# Tales of two



## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

Got a few stories I thought I'd share. Our oldest cat, Checkers, actually came to us by surprise. My sister came over with this big box and just dumped it out on our living room floor and out fell six kittens. All of them were short haired white with grey markings on their ears, and then there was Checkers. She was fluffy and black and white. Of course, she was the one who you instantly looked at and of course she was the only one that ran and climbed up the underneath of out recliner. We were informed that she had taken the kittens off of her boyfriends fathers hands because he planned on dropping them off on the side of the road (which I heard he had done before). At the time we had a cat already who was not impressed but Checkers came to stay with us, we couldn't just let her go. My father actually named her after the checkered flag in the Nascar racing because he loves it and the first night she was with us she sat in his lap and the whole time she watched the cars go around and around and around on the screen, this was quite hilarious. 
This is Checkers:










Athena is our newest addition. She has come a long way in my opinion. In December I was with my sister and we took a trip to Wal-Mart and on our way out something caught my eye. Off to the side of the parking lot near some trees was this little tiny kitten. She ran from me at first but eventually came right up and started crying. So I got her and took her home. She was very thin and infested with worms. After a worming and some good food she started coming around and acting like a kitten. Introducing her to our two other cats was hard. Grady was the one we were worried about but he actually took her under his wing and to this day he acts like her mother (which is quite odd to me). They played together all the time and slept right up next to each other. Checkers ignored her and was scared at first but she lost interest after a while. It's funny that Grady, our big bad guard cat (long story behind that name), loves this little kitten. She's about seven months old now and if they are playing and she hides and he can't find her he walks around the house crying and meowing looking for her. The sounds he makes reminds me of the sounds that cheetahs and lions make to find their cubs. And when Athena gets tired and Grady's laying down she walks up to him and pushes her head under his chin and lays down right up against him. Often I find Grady holding her head down while he grooms her. She doesn't try to get away she just lays there and takes it. Athena also has a very strong attatchment to me. I imagine it's because I took her in but in the morning if she didn't sleep in my room she will pop right up from where ever she may have been and comes running over to me crying and crying until I pat her or pick her up. She follows me around the house all the time as well. 
An example of her and Grady:


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## Mary Beth (May 16, 2010)

Wonderful stories and so great of you to give them homes. They are beautiful cats. I'd love to hear how Grady got his name


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## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

Grady is an interesting cat to say the least =) We were over visiting my sisters friend and I had my sisters pomeranian on a leash when we walked into the house and she had five or six kittens, can't remember. They all ran like a bats out of **** when they saw the dog but Grady puffed right up and walked over all slinked up and started hissing at the dog. That was my first attraction to him and I knew I had to take him home. He actually came with his name. My sister's friend named the kittens and I thought it fit him. Although in our house he isn't known as Grady much, we've become accustomed to called him 'goobs' or 'fat cat'. We call him goobs because hes a goober. He does what we call the 'gooby flop' when he's happy. He will be standing there and then just flop onto the ground and put his paws up in the air and show his belly. He's a comical cat and overweight, weighing currently seventeen pounds, hence the nickname fat cat but he's one of a kind! 

When I first got him he was this big:









Now here he is now at five years old doing his famous gooby flop:










He has certainly grown up!


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## Mary Beth (May 16, 2010)

Thanks so much! I sure enjoyed reading how Grady got his name. It's a wonder he grew up into such a mellow cat from being "Kitten the Terrible" against the "fearsome" Pom. "Gooby flop" - delightful. It reminds me of a neighbor's cat , when asked "Tommy how are you?" He'd roll over and put all 4 paws up in the air just like your Grady. I never knew another cat (at least mine didn't) to do that until now. Yes, I've also kept the names my cats came with. My current cat Miss Mavis, was named Mavis by the Humane Society volunteers when she was only 8 lbs.and claiming to be 9 months old. She doubled her weight in 3 months and looked to be a nice mature cat. When I told my mother, she commented "Now she's Miss Mavis". So the name stuck. Thanks again, you have a wonderful way with words.


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## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

Oh he still has a wild streak, don't get me wrong! He is usually a very mellow cat, sometimes him and the kitten will get going and race around the house but most of the time he follows us around begging to be patted. He has a deep hatred for my sister, he just doesn't like her. When she comes into the house he howls and growls and hisses at her. He's actually been known to lunge at her and chase her until she runs out of the house, then he comes over to us and rubs up against us like 'there, now she's gone!'. That is the only bad behavior that has come out of him, even while he's attempting to attack her I can go pick him up and he's fine, he'll purr and let me pat him but she comes near and he tries to attack her. And I have never seen a cat that flops onto their back like he does. Although Athena is starting to learn from him and has begun to just flop down, although she doesn't get onto her back like he does, she just all of a sudden will flop onto her side and lay down in the middle of everything so that she is the center of attention :luv


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## Mary Beth (May 16, 2010)

Your Athena is being a "copy cat"  My cat sometimes "copies" the dog. When I tell Sting to sit (and of course he gets a reward) Miss Mavis will sit too (she gets the treat also). That's interesting with Grady's behavior toward you sister - it's almost like he's afraid she will take him back. My Shadow started out as just a summer house guest. He was only supposed to stay for the summer until my friend's son moved in with his father. They did visit and the cat was fine. Come the day to pick him up and Shadow ran hissing under the bed and stayed there growling. So, Shadow ended up staying for good!


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## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

Yeah, and also she is afraid of him so whenever he goes near her, even if he isn't hissing, she starts freaking out screaming to me to grab him and that just irks him and he can tell she is afraid of him obviously. The things that she does just eggs him on. Athena wasn't supposed to stay with us, we found her in the parking lot and it was supposed to be staying only until we found her a home, but then Grady took her under his wing and they became best buds and we just couldn't separate them. They are very attatched, I mean when Athena went to the vet Grady was walking around crying and doing is little purr meow call looking for her. He didn't know what to do without her, I felt bad for him.


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## Mary Beth (May 16, 2010)

It does seem that some cats want a feline buddy, while others prefer to be the only cat. My Shadow II was like your Grady. When Tabitha died he waited a month, then he started his campaign. He'd wait just until I fell asleep, and jump on the bed, meowing. I yelled at him to be quiet - he was until I fell asleep again and so on. After 10 sleepless nights, it finally dawned on me - that he was lonely. I adopted Miss Mavis from the Humane Society. When I brought her home, Shadow was right at the door. I just opened the cat carrier and told him "She was all your idea." It was cute because Shadow was black, and Miss Mavis (the cat who passed the "dog friendly" test) is black. Shadow just licked her face and that was it. He followed her and they played together and the dog and I finally got a decent night's sleep


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## 3felines (Jun 20, 2010)

=) That's great. Grady and Athena are very good buddies. When they're playing and chasing each other around Athena will hide because she's small and can fit into places Grady can't. When Grady can't find her he walks around the house crying until she comes out of hiding. I swear it's kitty hide and go seek!


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## Mary Beth (May 16, 2010)

Yes, I agree it sure sounds like hide 'n seek. Athena is clever to use her small size. The only hide 'n seek game I ever saw between my pets was one that backfired. Vidale my Siamese crept into the open paper sack I had left on the floor for them to play with. My Husky crept up and pounced on the sack - Vidale shot out like out of a cannon. I was laughing so hard, I didn't reprimand the dog for teasing the cat


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