This is maui & Bryn curled up together in the back seat for the 15-hour ride home to Florida after spending a wonderful Christmas in Tennessee with our 4 grandchildren. They're such great traveling companions - not a sound from either of them. These two have been together since being adopted at the SPCA a little over a year ago. Every morning Maui washes Bryn's face, then bryn does a CatScan on maui from head to toe and gives us a Lab Report!

"Sparty", aka "SuperKitty", has a penchant for climbing and flying. He prefers his feet not touch the floor as long as their is furniture to climb or walk on, says Kim, his mistress. One of his early tricks, was to stand on the TV, and try to hop from it to the shelf above. This should have been an impossible thing for him to do, because it would necessitate a vertical jump from the edge of the TV, to a shelf above, that was STUFFED with quilt-related things (picture jam-packed)! Believe me, there was no place to land. I kept a close eye on him, but he was drawn to the top of that Tv, like a moth to a flame. It was exhausting trying to control him. One morning, he just took a running jump from the bed, to the TV table, to the TV, and straight up to the shelf. I braced for the impact, but SOMEHOW, he landed on top of a pile of quilting supplies. I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES!
Here is "Sparty" in his superkitty cape. He specializes in doing things he knows are wrong, ie; climbing up decorated Christmas trees. Does anyone know a "Cat-Whisperer" out there that might be interested in teaching Sparty what the floor is for???

So here is a shot of Mr. Magoo, a stately gentleman that Ann adopted when a relative could no longer keep him. She says that "it'a amazing how frisky this old guy can be. He might decide to race up & down the hall with Felix in pursuit, or hi might just chase his own tail for the heck of it. He slept with me at first but now he has settled on the chair in the bedroom as his spot. During the day he will move from room to room and lay near me on the floor." Mr. Magoo has had surgery on both ears. The first surgery was on his left ear. That one came out better. A different vet did the right one and it folds down. My husband says he looks like an old prize fighter with "cauliflower ears". We love him!

We named our cat Charmin (yes, after toilet paper, b/c he was so white), & he was quite spoiled. We livein the country so in the fall when it gets cold, mice want to come in where it's warm. One evening, a mouse ran across the family room floor right in front of Charmin. He watched it with interest, but didn't get up. My husband picked up Charmin & got nose-to-nose with him explaining that Charmin was shirking his "cat-ly" duty. Then we went to bed. Larry left his shoes in the family room & the next morning as he slipped his feet into them... something was in the toe. It was the mouse... dead... stuffed into Larry's shoe. We all stared at charmin & I swear he was grinning at us & saying, "So there! Are you satisfied with me now?"

Linda, Smokey's Mom writes,"My daughter snapped this shot and although I don't know what Smokey's thinking about, but it looks tasty. Smokey is addicted to plastic grocery bags so maybe that's it. We try desperately to store any bags we bring home, but she's now resorted to digging through trash cans for a crunchy snack."

Spotter's mistress, Terri, writes "One night when I was out to dinner, my sister called. She said it rang a few times and then she heard someone pick it up. She kept saying hello, and suddenly she heard a "meow". She said "Spotty, is that you?". She heard another Meow. This went on for some time. I got home later on and found the phone off the hook. Spot evidently knocked the phone off the receiver and heard her voice and thought it was me... because my sister and I are twins and our voices are identical!

Lazurus's Mom Wanda, had recently adopted a corgi-border collie mix puppy named Katie, and she writes that, "'Rus was just 10 months old and thrilled to become a big brother. He and Katie play and wrestle a lot, but even though Katie is quite a bit bigger than Rus is, "Rus likes to hold Katie down and bathe as much of her as he can get to, in the 2 or 3 minutes that she will be still for him!" This is ADORABLE!

Fluffer's Mom, Mary wrote to say, "We have an orphan cat who looks like he is a Maine Coon. Everyone thinks he is beautiful and they want to pet or hold him. He's a one person cat though, & he only lets me do things to him. My son picked him up one day and he slapped him with both paws on each side of my son's face, just as hard as he could . His slaps are so loud- no one can believe it!

"Here is my troublemaker, Felix. He asks to be picked up all of the time & sleeps up by my head at night. He often shows those "bedroom eyes". Like your Jeter, he is fearless. Discipline is not in his vocabulary. It just does not work with him. When scolding doesn't work, and I tap him with a paper, he pulls in his head like a turtle, and waits it out. When I stop, he grabs for the paper- he NEVER retreats. My neices, Jenna & Charlene, used to fight over playing on the computer, but now they fight over playing with HIM! We've had many cats over the years and each one is different, just like people are!"

Leslie wrote to show us her precious girl, Pippa. "Shortly after I moved, I was putting up the wreath, and had just put it down on the floor so I could put up the hangar. I turned back for 2 minutes and the little monkey settled right in, as if saying, "Look how pretty I am surrounded by flowers!". Pippa is the best cat ever, and she "helps" me with all my chores!"

Smokey & Panda's Mom writes,"My cats usually like to assist in my sewing room, relaxing in the sun from the windows, and sometimes on the cutting table when I'm not looking. However, this day, I was forced to cut out the pattern in the hallway because it was slippery fabric all cut on the bias and not enough room on my cutting table. Both cats love the sound of rumpled pattern paper and were having a great time this particular afternoon. When I went to get the camera, they both took on the calm, innocent pose you see here. Thought you'd enjoy it! They are never far from my sight when I'm at home and especially good at showing my husband and me the proper way to nap!"

Elsa & Ethan's mistress, Terri, writes that she adopted this brother & sister pair from a rescue group in Portland. "Can you believe these sweeties were born feral? They are a siamese mix called Lynx Point. You can see the siamese not only in their markings, but also in their personalities; very social, loving, playful & curious!"

Benny's mistress, Terri, writes that "My sewing assistant, is a 19lb. chocolate loving, tiger striped/white cat named benny. I was having company over for dinner, so I set out a dish of Dove dark chocolates on the coffee table and proceeded to make dinner. That evening, I noticed several people picked up the chocolates and then put them back. After everyone left, I took a closer look at the still full dish of candy. Every single one of them had little teeth marks on them. I went looking for Benny, and found him in his condo with a stash of chocolates. I figure je just marked the ones he didn't have time to steal, so no one else would take them!!"

"Here are "the boys!" They're brothers, two years old, and weigh 18-20 pounds each! Quite a pair! Frack-- (Frack's black)-- is the troublemaker, inquisitive, into EVERYTHING. Frick is laid back. Frack's the lap cat though."

"I've tried all you've tried to keep "King" Winston off the counters", writes Linda Ferguson,"PLUS sprinkling the counters with cayenne pepper, (which he LOVED), and covering the counters with aluminum foil, (which he thought was for his entertainment). He is up there almost constantly except when my hubby is home. He also thinks my cutting table is his personal property. Winston is siamese and has a total attitude. The most fun thing he does is run straight up our glass shower doors and walk along the top. I thought that somehow he was pulling himself up there, but no, he runs about 2 laps around the house and then goes straight up! And here's the proof!" :)

"Winston has a new thing-I bought him the Cat Sitter DVD-he now watches tv...and I don't even try to leave without putting it on for him. The few times I have tried, I've found him sitting staring at a blank screen." :)

"We had only had our newest cat, Mack, about a month, when he decided that something on the other end of the kitchen looked or sounded like a personal invitation to him. So he ran down the hall (all 40' of it) leapt on the kitchen counter, and suddenly realized he couldn't stop. He slid right into the kitchen sink- and yes, it had water in it at the time! he hasn't done that in a long while!"

"I have also tried everything to keep my cat Einstein off the counter tops, nothing has worked. It is especially worse when we run the dishwasher which is right under the counter, he races over and hops up and stretches out... the gentle vibration of the wash cycle and the warmth lulls him right to sleep!"

"Nearly everytime I enter the kitchen, there's Kit, sprawled out on the counter, looking like it is a perfectly natural thing to do.
My husband's mission was to find a young adult declawed cat. These fully armed boys came as a set. I wouldn't break up a set, would you? Kit's the one with the white beauty mark!"

"About a year after we moved into our new home in Edmond", writes Anna, "my husband bought me one of the then popular "Attic Babies". She was a redhead with the name of Party Marty. I came home from work one day to find Marty sprawled out on the entry hall floor with her dress all messed up and her hair in clumps all around her. My cat, CB, (a rotten little Manx kitty) was evidently expressing his opinion that Marty just didn't belong here. I sat her back up, put her hair in an envelope and tried again. A few days later, a repeat performance. I called the ladies at Attic babies in Duncan, OK.... they laughed and said to put Marty in a box and send her back. They said they would do hair transplants and restore her hair to it's original beauty. Along with Marty, I sent a picture of CB, just to show them what a little stinker he was. They not only fixed Marty up and sent her back at no charge to me, they published the picture of CB and the story of Marty. CB has been gone for 2 years now, and Marty's got a very smug expression these days. (Now I think that maybe she provoked him!)"

Brenna wrote to share that "Our latest addition to the family is a part Maine Coon beast named Maestro. Out vet warned us to keep him lean, so I kept an eye out on what he was eating. Our yard is fenced-in and cat proof, so our babies don't get hurt on the road nearby. I let maestro & his 2 buddies out one afternoon after telling him that he didn't need anymore food, just a little fresh air. Well, I hadn't seen any of the cats in a couple hours, so I wandered out and called their names. Then I happened to notice in the grass, half a squirrel... very freshly dead. I'm 100% certain that our hunter went out and caught his own snack to spite me and the diet. He spent the rest of the day lying around, digesting.

Sam's mistress, Terri, writes that "Several years ago, my cat Sam had a problem with anything black, ie; remote controls, rocks, shoes, etc. We took him to the vet to ask if there was anything we could do to stop him from jumping straight up in the air when he saw anything black. The vet prescribed Valium, only a quarter dose, to calm him down. Ok, so after my friends at the Sav-On Pharmacy stopped laughing at me and the prescription for "Sam Goggin", I headed home to try it. We gave Sam his quarter of a pill, (another interesting story), and his legs turned to rubber, he could barely walk. Luckily, Sam got over his fear on his own, and is now a well-adjusted (and now, a naturally laid-back guy). I still dont know what happened to the rest of the bottle of Valium... maybe my husband knows??"