Karma & Cassandra are about a year & a half old, the sisters that were abused & dumped. They showed up the first cold night with sleet November of 2010, a few days after we got back from refuge in Maryland. Karma had been kicked or hit on the back just below her neck, had a blunt force injury to her spin that caused her back end to be difficult for her to control at times. It was noticeable when she'd sit or try to walk on a non-carpeted surface. In ways Cassandra is more shy but she was the one to scream at my sliding door the night they showed up. When I went out in response & was petting Cassandra & checking her out, Karma emerged from the dark. I thought Breezy had gotten out at first, although she never tries. Karma is also sleek, long, lean, & black, only she was very skinny & I figured out the difference fast. Now it's very easy for me to tell them apart. Karma is long & lanky with long legs, a few stray white hairs in her coarser coat, with a longer, skinny tail. She's like a domesticated black panther. Her walk is different, she has yellow eyes, & a little white on her throat & a Harry Potter type white Z on her chest. Cassandra is semi-long haired & has a beautiful, classic tabby face with the brown accents & nose. Her face is classically beautiful while the rest of her is more black & less of the tabby pattern I love. Her whiskers are mostly white, but some have black at the base. They're beautiful, long, & graceful. One of my favorite features of hers is her face, another her whiskers, & of course she's very soft. One of my favorite features of Whiskers is his whiskers because they're beautifully curved, & he has the cutest pixie like face that's so very expressive. Yes, cats have facial expressions but they're subtle.
Karma is my main personal guard cat, & sleeps against my legs on top of the covers at night. Her injury healed nearly a year ago, thanks to months of a daily dose of Cosequin (which I also started & continue to give to Whiskers to ease his aging). She was very sensitive to being petted until recently, especially on her back. These days she climbs onto my lap when I put my feet up in the evening, stays pressed against me as close as she can get. She doesn't usually face me, but she melts into me. I am careful & respectful in my petting of her. Until recently, she mostly just wanted to touch but not be touched. I've been rewarded with growing love, devotion, attention, & trust. She often follows me around, & loves to play tag with me. She lurks in the nylon tunnel (separate cubes linked together, purchases individually from Walmart). When I go past the tunnel she shoots out & snares me with her paw, feeling quite clever. She plays with toys more than the other cats, & loves to select them from the basket I keep them in. She always knows what she wants & they're her treasures. She's also a thief when there's something she wants. She took a plastic spiral key ring with a suitcase key from a basket of mine once, & it's one of her favorite toys. I'm not sure what the key opened, not something current, so I let her have it. Breezy has some little bead bracelets on elastic that she stole & I let her have. She & Breezy often act a lot alike, are best friends, & Karma imitates Breezy. Karma is best friends with Louie, & is back to frequent play, & especially cuddling & mutual grooming with her sister. Karma loves to groom others, & will lick the back of my leg while I'm dishing up their canned cat food or standing in the bathroom. She really is a very loving cat, & has her own comfort level for showing it. Few others get to interact with her though, much less touch her, thanks to her original owners. Which brings me to cat owners vs. kitty parents. I detest cat owners. Period. I need them all to "get a clue." Sorry, no way I can even talk about it, about the harm & disservice they often do. These girls are a constant reminder of that, although I seldom think about it. Instead, I put all my attention into them, doing what I can for them, including daily prayer for their emotional healing. They are sweet, very special, loving beings who didn't deserve the treatment that left them in physical & emotional pain. I work every day to facilitate their emotional healing & improve their lives.
Cassandra is coming out of her shell & will sometimes go to visitors for petting if she knows them to be safe & loving. She loves & trusts me but is still wary of fast movement or my hand coming to pet her. She prefers to initial contact, & then she soon flops on her side, leans her back into my leg, & starts to roll in delight. Then, as I pet her, she kneads the air with her pretty little paw. She & Louie both have fur tufted & sticking out from between their toes & I really see that when she kneads the air. She spends less time with me than Karma does. I never know when she'll come around & ask for attention, or where she'll be lying next. She often spends time off somewhere on her own. I don't know what her role is in my household but she's very pretty & sweet, & her face reminds me of Tiger's. It's very beautiful, she's very soft & gives me my long-haired softness fix when I need it. Louie is way softer & more luxurious, a total sensual pleasure, but not often available to be enjoyed.
Including the 6 with me now, I've lived with a total of 18 cats in my adult life, plus partially raised 3 litters of kittens, & tried to tame a feral cat & her kittens. They have all graced my life & I've learned from all of them. They all became a part of me & I loved them deeply. I carry all of them in my deepest heart. It's hard to talk about the ones who've gone on, but I'll mention the last ones before these 6 - Tiger & Bonnie. Tiger was the most gorgeous, classic black & grey tabby with the sweetest face I've ever seen. He was irresistible. He used to jump on the bookcase at the front door to great me when I returned from work every day. Bonnie was born at my home, the runt of the litter but by far the most intelligent cat I've ever known. She was the only one all black, the only long-haired cat, a true beauty & she knew it. She was a princess, a reserved lady in a cat body, & she only loved her brother, me, & our 100 pound dog. She was with me nearly constantly when I was home, participated in everything I did whether watching me apply makeup or helping me select bracelets to wear. She was dainty & delicate, the most self-possessed cat I've known, & I treasured her & every moment with her. She taught me to know cats, used to telepathically transfer to me her knowledge of all things cat - how they think & view things, tastes, ways of being cat. She taught me to think & live like a cat. I was a slow learner & still made many mistakes. In the last year I've finally learned what she tried to teach me about them, or at least some of it. I believe she's with me daily but I don't have the awareness I want of her presence. I've never stopped missing her or needing her, am crying even now. It takes these 6 all to satisfy me in her absence.
My son scorns Whiskers. What good is a cat who only loves me & you can't pet or play with? I love that he's devoted only to me, that I'm his world. His purrs always calm me, heal me, bring me a great sense of wellbeing. In his own way, he's very loving & giving with me, gives way more than he takes from me. I feel I've truly achieved something by having his love & devotion. When you've earned the deep trust & love of a cat, you've accomplished something very special. Especially with cats that have emotional issues from mistreatment, like Karma & Cassandra. When you bond with a cat it's a very spiritual, deep, & special thing. My son has never met Karma or Cassandra so I don't know what he'd think of them. He enjoys Angel & really loved Louie, loved to play with him because Louie is a man's cat & can be really playful & fun. Then Breezy came along, & she became his favorite. You can do anything with Breezy from play to cuddle & she's just so energetic, loving, & funny, a true clown. As I've said, with Breezy you wouldn't need to have any other cat. I do, but you wouldn't. Earlier I mentioned that I always keep the toilet lid down. That's because of the cats. I'm a true kitty mommy & I cat-proof my house for their own safety & the safety of my possessions just like I made my house child-proof when mine were little. I protect them just as they protect me, heal them, give to them, take care of them. They in turn do the same for me.
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