This is Aimee. She's a tuxedo kitty and I've had her for about 7 years. I adopted her from a no-kill animal shelter in Carollton, Texas, when she was but a wee little kitten.... she made it soooo impossible for me not to take her. I'll never forget the day.
I was volunteering there and decided to take a look at the kittens, so I went in and there she was.... hanging on the bars of the cage door w/ one arm stuck out - like she was calling me - and she was crying non-stop. I went over to talk to her and she made it known rather quickly that she was meant to come home w/ me. She DID NOT want to be in that cage and never hesitated to let me know. It was love at first sight, I must say! That day, I adopted both Aimee and Puss. Altho they're not sisters, they sure act like it.... they're both pissy w/ each other on days and very affectionate on others.
Aimee has herpes of the eyes and that's why you see the brown around eye and nose area. It's difficult to keep it clean and SHE HATES for me to bother w/ her eyes. She'll try to claw me if I'm not fast in cleaning them and most days she'll flatly refuse to allow me near them. After adopting her, I took her to my vet and he insisted that I take her back - that she wasn't worth having ... because of the herpes... but I refused. I was already in love w/ her and no way could see giving her up.
Her herpes stays in check most days but if there's stress in the house or w/ another cat, it flares up. She has also given it, through licking, to some of our other cats - especially our alpha male, Frankie... but they're all ok. Their eyes itch them sometimes and the area will become inflamed w/ stress... but other than that, you'd never know they have it - except for the brown on Aimee's eyes. Her little brother had to have an eye removed because of it, but luckily she is fine. For any of you that don't know, they get this passed down to them from their mothers.
Aimee is a very caring kitty. She's the momma of our house, altho she's fixed and has been since she was about 7 months old - so she's never had a baby of her own. She babies and loves on all the kitties and calls to them, gives them baths and sleeps and snuggles w/ almost all of them. She loves to play and will carry her toys through the house, crying in a deep throaty cry - letting all of them know that she's in the mood for a game of cat and mouse. She's very talkative and loves attention BUT hates to be picked up. I think a lot of her fears and such come from when she was a kitten. She was handled too often and when she was handled, she was given shots/injections and constantly bothered in a bad way because of the herpes - therefore, she hates anything that closely resembles that type of behavior from a human.
She also hates to have her claws cut and the hubby has to help me hold her while I cut them. And, if I'm not quick, she'll bite me. She can be very aggressive when playing but never means anything bad. She loves to chase things and will forever go after my hands, feet, legs or anything if they're under the covers.
She loves soft food best and kitty treats and is very healthy. Her favorite is to go outside and chase anything that moves. I love to watch her play cuz she's so funny and so serious. If she could catch a bird and kill it, she wouldn't hesitate. She'll watch them for long periods of time and even try sneaking up on them - altho it never works. She'll hide in the bushes waiting for one to come down, but she doesn't realize that she's black and white and can easily be seen... but it doesn't stop her. She also loves to chase leaves and will run forever after them. When the sun is shining, she loves to roll around on the hot cement or tile outside and she loves to eat grass - only to throw it up later when she's in the house.
Aimee is just so sweet... I can't even describe it. She'll lick me and give me kisses and SHE LOVES to lick my husband's scalp. WHY... I have no idea - maybe salt or something. And when she does it... after a bit she'll stop and hold her mouth open in the funniest way... it makes me laugh so hard! It's kinda like she's saying "yuk"... because she always has her tongue out just a little w/ her noise crinkled up a bit... too too funny. :)
AND one thing that I know most of you will not believe but it is the truth... sometimes it sounds like when she talks to me or calls to me that she's saying "momma"... ok, I know she probably isn't, but it sure sounds like it! I just really love this little fat kitty and had to share her w/ all of you! :)
Have a great day......
14 comments:
And thank you very much for giving us our "kitty fix" of the week! :)
The way you describe Aimee holding her mouth open with her nose wrinkled after licking your husband's scalp actually sounds like a fairly common behavior among most species of cats, including tigers, lions, etc., though they don't usually do it after licking someone! Virtually all species of cat have extra, highly sensitive olefactory (i.e. scent) glands in pockets in their cheeks. Normally you'll see a cat grimace with its mouth open and nose wrinkled after sniffing something, particularly if other cats have recently been in the area. This action shows that the animal is trying to verify the identity of a smell.
Perhaps in Aimee's case she is making sure none of the other cats have been licking your husband's scalp recently. Either that or she just really likes your husband's smell and wants to indulge in it as much as possible.
(I only know about this because a cat I had in my school days used to make that face all the time, and it freaked me out, so I read up on it.)
Hey, I know this is a bit late but Happy Birthday!
I just heard abut it from you hubby's blog. I hope you had a great day and a wonderful celebration. :)
u need to clean out the dirt form your cats eyes.
twix, if you read the blog, you'd understand WHY it's there.
moody, yeah, i know and have seen all of our cats doing the thing of smelling and then their mouths stay open for a bit... they love to do this when smelling each other's behinds! ;) but what i thought was so cute w/ aimee, and she's the only one who does it, is the way she hangs out her tongue after she's finished licking his scalp... it's almost if to say, "oooh, that tasted bad"... but hey... it could be that she really loves it and it's so much of a good thing that she doesn't know what else to do! and yeah, maybe she is making sure that none of the others have licked his head... so she cleans it all up so it's nice and shiney! ;) ;)
ali, thank you for the bday wishes! much appreciated!!
Oh I am so sorry, I missed your birthday too!!! If it was last week, I was uselessly exhausted - but I am now in my 3rd week of full time work and getting used to it.
I was taken by Aimee's crinkled nose and stikcy out tongue too. And in case you hadn't already seen it:
Talking Cats
Why oh why do some dogs and cats try to talk? They must think they are people too, but for them to even begin to think of making foreign sounds...!
IfI find any more cats I will throw them in, but here are couple of dog ones:
The original talking dogs
I love Momma (this one cracked me up, they are so intent)
Nope, no more cat vids.
Robert A. Heinlein:
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. :)
I am sorry I missed your birthday :(
Both olivia and leilouta, no worries about missing my bday! Thanks for commenting!! :)
I also wonder why animals try to talk. My mom tells this story, or rather one of my brothers, about how they used to have this dog that would answer the phone and say "hello". Don't know if it's the truth, never heard it w/ my own ears... but they swear on it.
I've seen the dog video, but not the cat video. I love these things!! :)
They love us so much they want to be like us, I guess, or at least they get all excited when we get excited coz we said something.
Have you seen the Panda vid on my site?
I aim to do a blog tonight (Tues) because I saw something rather interesting today...
ms bees knees... aaahhhh... no matter if your baby is missing teeth and crusty.. i'd still love her too! how sweet that you found her and took her in! i love to take in cats. and yes, we are both crazy old cat ladies! ;)
I'm just curious, how did you go about getting your cats into Bahrain? Did they have to be quarantined or did they just fly over with you and come home?
jane, hope it hasn't been forever since you posted this comment, and, if so, sorry about that. i first started going thru a company in the states that ships animals abroad. but when they weren't living up to my expectations, i took it on myself. my husband got ahold of a woman in bahrain that helps w/ the shipment of pets who got me into contact w/ a company in london, where they would be boarding until the flight into bahrain. but... everything was done by me in the u.s. i had to get shots and papers (mini passports) for all the cats. they didn't have to be microchipped, but many countries insist on that. i had to have special carriers, depending on each cat's size, and all carriers had to be marked "live animal" w/ all their papers attached, addt'l food, water, etc. i took them to American Airlines where they took the flight to London via New York. since temps were low in feb., i also had to have papers from my vet stating the most extreme temps the cats could endure on the tar mat during the layover. thankfully, it wasn't freezing in new york and they made it ok. they spent several nights in london and then went on to bahrain. once in bahrain, because of a women my husband knew - she knew the customs ppl, vets, etc. - they didn't have to stay in quarantine. many animals have to stay locked up for over a month. all the cats flew to bahrain w/out me. i went to calif. after the movers came to get everything form the house, etc., which was about a wk. after the cats left. it was all very traumatic for me and the cats, needless to say. i was worried sick until they made it safely.
thanks for asking!! :)
and.... i forgot to add, the Iraq War was about to break out and most airlines stopped allowing animals to fly... so i was panic stricken w/ finding a carrier that would get the cats safely to bahrain before the war broke out. british airways stopped flying animals as did most other carriers. i was very lucky because after they had departed the u.s., all airlines stopped shipping animals. this is why they had to spend several days in london... all had to wait until a flight opened up to bahrain. the cats didn't arrive in bahrain together. they shipped 3 at a time - i shipped 6 total. :)
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