lancing.

I'm not going to make them prisoners in their own home.

I'm not in the breeding business, and I don't keep cats as indoor ornaments.

With freedom comes certain risks - and this is just as true with humans as it is with cats.

As well you have said many times Herbert. There are things you can do like capping the fencing to stop other cats coming onto the property but guess only you can decide if ou would rather your cats are continually exposed to this and getting injuries and vet bills or keeping them safer. I only know I have never had a fighting injury to deal with from any neighbours cats and the incipient risks that brings not the least things like cat aids apart from minor problems like fighting wounds but know there is no point debating it - your mind is closed to any risks from free ranging cats and the nuisance it creates

Muffin is looking very beautiful in both photos, and the Rembrandt pose is well worth having enlarged.

How is she getting on now - any sign of a limp?

Thank you for your comments, kittenmitten. It would be almost impossible for me to make my property cat-proof against intrusion.

My cats are active, happy, and enjoy the freedom of the garden at front and back. They come and go through cat-flaps in the front and back doors. When it gets dark, they get locked in and sleep in my bedroom, with either one or two of them sleeping on the bed.

They eat well, and they get plenty of affection and attention from me. If I ever come back as a cat in my next life, I sure as hell hope I end up in the same loving environment that I provide for my three cats.

At this very moment 'Fat Boy' is again upside down on my computer desk and sleeping off a good evening meal.



Hello lynh. Muffin's leg is still very tender, and she's been finding it painful to put any weight on it. She has a long way to go before that leg is fully healed and strong again. Her morale is very good though, and that's so important. She's not at all depressed.

Yes - I think I'll frame that picture. I also want to make a montage of all the cats I've had over the years.

Sooty is a very pretty kitty. When I was a little girl I had a black Persian cat named Sooty she was so pretty I had her most of my childhood years.

Hello Patti. We never forget our little friends who have passed away, do we? They really are 'family'.

It was always dogs with my family. We never had a cat during my childhood. At 47 I moved into a new house to live alone, and found an abandoned ginger cat living on its wits under the house and in the neighborhood.

It was quite a novelty for me. I'd never had a cat up-close-and-personal. After setting out bowls of food it slowly lost its fear of me, and then began eating in the kitchen, and then progressed to watch TV on the lounge with me, to finally sleeping on the bed in luxurious and blissful contentment.

That was Rupert.

I became a slave and a servant to cats ever since Rupert came strolling into my life. I've had therapy but nothing has helped. Medications and shock-treatment have been useless. The cost of keeping my current 3 furballs has made me a frequent visitor to the local Soup Kitchen for the Homeless. But I just can't help myself.

Perhaps brain surgery is my only option. I'll make inquiries. I think I once saw a map of the brain that had a little area that was labeled 'Cat Addiction'. Perhaps if they can probe this with an electrode and burn it out I might be free again.

Wish me luck, Patti.

Being a slave to three cats is wearing me down.

Get better soon, Muffin! I hope your leg will heal well and you'll be jumping around again soon.

And for your initial messages, Herbert: THIS STORY IS JUST WONDERFUL! That's the kind of stories I really love to read. Thank you so much, Herbert, for adopting this poor stray cat and giving it a forever home, where all the proper vet care will be provided as necessary (i.e. in case of injury or disease). Well done!

Thank you for your kind comments, Catsfriend!

Muffin is doing fine. Her bandages are off and she's racing around the property just as before. She's also resumed her favourite pastime of stalking the little skinks that like to bask on the warm concrete pavements.

She and her brother Gizmo have presented me with dozens of these little crawlers since I rescued them from a pet shop. I've been scooping these little mini-lizards up off the kitchen and lounge-room floor and returning them to the safe haven of tall grass where the furkidz won't find them for awhile.

Sooty-the-Second-Edition is one of the most contented cats I've ever seen. He has the most amazing coppery-green eyes set into a large head of non-reflective matt black fur. When he opens his eyes to look at me I never get tired of being amazed at how beautiful these living gems are.

Unfortunately my constant worry is what will happen to these three when my time is up. Thankfully I have an adult niece who lives in the same city as me, and I'm hoping she'll take over from me with their care.

Sooty and Gizmo have natural 'street-smart' qualities - but poor little Muffin is quite a different kettle of fish. She's a shy, timid little girl with a permanent limp from her broken leg, and she needs heaps of love and reassurance.

Incidentally, Catsfriend, my niece speaks perfect Russian. She and your pussies would get along very well. "Niet! Use the kitty litter not the floor, Igor!!"

спасибо!

That's the only Russian I know!

(means 'Thank You' for those interested).

I really like the couples..