My Girlfriend Needs Cheer-Ups

I'll pass them on, that should read. Yeah.

my favourite cat was TIBERIUS AUGUSTUS who lived from early 1960 to 1981: he was not quite black — when the sun shone through his fur it was a rich chocolate brown

he was always as imperious as his name, and when he got very old indeed would stump around crossly like a galapagos tortoise — he used to scratch his ears too much, and eventually they stopped standing up properly and just lay flat on his head

somehow he persuaded my mum that it was appropriate that he only ever ate steak and salmon!!

there is a picture of me on a rug aged zero, next to him as kitten (slightly older than me) and a small fuzzy toy duck called "henry", and a copy of the scientific american which i am just about to peruse

oh and caitlin this sucks, i am sorry :(

Maybe some cats get to live their nine lives in nine different bodies.

Charlie might be, at this very moment, suckling on a new mother, dreaming of past lives and waiting for his eyes to open and reveal the world anew.

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless to investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
It must have been Macavity!'--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumb;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE !
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

sorry to hear it caitlin.

Caitlin - that sucks, hope you are ok.

We had a family cat much like Tiberius Augustus, but it was a girl kitty named Daisy. She was a stripey cat. She loved to drink rootbeer so my mom called her Rootbeer a lot. She was already about a couple of years old when I was born. In fact, we have these VERY early 70s formal photos of my parents together (my mom was wearing this hippy tapestry dress and my dad had a beard) and there's Daisy the kitten in their laps in every photo... Daisy used to sleep with me in my crib. And as I got older, she taught me tricks, like stealing cheese for her. Also, as each daughter was born, she would bring a dead animal to the back porch and meow to bring it inside. I think she brought me a bird. My sister got a snake. Ha ha.

She lived to be almost 20. She started walking funny so we took her to the vet. She said that her back was messed up in such a way that it seems someone must have swung her around by her tail. Also she developed kidney problems shortly there-after. Eventually, we had to put her down. We burried her in the back yard at my grandmother's house and planted a tree above her.

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss, caitlin. I've lost quite a few kitties to cars and even one to abuse by neighborhood kids. That's why my two kitties now are indoor cats. With time, you will heal and find another kitten in your life.

cheer up mike stuchberry's girlfriend!

:-)

Just think... now you get to start over with a kitten. And kittens are better than cats any day.

Good thoughts for the Caitlin. :-)

My great fabulous white cat Ghost moved into my very first apartment with me as a tiny kitten. She protected me from big spiders, caught lizards on the balcony, and once brought in a live bird (despite being an indoor-except-the-balcony kitty)! She saw various goofy boyfriends come and go, and once when a very unpleasant girl came over, she peed in her purse. She ate wasabi and spicy noodles, and would knock you over to get black olives off your pizza. She filled my Chuck Taylors with pasta shells. She was AMAZING.

When we moved to Seattle, we left my cats with my mother, to be shipped out to us when we got an apartment. The day we arrived, I called my mother, only to discover that Ghost had died of a previously undiagnosed heart problem! I cried and cried, you know I did, even while we looked at apartments. "Her dear old cat died" my husband explained to the apartment manager. "Oh, you need a kitten!" And so we got tiny Rose, abandoned when some idiot moved away, who quickly picked up every trick Ghost had done.

Ghost got me from my first venture out of the parental nest, through my various adventures in Florida, and all the way to Seattle before she passed the baton to little Rose. Your dear Charlie has undoubtedly seen you through some good times and bad, and his work is done. He'll watch you as a guardian angel, and may even send on a kitten to continue with you, so be on the lookout.

**hugs** to you and Caitlin. Note that when my OTHER cat got very sick, and my boyfriend cried over it, that was when I decided he was a good choice to marry. :-)

I had the same sort of thing happen where I left home but my precious kitties stayed with my folks and they both eventually wandered away and never came back = HUGE GUILT. They were sisters, Russian Blues, and one was a huge loungy fat cat and the other was lean and mean and ruled the neighborhood. If I had been older I might have named them Femme and Butch but I was only 11 when I got them so they were Fog and Smog. They were beautiful and I still miss them lots but they had a long life before they left. They loved me as Charlie loved you, so don't forget the good times. It's tough and I'm tearing up right now, so good luck Caitlin.