kimberlysteele | Entries tagged with cats

It's possible I might not get around to writing an article this week, so thanks to J's suggestion, I am doing an Open Post. I am delighted to announce that there are some major developments on the horizon. I found a great new café where my students and I recently played and sang -- I sang some of my own Orphic hymns and my husband even got up and sang some of his original songs and played guitar. I am relieved to have finally finished Sacred Homemaking. I will be submitting it in full to a small publisher soon after some more clean up and proofreading. I have decided not to go with an outside proofreader; I will let the future publisher handle it.

My kitties are doing well, inside and out. Tommy actually disappeared for about a week in early February and I thought he was gone. I think he got taken inside someone's house because he is friendly and they probably wanted to make him a house cat. Thank the gods he came back.

Please do not drop swear words worse than "bitch" or "ass". Otherwise, have at it!

Here are some pics of the inners Shadow (Felix the cat looking guy), Ash (gray boy) and Bee (black girl):

Happy Alban Arthuan/Winter Solstice! The days are only getting longer from here! It's been a long time since I've done an Open Post! Please feel free to post about just about anything you are into... the only thing I don't do around here is swear words worse than "bitch".

The cats are doing well, outside and inside! As some of you may know, I have three feral cats on the outside: Miss Piggy, also known as Blondie. She is a calico we "inherited" when we moved to our little house nearly 9 years ago. Miss Piggy was a kitten factory until I took it upon myself to trap her along with quite a few other cats in the neighborhood, including Tommy, her son, who is the orange cat in the photos and Silhouette, her other son who is the twin brother to Shadow, my indoor black cat with the crazy eyes. Piggy was not easy to trap! Thanks to our great local TNR lady, she's now spayed. Oddly, all of my ferals let me pet them. Tommy is my personal itty bitty kitty welcoming committee every night when I get home from work. He always greets me and gives me a kitty hug (reminder that he is hungry) when I get home and park my car. He is the one with whom I have a psychic connection: I can call him in my mind and he has not yet failed to arrive right on schedule.

Shadow and his favorite toy on the big tree my husband built out of PVC pipe and wood discs.

On the inside, there is Shadow, one of the sons of Miss Piggy. Before I trapped her, there was some drama with one of Piggy's boyfriends, a sire I named Abraham because he killed one of his children. Piggy had litters by superfecundation, a.k.a. via multiple fathers, every year until I had her fixed. Abraham killed his own child -- unlike the Biblical Abraham for whom he is named, he actually went through with it. I took Shadow in about a week after I found the dead orange kitten on the porch, and because we have video all around the house, we saw the whole fight with Abe going after both his own child and twin black kittens Shadow and Silhouette (different sire), and Piggy attempting to defend them all. Silhouette fought me and took a chunk out of my hand when I tried to get him to live inside, so outside he stayed. I don't know if I'll ever get the outers to live inside.

Meanwhile, Shadow the kitten was living and healing inside my house. It was too soon after the death of my beloved Kiki, and if cats didn't have terrible timing, I would have taken at least a year break from indoor cat mayhem. It was not to be so. He healed, I took him to the vet and got him fixed, and overall he turned out to be my most expensive cat because he did not have everything already "done" like a shelter cat. Shadow had the cat version of ADHD. He jumped into the refrigerator one night and had he been in there longer or if it had been the freezer, he would have died. He was fine -- by then he was already becoming far more robust. He was so crazy, I did some research and decided to adopt him a sibling.

Ashley Amore Reid Cocklebur Steele, looking regal as usual

I fully intended on adopting a girl. I love girl cats and I truly feel I cannot live without them. I also felt terrible for taking Shadow away from his twin bro-bro. It was the height of Covid paranoia though so I went to the shelter. The girl cat I had chosen (we weren't allowed to see more than two cats at once) didn't like my husband and I. The boy cat they brought in liked us though. He was a beautiful silver gray kitty. His original name was Reid but I later named him Ashley or Ash for short because it seemed so right. My husband and I were very worried the two boys would not get along but they turned out to be absolutely made for each other. Ash is by far the most gorgeous cat I have ever owned. I doubt I will ever get him genetically tested, but I strongly suspect he is a purebred Korat, which is a Thai breed not all that different from a Russian Blue. Ash is a very sensitive boy who needs a special diet like other Korats. He is allergic to fish.

Kyoko Jujube Steele, a.k.a. Bee. She is petite like me!

I adopted little Bee (a.k.a. Kyoko Bee) from another shelter about a year after Ash. She wasn't doing very well at first -- I have a knack for adopting or rescuing sickly cats -- and I was able to heal her and make her coat shiny and full with quality food and supplements. She is a sweet little doll with considerable attitude. Kiki was all sweetness... Bee, not so much LMAO.

I am slowly organizing the lending library by the Dewey Decimal System. Only 390 more books to go, ha ha

I am still lending out books to anyone in the continental US! Just email me at ksteelestudio at gmail com and I will send you up to 3 books of your choice at no charge. I do ask that if you don't return the books within 6 months that you reimburse me for their cost at BuyMeACoffee so I can replace them. Just tonight I was adding more sustainability and mythology titles.

Here is my book list:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v0ELUifXRBoPkWHfA017FZYuIh5DdPvWqh6CS_AH8k0/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Shadow was the first cat I took into my house after the death of my beloved Kiki Koneko — he is actually the son of Miss Piggy, the feral who lives outside who I trapped, had spayed, and who still lives in my yard with Shadow’s twin brother Silhouette and his older brother, Tommy.

Ash (short for Ashley) was the brother I adopted for Shadow from the local Humane Society when I realized Shadow would never be happy as a solo cat as Kiki was. They get along great — nevertheless, their introduction to each other took about two weeks. Despite the fact Ash came from a shelter, I believe he is a purebred, specifically a Korat cat. Korats are known for their slim builds and gray fur. Ash had digestive problems when I adopted him, so I put him on a special diet of “novel” proteins: rabbit meat, venison, and duck, plus L-lysine and calendula supplements, and he no longer seems to have any digestive issues at all.

Bee, short for Kyoko Bee Jujube, is the latest addition to my feline family, which is now six cats if you count the three ferals who live outside! I was told Llttle Bee was five years old, but my student who is a veterinary tech and I both think she is far older and may be between 10-15. She is slowly acclimating to her new digs. She is a former feral from Feral Fixers of Lombard who went through a very rough time outside, was found without fur and with severe fleas, and who was rehabilitated both at the Feral Fixers center and with a foster family for over a year. It’s been about two weeks and unfortunately she was in rather poor health when I adopted her. I have her on several supplements, including Omega 3 fatty acids, Yummy Tummy (for digestion) and Cat Kryptonite (for adrenal fatigue) from NaturaPetz Organics. She seems to be responding well to supplementation and lots of her favorite wet food, gaining a tiny bit more energy and a slightly softer, shinier coat every day.

Please refrain from profanity in the comments... Gods bless you!

This is the cat tree my husband built near our front door. It is made of PVC plumbing pipes, wood, and sticky-backed industrial carpeting. You can probably see the cats have ripped the carpeting to shreds. This is in the living room of our small house -- it almost qualifies as a tiny house at 675 square feet. My recording/lesson studio is actually hidden in this room.

Below is a picture of some of the cat shelves in my office, a petite room in the front of the house. The cats can roam and sleep above my desk. I keep most of my files, makeup, sewing, and other supplies in the mirror-doored IKEA wardrobe by the desk. Some of you might recognize this little room from my Sphere of Protection video -- it is the same space.

This is my office window. The stained glass is fake -- it is a sticker. The grille is a piece of wall "art" from Hobby Lobby. I think I paid about $25 for it. It keeps the cats from trying to bust through the screen.

Ashley Amore Reed Cocklebur Steele. This is in the kitchen. The stools came from a guy in nearby Wheaton from Facebook Marketplace; I think they were $10 each or less. The seats are pretty beat up and need a refinishing.

Shadow Shadilay Sniffles Spazzimodo Steele. My husband built the island out of an old IKEA bookshelf we had and added the "wood" laminate top. The space under the counter has a rolling rack where we store cat food. The cats also have a covered litter box under there. We also have a second covered litter box under my office desk and a third one in the bedroom.

The kitchen -- my husband used our old IKEA bookshelves from past apartments and pulled apart/hacked more IKEA shelves for the walls. The only cost was the L brackets and the industrial stick-back carpeting so the cats don't slip and slide.

I have trained both of the cats to fetch but only Shadow likes to show off for photos.

This is yet another IKEA bookshelf, this time with holes cut into it so the cats can weave through to the top.

Pictures of various gardens in my area (not mine!), some of the garden harvest, and kitties!

Please feel free to comment on anything and everything but keep in mind I delete profanity worse than the b word.

Baby oak is getting larger! I planted coneflowers and borage around him.

Rose of Sharon -- I pruned both of mine very hard this year and multiple times. It has lots of buds. Hopefully next month's photos will feature blooms.

Daylily garden with Russian sage in the background and a raspberry bush in the foreground. Last year I made raspberry cordial -- raspberry juice boiled with sugar and vodka. Probably will do the same this year. It makes a great Christmas gift.

Tommy the neighborhood kitty.

This year's tomatoes, planted alongside calendula, parsley, and dill.

Borage trying to do a hostile takeover of the lettuce patch.

Hostas, fern, Eastern cedar, coneflower, ferns, catmint, and grasses.

Shadow Shadilay.

Ashley Amore giving the Bette Davis eyes because he wants food.

Please post about anything and everything, but keep in mind I delete profanity.

The purple spurge in the corner opposite the purple clematis is hiding the gas meter!

My husband built the path right over the sunken sidewalk — it used to be a big puddle every time it rained.

The formal part of the garden. I don’t do well with boxwoods so I am thinking about alternatives. Suggestions welcome.

I installed a Proven Winners irrigation system for the pots this year.

Hubby plans on redo-ing the back herb garden paths in brick.
The herbs in the circle are mint, sage, monarda, catmint, skullcap, and yarrow with the ubiquitous Stella d’Oro daylilies in the middle.

Tommy and the other ferals love the herb garden.

Back towards where Kiki is buried. The big bush is a pussy willow that only five years ago was some donated sticks trimmed from my next door neighbor’s tree!

The milkweed is from seeds foraged from the local forest preserve about five years ago.

Here is the tree I named Grogu Oakinawa Oakenfold. He was a volunteer in one of my garden beds about three years ago. I planted borage and black eyed Susans around him.

Cedric! Remember him? He’s a big boy now — he’s taller than me. Though that’s not saying much…

Shadow, who is strictly indoors even though he was born to Miss Piggy the feral outside. He’s turned into a sweetheart.
I give all of my kitties, indoor and feral, a powdered lysine supplement to keep them healthy.

Ashley Amore Reed. He’s my sweet darling, also strictly indoors. He is from the local Humane Society. He is the one I give calendula oil to heal his inflamed gums and digestive issues.

Please feel free to post about anything and everything, except profanity, which will be deleted.

Ash, 1 year old -- we got him in October 2021 from the local Humane Society

Shadow, also approximately 1 year old, is a former feral from my backyard. I picked him up in late July of 2021 when he was a few months old.

Please feel free to shoot the breeze about anything and everything. PLEASE refrain from using profanity, including as a quotation.

The cats: Ash is the gray guy and Shadow is the black with bow tie. Ash is my mellow lounger while Shadow continues to be ten pounds of kitten energy in a five pound bag... I'm just glad they get along!

This little guy came into my life about ten days ago. His name is Shadow, or more specifically Shadow Shadilay Sniffles Spazzimodo Steele. He is a formerly feral cat from my backyard. We feed and water a small colony of ferals outside my house every day. My husband built a rather elaborate heated shelter for them to get through our Illinois winters.

As you guys know, I recently had to have my beloved kitty Kiki of fifteen years put down because she had kidney and liver failure. I am still devastated and in mourning, and that's why I wasn't ready for this little dude.

I had taken a day off for my birthday and poor little Shadow was sniffling and sneezing worse than ever. He was part of a feral litter of three born to one of the kitties I have yet to Trap/Spay/Return, a girl we've named Ms. Piggy but who is known also as Blondie. Ms. Piggy had a litter of three boys this spring, one of whom was killed by the tom who sired him and left as a corpse on my porch. I named him Tiger and buried him beneath some tiger lilies in my center garden. Shadow and his brother Silhouette were the two survivors. They are both black cats.

Several of the feral cats allow me to touch/handle them. Shadow is one of them. At 2.3 pounds, he couldn't put up much of a fight when I grabbed him and put him into a cat carrier a week and a half ago. So I did and took him to the vet. Shadow was immediately sweet and friendly -- purring as he was held in my arms. He has not acted feral since Day One.

The vet prescribed a ten day course of antibiotics, a de-wormer, and eye drops. My generous friend Jackie, a fellow cat lover and rescuer, paid for his veterinary expenses and gave me some litter, a litter box, and food. I have never seen a cat take so quickly or enthusiastically to using a litter box.

Within a couple of days, he found his favorite thing: TOYS. Kiki had a big box of them, and she had gradually lost interest in 90 percent of them over the years. Shadow went absolutely crazy over the wand toys, the cat tube, the catnip fish, etc.

Shadow is a much more high energy cat than Kiki, even when she was a kitten. He's a handful. He jumped into the refrigerator on his fourth or fifth night with us and spent 7 hours in the cold! He pooped all over the shelf and the few things that were in there (we had to throw out some stuff) but was otherwise unscathed. Moral of the story: ALWAYS CHECK THE FRIDGE WHEN YOU HAVE A KITTEN. He is like the cat version of Indiana Jones with ADHD. That said, Kiki did take down her fair share of window blinds as a baby...

Another difference between Shadow and Kiki is their size. Kiki was a big cat, 21 pounds at times. She was more like a small panther. Shadow is the runt of the litter. It remains to be seen whether or not he will grow to be a normal sized cat.

I'm doing my best to make him feel welcome and happy.

He recently went to the vet again for routine vaccinations. He has gained weight: he's now 3.5 pounds. He is much healthier; the vet says he is doing well with no respiratory or other issues. I'll always miss Kiki -- there isn't a day that goes by when I don't miss her terribly. Nevertheless, I'm going to try to do my best by this little guy from my yard and give him all the love and care he deserves. I think Kiki would have wanted it that way.