This is the cat I mentioned in another thread, a stray female who's been declawed, who has taken up residence in the garage and appears to be planning to stay... She's getting regular meals and has a safe place to sleep at night, and she figured out how the rubber flap over the pet door works in only one day -it took my old cat weeks to get the hang of it. I was talking to another neighbour who had also seen her wandering around, and she thinks that someone probably had to move to an apartment and left her behind -there's a lot of that going on now, they say. I've named her "Octavia" because she showed up in October. The second picture is my old, male cat, Lucifer. The picture of him about sums up his opinion of Octavia.

Welcome to the Gatch Family Octavia and Lucifer. I see Lucifer is a black cat, after 18 years I hope he knows the safe ways to observe Halloween. We used to have a black cat called Henry, my parents got him when they were living in England and then brought him to Canada when they returned.

Originally posted by lborgia88 This is the cat I mentioned in another thread, a stray female who's been declawed, who has taken up residence in the garage and appears to be planning to stay... She's getting regular meals and has a safe place to sleep at night, and she figured out how the rubber flap over the pet door works in only one day -it took my old cat weeks to get the hang of it. I was talking to another neighbour who had also seen her wandering around, and she thinks that someone probably had to move to an apartment and left her behind -there's a lot of that going on now, they say. I've named her "Octavia" because she showed up in October. The second picture is my old, male cat, Lucifer. The picture of him about sums up his opinion of Octavia.

[FONT=comic sans ms]God! they are sooo cute! Octavia & Lucifer both are so gorgeous I love cats best pets ever... My cat looks like hitler hahaahha[/FONT]

Looks like you have another member of the family, LB!

Congrats on a new, and cute addition to the family! Is your new cat shy? We had a similar situation, where there was a stray cat living in our garage and eventually we adopted her. Even after a couple of months she's still very alert and skiddish...

Awww... she's so cute! Yeah...looks like old man Lucifer doesn't appreciate her much...he's awfully pretty though!

Welcome to your new addition!

Lucifer is an old grouch. He ought to be more understanding, considering that I found him living as a skinny stray on the streets of Montreal in January of 1992. The first vet I took him to estimated he was about 2 years old. He has been fortunate in the health department, but he's deaf now, and has arthritis. Octavia is utterly NOT shy! Everytime she sees me, she starts purring, and keeps rubbing up against my legs.

Originally posted by lborgia88 Octavia is utterly NOT shy! Everytime she sees me, she starts purring, and keeps rubbing up against my legs.

Maybe she realizes that you're a Condor, and thinks she's a puppy?

I know that since Octavia came declawed, she's also very likely to have been spayed too. But just so you know . . . calicos are notorious for having babies! And it's not unusual for a momcat in early pregnancy to choose a nice home and settle in. Does Octavia have a spay scar or anything like that, I hope? It would be reassuring if she did . . . .

That thought has occurred to me -I am hoping that anyone who would spend money to have a cat declawed would also have her spayed. How big would a spay scar be? My sister has two spayed female cats, and I don't think I've ever seen scars on either of their bellies -but I never specifically looked for that. I probably should take her to a vet, to get her vaccinations, and she could have internal parasites too. My main concern now is that Lucifer is not good about sharing a litterbox with another cat, and if he doesn't want to use the box if she's used it, then he could go anywhere... I put out a second litterbox -hopefully that will work.

Dear LB Congratulations on the new cutie in your family. I think it is very nice for you to adopt Octavia. There are also many stray cats around my neighbourhood, and being an animal lover, I would love to adopt any one of them. The problem is, I don't think my pet dog will allow it, he is a jealous & possesive type of dog,

What gorgeous kitties! : purrs & pets kitties: You are very priveledged to have two such kitty companions.

AAAaaahhhhhhh, very cute. Cats and dogs can sometimes get on with each other. My uncle and aunt has now 2 lovely black cats, Mowgli, the eldest and Ollie as the youngest. Only last year my uncle got a small puppy. Mowgli is not impressed at all and scarpers. But Ollie likes it when the dog (not a small puppy now) called Meg licks it but when Meg plays a tiny bit rough then Ollie doesn't like it. Last year before my nan's death, she and her cat, who were living at my uncles, disppeared in the villiage and we think someone may have found her body. Also my brother's cat Holly has disappeared recently and we don't know what happened to her. Also a month ago, as I was walking to the bus stop, I saw what I thought was a dead cat on the side of the road. I only gave a quick look but I saw a bit red at the mouth and a bit of red on the back legs and it never moved. The pics are Mowgli, Ollie and Meg.

I have always been partial to black cats. They look so elegant and have the slightly sinister thing going on. Years ago, my old cat Lucifer disliked but more-or-less tolerated my sister's golden retriever, but he never got along with the BF's Rhodesian ridgeback, Kenya. However, a couple years ago when the BF was moving from Ohio to Indiana and spending a lot of time traveling between, he sent his dog to stay with his brother. She and his brother bonded, and now his brother doesn't want to give her back! So, now Kenya lives in Texas, which has the warm weather that she prefers, and the more easy-going brother who will let her sleep on the furniture. Now that I think about it, Met, I'm surprised your aunt and uncle went with "Mowgli," as the black cat in The Jungle Book was "Bagheera"!

Don't know why they chose it either. It does seem that both sides of my family likes cats and dogs as my aunt (dad's sister) had I think 2 cats as well (I most certainly remember one of them) and a mongrel dog called Delilah (I think). I was very young then but Delilah got me into trouble with my uncle's goldfish pool and I was blamed. Also Delilah used to jump at people as they came through the door and since I was very young I got scared and didn't like it but as I got older, I used to catch her front paws and danced a small jig with her. Also, daft dog was under the dining table or going around it waiting for food to "accidently" dropped. Don't know if any was though. At Cannock where I was being brought up, all we had was a goldfish and a goldfirsh who had a silver body (silverfish is what I like to call it) and later a lovely rabbit called Thumper (my brother's idea) who wasn't scared of cats and in winter would like to warm any mice nearby and even a small bird, which my brother found dead under her ruff. We were even adopted one of the local cats called Benji who actually lived 2 doors down from us. Only one time my mum fed him but he was very welcomed, even had his own blanket to sleep on when he didn't have any laps to sit on.

Originally posted by saturn Dear LB Congratulations on the new cutie in your family. I think it is very nice for you to adopt Octavia. There are also many stray cats around my neighbourhood, and being an animal lover, I would love to adopt any one of them. The problem is, I don't think my pet dog will allow it, he is a jealous & possesive type of dog,

In my house it's the opposite... the dog loves all the other animals, but the cat hates the dog to where you can hear her loud hiss when the dog gets too close...

Met... your animals are so cute...

Originally posted by Metaliant Don't know why they chose it either. It does seem that both sides of my family likes cats and dogs as my aunt (dad's sister) had I think 2 cats as well (I most certainly remember one of them) and a mongrel dog called Delilah (I think).

I've always had pets, cats and dogs. I also had guinea pigs for several years in my teens, and have at various times had aquariums for fish. I guess I just like having animals around... Unlike Jinpei, I have never attempted to adopt seals, whales or mountain lion cubs!

Originally posted by lborgia88 That thought has occurred to me -I am hoping that anyone who would spend money to have a cat declawed would also have her spayed. How big would a spay scar be? My sister has two spayed female cats, and I don't think I've ever seen scars on either of their bellies -but I never specifically looked for that. I probably should take her to a vet, to get her vaccinations, and she could have internal parasites too. My main concern now is that Lucifer is not good about sharing a litterbox with another cat, and if he doesn't want to use the box if she's used it, then he could go anywhere... I put out a second litterbox -hopefully that will work.

A spay scar often isn't very big: it can be as small as half an inch, although sometimes they'll be up to three inches long. The problem is that cats heal very well and often the scar vanishes after a year or so. It can also be very hard to see without shaving the belly. Some hospitals will use metal sutures in the muscle layer just so that there will be permanent "evidence" that surgery was done . . . but metal sutures don't guarantee that it was a spay. :/ I agree with you about getting Octavia to a vet! You're right about the parasite concern; best to have her stool checked, and getting her dewormed against roundworms (at least) is always a good idea because roundworms are "shy" and don't always show up reliably on the test. However, one other major thing to check for is feline leukemia and feline "AIDS" (FIV). If she's been living on the streets for very long, she could have been exposed. Definitely get her tested for these, because if she were positive then Lucifer would be at risk. Regarding litterboxes, the rule of thumb for households with more than one cat is to have one more litterbox than total number of cats. Cats are super fussy about their toilets, and some cats will outright refuse to use a litterbox that someone else has used too recently. At Lucifer's age, it would be very unhealthy for him to "hold it" for very long. So putting out two extra litterboxes is a really good idea! Sorry to be a little slow in replying today!

Originally posted by shamrokchick Met... your animals are so cute...

They aren't my animals Shamrockchick. The black cats and dog belong to my uncle and aunt (my mum's brother). The last image is of Benji who actually lived 2 doors down from us when I was a kid but who seemed to adopt us and used us when his owners were out but rushed back to them as soon as they came back. In fact several households had cats from all corners of the Cul De Sac and there were 1 or 2 cat fights. Heck even a small kitten came around from somewhere else and we had to keep the kitten in the house as Benji was jealous of it.

Thanks, Barrdwing. I looked at her belly yesterday and didn't see a scar, but maybe it is too small and well-healed to be easily seen. The thing with Lucifer is that he won't "hold it" -he'll just do it somewhere that is not a litterbox! So far, though, I have not discovered any evidence of this -hooray! I will see about getting her a vet appointment.

Originally posted by Barrdwing Regarding litterboxes, the rule of thumb for households with more than one cat is to have one more litterbox than total number of cats. Cats are super fussy about their toilets, and some cats will outright refuse to use a litterbox that someone else has used too recently.

I never knew that about litter boxes, that means when my parents bring down their two cats for the winter I should have out 5!!!! boxes. Wow I think that would take me all day to clean out. It is a good thing they do not mind using the two boxes I already have, and my cats do not mind using my parents two boxes when I take them up there for a visit.

Originally posted by clouddancer

Originally posted by Barrdwing Regarding litterboxes, the rule of thumb for households with more than one cat is to have one more litterbox than total number of cats. Cats are super fussy about their toilets, and some cats will outright refuse to use a litterbox that someone else has used too recently.

I never knew that about litter boxes, that means when my parents bring down their two cats for the winter I should have out 5!!!! boxes. Wow I think that would take me all day to clean out. It is a good thing they do not mind using the two boxes I already have, and my cats do not mind using my parents two boxes when I take them up there for a visit.

I didn't know that about litterboxes either... we have three cats and two boxes, one on the main floor and one in the basement... i know my sister cleans them out everyday and so far the cats seem happy sharing with each other...

LB, I'm happy that you have a new member in your family. Hope that no one accidentally let her out of the house. With being declawed, that's a little more then people would go to not keep it. Still both kitties look so pettable! More then one litter box would be a positive thing right now, would hate for accidents to happen on the floor. Enjoying everyones wonderful photos!