A day in my life..

If I could express my gratitude to my human any more than our morning and Bedtime ritual I would. There is no secret that I love my meowmy. I love her food. I love her hair. I love her kisses. I love her petting me. I love to just come over and plop down next to her. I love to watch her text and try and send her friends text messages. I cannot explain the bond between her and me. From when she lays down till she gets up I stand vigilant over her watching maybe I am protecting her while she sleeps. Sometimes though I cannot help myself and I too slip down next to her and stretch out and sleep soundly with her. I try and be gentle and tap her awake but sometimes that’s not enough so for good measure I throw in a head-butt and licking of her eyes. My mom and I have almost the same colored eyes. I wake her and she grumbles but she is never mean or tosses me off the bed. She usually pulls me in and pets me and tries to cuddle me like I’m a stuffed toy. I’m squirrely and slip out and then I nudge her asking her to get up. She gets up and goes into her bathroom. Turns the water on and I am watching her brush her teeth. I sit on the sink and I carefully tip-toe around the various things her cell phone the splashing water. And she breaks out my red tooth brush and I get a turn. I recently lost 5 teeth no real reason as to how or why but my vet noted it when I got my teeth cleaned. While she stands I will want a quick comb through and I will then stand on my hind legs and look up at her and she will pick me up and I will hug her. Now I know no one believes her when she tells them that I hug her. But as soon as everyone sees it they are made believers. She will put me down on the bed and go into the closet and get dressed. Usually something flashy or if she’s slept in I know its jeans and T-shirt which means she’s home for a while. I help her make the bed. I love to help make the bed. I love the sheets. I will flop around on them and help her smooth out the wrinkles. My mom puts down our snuggle blankets (but I know it is really to keep the fur off her fancy black comforter). I know next she will go to the kitchen. I know so long to eat but there is always kibble and water down. I am not starved nor am I ever ignored. She stops and picks up my sick brother Lardo and brings him to the kitchen with us. We are not really allowed on the counters but because Lardo is ill. She always puts him up there with her while she picks up the bowls and cleans them. All water and kibble is then picked up. She will pick up our place-mat and clean it if it’s messy sometimes we are cleaner than other days. I start to sing to her about how hungry I am and how I need to eat. She tells me, "Soon just wait." Washing of everything and then a quick sweep and everything is put down. First it’s a wet food feeding. I’m on a diet and Lardo gets anything he wants. Usually it’s Chicken or Turkey. While we are chowing down she gets us fresh water from the filter and kibble from the bag. My mom doesn’t throw out the old kibble she puts it in a zip lock bag and takes it out to my friend Blackie and gives him the leftovers. She then tends the litter box. I sometimes feel sad for her. My mom has had two spinal surgeries. I know that she will not always be able to bend down to tend to that box but somehow she always tends to us first. She will make coffee or tea or a glass of water and then she will leave or sit down for a bit before she has to take off. I watch her carefully. I want her to know that she is loved and I will make a crazy 8 around her legs or sidewinder into her calf and look up at her and then with my soft bell of a voice I will meow my appreciation to her before she darts out the door. I spend my days in leisure. Sleeping near the big window or sleeping in her spot on the bed. I know that place is mine. I sometimes will lay with Lardo in his bed or we will lay in her bed together snuggled close. The day for is where I get to do what I want. And often I don't see her for 9 or 10 hours. I can hear her car and I know it's hers I will meow. I let it be known that I am here waiting inside for her to come home waiting at the door. She walks in back again at tending to us. She always drops her purse on the sofa and she goes into the kitchen. She is back again with the feeding ritual. Picking up the wet food bowls and washing. I often hop up on the counter and rub up against her shoulder while she is at the sink. She washes the bowls again feeds us wet food and then again tends to the cat box. She will wash her hands and then she will make tea and sit down. She turns on the stereo breaks out the cat toys. I usually sit and watch for a bit. She’ll text make phone calls and that’s about it. She gets up turns everything off in the living room and then heads into the bedroom. She always picks up Lardo and brings him with her. I follow her around like a dog. I love my human. I will sit and stare at her for hours. Longingly wanting her to grab me and cuddle up next to me. I want to drool all over the place while she pets me. She goes into the big closet and comes out. She goes into the bathroom I hear her turn on water and I jump up on the counter. I watch her often I meow. She talks to me. She tells me secrets. She tells me who she loves. She always tells me that she loves me. The water turns off and suddenly and I am there meowing and telling her that she was in too long or that she missed a spot so I will lick her ankle. She’s off back into that closet again. I am sitting at the door outside waiting sometimes I will poke my head in the door to get a peek at what she is doing. She will storm out and back at the bathroom sink brushing her teeth putting on face cream and towel drying her hair. If I get too close she will wrap me the damp towel and rub me so I get a quick refresher bath. Goes and combs her hair and I stand on my back legs arms up stretched letting her know that it's my time and for her to stop with the excessive grooming and to get into bed so we can cuddle. The lights all go out and she turns on the TV it’s all cartoons. We lay down together. I am snuggled up against her side. And I purr and I start to get sleepy but soon I hear her whispering to me that she loves me that I'm her little boy. She pulls Lardo into the pile of bodies so we all share warmth and soon we are all fast asleep. I wish my meowmy knew how happy I am to be with her and that she is an excellent caregiver. All I can do is snuggle closer. I lay my front legs across her stomach and I relax with a sigh. I do not know what else I can do to express my love for my human to show my utter devotion to her.

Leo the Lion Hearted.

Updates and Mews

My mom let get on here and and check up on some of my friends. I was saddened to see my friend Hazel Lucy went to the bridge. Hazel I am sorry I missed getting you a headbutt and a purr in. I seemed to have lost contact with my friend Amelia but I am sure I can root around for her. I made a new friend Livia. She's a beauty. A blue like me. So I am asking for the power of the Purrs for her from everyone because she's been ill. I should also note that Lardo hasn't gained any weight but he started eating again. Apparently the B12 shot that my mom gives him is helping him eat again but it's only temporary. My mom hopes he will just put on 5 pounds. Meowmy is still pretty sad about Lardo. That's her Big boy and she calls me the baby. I'm almost 6. We've been sleeping together and I've been leaving him lots of food hoping he'll clean my plate. She's not sure if he will bounce back from this bout with his anorexia. Mean while my mom stopped eating as well. Too worried about what will happen next. I keep trying to get her to smile and just not worry and she keeps telling me the life of a Human and the life of a well kept house cat are very different. I noticed that she's not as fluffy as she used to be. If she would only let me out at the birds I would bring her something to eat. So purrs to Hazel Lucy, Livia and to my buddy Lardo. I do believe it's time to go watch some of this rain fall on my windows.

Leo the Lion Hearted

Heavy Hearts

Hello everyone I know it’s been a while since I updated everyone I think it’s because my mom’s home was burglarized and they stole tons. The reason she’s letting my write this is because she herself doesn’t want to realize what exactly is happening. My Brother Lardo is Anorexic. No amounts of fancy foods, baby food, Sashimi grade tuna, or roasted chicken will bring him back from the brink that he has taken this to. Mom is terribly sad. She doesn’t want to have to make another decision or when is the right time. She is filled with regrets for not helping Kenny to the bridge and her feeling that she helped October there too soon. I keep giving her head butts and letting her know that I love her. I do not envy the choice she has to make. I can tell she is sad she carries Lardo around talking to him. He has no weight to him he’s lighter than air. I bring treats and kibble and I try to make him eat. But he just lays there. My mom doesn’t want Lardo to go to the rainbow bridge. I fear she has no choice in the matter. From the looks of Lardo I don’t know if he will make it through the week but she wants to try and make sure he does. He looks at everyone with empty eyes like he’s not there. More later..

Leo the Lion Hearted.

While the cats at play.. and early Happy Paw-lidays!

My meowmy has been busy with everything that life and this horrible economy has dropped on her. She wanted to send out the best wishes to all of her furry friends this holiday season. We are all fine. She has been trying to help a friend of hers with a kitten situation. 8 kittens need a home in the Oakland area. Her friend is having a difficult time finding them homes. She is worried if they do not find homes soon they will be going to a high kill Shelter. So she has asked me to write about it here. The friend of hers that has the cat and kittens is willing to do a at home foster she cannot afford to feed the cats and my mom has been buying all the cat food and litter for her. But this is an urgent rescue needed. Her friend is also losing her place that she lives in. The owner of the building let the building fall into foreclosure. And the bank is trying to evict them from their home. It’s going to be a tough call but she knows she cannot take 8 cats with her she already has 3 that have to go with her. My mom has done all that she can and she has given her phone numbers to rescue organizations out here but those are full. The only hope is if she will do a home foster till adopted. But that’s not going to happen if she doesn’t have a home to move into. My meowmy won’t even go look at the kittens because she doesn’t want to get attached to them. Anyone’s advice would be helpful and I will make sure to pass it along to my meowmy’s friend.
I am sure you have seen my new picture. My mom says that I am a very handsome man. My friend Lardo was sick last year and had an operation with biopsies. No cancer but he started to develop fatty liver disease from voluntary anorexia. I don’t know about you but why starve yourself. My mom feeds us the best food and fresh filtered water. Treats. You name it I have it. Vet visits and plenty of cuddle time. I don’t understand Lardo tho. All I want to do is sleep with him and lay with him and he won’t have me at all. I think I am too squirrelly for him and not an accomplished power sleeper like him. But Lardo he’s going to be fine as long as mom watches his weight and she feeds him this premium cat food. He’s a trooper.
From my family to yours Happy Pawlidays!!

Leo The lion Hearted

Leave no Aminal Behind...

My mom is sad today. Maybe it’s because she is reading a lot about people abandoning their pets. This isn’t just about the cats that they find locked up in abandoned houses wailing for help. Nor about the dogs left tied up in the backyard and left to die of starvation and dehydration. This about the people that dump their pets in animal shelters after knowingly taking on the responsibility of a life this is why she is sad. See my mom is quite militant about her love of life in all forms. She learned that everything has life from the plants to the bugs to mice to cats and dogs to livestock to wild animals in the jungles of Africa to even the humans that walk this earth. Why would anyone take on that responsibility if they are not willing to make the necessary sacrifices? Are people that selfish now that if it doesn’t fit in their agenda they are willing to toss a life away? Is life that disposable? If animal life was treated as human lives are then I would have to say that public openly condones disposable life. When you pass a person in need of help its apparent that life too many is disposable or that life is an inconvenience in your plans. No one is going mind if you are a few minutes late. I guess she says this to me because she notices that rarely do people stop to help others. My mom and dad make it a point to make this world just a little bit better by trying to help others when they can IF they can.
But I guess I digress. I wonder how people can just dispose of their pets so freely and keep going. My mom tells me that there are people out that change pets because they don’t fit the décor of their house like a black and white room with an orange cat or because their Labrador isn’t the hottest pocket dog on the market and he won’t fit into her $2000 dollar purse. I guess people don’t realize how silly it is to own an animal just because you want to join the pocket dog club. Now with that contradiction my mom got me a purebred Abyssinian cat but I am a rescue. Prior to me she shared her home with another aby that she absolutely adored. He was also a rescue. She also had October and she was a rescue. She had a choice to make when she moved across the country to either leave them behind or bring them with her to California. She wasn’t going to leave them behind. That’s part of her older brother’s teachings “leave no man behind”. I guess that’s where she gets that about cats and children and elderly and anyone in general leave no man behind. She doesn’t seem to understand that the rest of the world doesn’t share her vision of respect of life. I am glad that she does. I know that she won’t leave me or my friend Lardo behind and that she always will think about a home for all of us to be together in. So I guess I write this for all the cats, dogs, and animals that have been left behind and cast off. She wishes that for every cat that had an owner or for every cat that owned a human that they find their happy place again. The thing that troubles her most is that most do not. But for the ones that are lucky to know love again she remains optimistic that maybe someday someone will pay it forward and keep paying it forward till we have the pet population under control. I guess you can say my mom’s a dreamer. I would say so. I get to sleep every night with my resting on that big heart of hers purring with contentment. Speaking of contentment it’s time for my afternoon-pre-dinner nap.

Wishing nothing but the best to all my animal friends

Leo the Lion hearted

All settled in...

My Meowmy has me all settled in and on a routine for feeding and grooming. I love my new meowmy everyday I wake up next to her and she pets me for about 15 minutes before she moves me so she can get ready to leave so she can make this money thing and buy me more snacks and wet food. She often tells me that money doesn't grown on trees or it can't be found by digging in the cat box for hidden treasure. I do that you know I like to dig and root in everything. My instinctual curiosity has the best of me at times and I don't realize that I can get myself trapped. I get to spend my days lounging with my friend Lardo and my dad. My dad doesn't like me or at least he pretends when my mom is home. I know that secretly he loves me. He plays with me and pets me a lot. I also in turn help with his computer work. My dad is a designer and works from home. While my mom toils in the office My dad gets all the day time with the furry kids. I am a happy kitty who wouldn't be with an 8 ft cat tree to climb on food at my leisure fresh water a clean cat box and a human that devotes 2 hours a day to petting me and grooming me. She tells me she loves me and that she is happy to see me. I am home. I found my humans. I found my furry brother that loves me and wrestles with me and cleans my big ears. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky with my humans. My humans will never ever abandon me to the elements. I am very well fed. I get plenty of exercise. I am even learning to play fetch. My mom tells me that I am one in a million cats that are lucky to have a warm home a loving family. But I am young and do not understand. I know that my mom has been seeing other cats I can smell them on her. I know she sees Dogs. I knew it when I met her that this human was raised with animals. She knew just how to pick me up. Just how to hold me and she knew my sweet spot. I am still trying to figure out how she knows my sweet spot. She bought me a bed. I have a everything that money can buy I even have things money can't Love Patience understanding. I am a lucky boy. For those that don't know much about me. I am a rescue. My meowmy and daddy drove every weekend for a month to visit with me after she adopted me and I had ring worm.

With that I wanted to send a special meow out to my friends that I wish could find more permanent homes:
Cami
Sueder
Flopsy
Shari
Darby
Bob in San Diego http://www.catster.com/cats/710050
Cotton in Austin
Ally
Need a Home http://www.catster.com/cats/767017

I also wanted to say Thank you to everyone that has ever stopped to help an animal whether it be human dog or any animals. Just stopping to help means more than you will ever know.

Leo
The Lion Hearted

My new Mom

My mom came and visited me. She played with me for 3 hours. I still can't go home yet. But the promise was that Next weekend I can go home with her. She is going to make an appointment with Vet so I can get introduced to her friend the V-E-T. I love my mom. I have to say that because she pets me and plays with me for a long time. She wishes she could take another one of my friends home with her so she can have two of us at the same time. She just doesn't have the room. I know that she would love to have two of us. I have a friend there Sueder. He came over and visited with me. I know that I am going home next weekend. My mom is preparing the house for me to come home to. She told me that she is gutting the inside and getting rid of a lot of things that she no longer needs. She said she wants to de-clutter her home.
I think she is going to start making Cat blankets. For all the foster kitties at the rescue group. She tells me that she can sew just about anything. She needs the room. She also is thinking about having a rummage sale for all the things that she no longer desires. She left early yesterday. She told me that she was hungry and that she was sorry that she couldn't stay longer. I know she was excited to hear that I was coming home next weekend. She has been spoiling Lardo because he's been an only cat. I know that she will make sure that he's on his best behavior with me. My mom says she prepared the bathroom for my arrival. WHAT? another bathroom? She told me it was so I could be properly introduced to the older cat. She didn't want for him to reject me. Reject me? Are you kidding me he would be only so lucky that I would pay him any attention. Did I tell you all that I love the smell of flowers? My mom wears these exotic perfumes. I examine her wrists her ears her neck. I don't sneeze but Boy does she smell good. I also like to nest in her hair. My mom calls me a parrot cat. I can perch on her shoulder like a well balanced bird. I told her I was a cat. I go home soon. Have I told you that I am excited? I can't wait.

Leo the Lionhearted

Another visit

My mom came and visited me again this past weekend. I recognized her immediately and let her know I was happy to see her. My mom loves me. She brought me some treats. She also brought me some treats to share with the other cats. My mom gives me the best rubs. She also talks to me and tells me how much she loves me. How she can't wait to get me home so I can be introduced to my feline brother. My mom tells me not to be scared that she is going to take the best care of me. I believe her too she brings me the nicest gifts each time she visits. She wants me to never have to worry about a home again. She doesn't want me to worry about food or warm places to lay or anything for that matter. My mom loves on me. I like to mark her face and suckle on her chin. I had a face full of cat food and she still let me rub on her cheeks with chicken and tuna breath. In true aby form I make sure I climb to the highest parts of her. My mom is tall. I can almost touch the ceiling. I love to take flying leaps at people. My mom held me and petted me for her normal two hours and told me that she loved me and she was going to have to go. She rubs my neck and eats and wipes my eyes and I drool when I get petted a lot. She helps me play chase with the mouse she brought for me. When it is time to go I let her know that I want to go to. She picks me up tells me not today but soon. She tells me that she loves me. when she leaves I cry for her to come back and she comes to the door and she tells me that she will be back and for me to be a good boy. I meow at her. She tells me that she loves me and bye bye. It's hard being in foster care and only seeing my new mom once a week. I can only imagine what it feels like for my mom. She always tells me that she misses me. She can't wait to get me home. I can't wait for that day. My new mom is going to comeback and when she does I am hoping I get to go home with her.

Leo the Lionhearted

New Kid on the Block

So I met my new meowmy. She's a nice lady. She brought me a toy. She had come to visit with me twice. She sits down and pets me and talks to me and tells me how much she loves me. I am thinking this lady's cat crazy. But I think I remind her of Kenny. I haven't met Kenny but she tells me I am just as special to her as all her other children. She holds my hands. She knows my sweet spot for rubbing. She smells like flowers. I know this I kept sniffing the back of her ears and her wrists. My meowmy tells me she can't wait to get me home so I can get introduced to Lardo. My mom tells me that it's going to take a week before she can let me roam the house. but she promised me that she would stay with me and keep my company and make sure that my older brother Lardo was ready to be introduced to me. I am about 1/3 his size. Does this mean I am weak no. This probably means that I am faster than he is.
I sit and wait for my mom to visit next. I know she will come. How can you not Love me?

Leo the Lionhearted