Today is a melancholy anniversary. Mohawk, One Who Came Before, was adopted 22 years ago this evening. It is also the 11th anniversary of the date Mohawk left us to go to The Rainbow Bridge. Today, I wanted to remember and share with you about Mohawk and his cuddling.

Mohawk really liked to be close to me. He would snuggle on top of me while I was asleep.

He would snuggle next to me while I napped on the couch.

But his specialty in cuddling was jumping on my lap, then pawing at my shirt to indicate that it was time for him to climb inside my clothes with me. He would usually hang out on my lap for about 20 minutes, making me look like I was about 7 months pregnant. Then he would slither out and go about his business.

Several of The Furry Bambinos like to do their best Mohawk cuddle homages.

Ms. Floofs (Caramel) likes to sleep next to us on the bed. She also really likes to nap on top of me while I am on the sofa.

Panda Bear cuddles by telling me to lie down if I am still upright. Panda Bear’s bleat sounds very much like Mohawk’s bleat did. Then Panda Bear will purr loudly while kneading the blankets on top of my tummy, spinning slowing in a circle, then returning to face me. His rhythmic purring frequently lulls me to sleep.

This photo shows the maximum number of Bambinos photographed while cuddling. That’s Panda Bear and Cookie on Gizzy Quilts on the back of the sofa, and Sunny and Sky on my legs.

Recently, even Meerkat has become a cuddler. She has always been more reserved than her sibling Panda Bear, for which we love and respect her. However, this winter has really brought out Meerkat’s desire to snuggle. She will sometimes climb on top of me and sleep there for hours.

The best cuddle photo we have of Meerkat is this one. Padre and Meerkat are our resident Love Cats. That’s Padre with his protective arm around her.

Thanks for reading today. When one of our fur babies is at The Rainbow Bridge waiting for us, remembering their time with us is important.

Namaste.

He is One Who Came Before.

You might even call him The Original Furry Bambino.

Today is the Anniversary (#21) of his Gotcha Day, back in 1991. This photo was taken sometime in 1991, which would have been soon after he came to live with me.

Today is also the Anniversary (#10) of the Day Mohawk left us for The Rainbow Bridge.

One date, that is both a happy and a sad reminder of Mohawk’s Magical 11 Years with us.

When we adopted Mohawk from my friend Lynn, she mentioned that “Mohawk likes bread”. She said it almost as an afterthought. What she really meant was:

No bread or pastry will be safe in your home from Mohawk.

When I first understood this translation, I was bringing groceries inside, soon after adopting Mohawk. Before we finished unloading the car, Mohawk had already sniffed out the grocery bag with the bread in it, chewed a hole through the plastic bread bag, and was busy nomming on the bread.

Another time, I learned that Mohawk also had a taste for fancy Greek pastries. There is an annual Greek Festival held at a local Greek Orthodox church, and we make a point of visiting their bakery for baklava, spanakopita, and other delicious pastries. We brought the pastries home to our apartment in the white cardboard bakery box, and left it closed up on the kitchen counter overnight. Big mistake! The next morning, the box was on the kitchen floor, and the pastries were strewn about and nommed upon.

For dinner tonight, we had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, one of Mohawk’s all-time favorite people foods.

Well, not the noodles so much, but the yummy cheese sauce! It was tradition to give Mohawk our bowls for clean-up. The hard part was convincing Mohawk to wait until we were done eating before starting to clean up. In this photo, you can even see Mohawk’s stripe! It grew out by the time he was one year old. (Please ignore the hideous 80’s style glasses. Admit it, you wore them that big too.)

Sunny, Sky, and Padre share Mohawk’s love of cheddar cheese.

Mohawk enjoyed Cheetos, too. (Great, now I’m craving Cheetos.)

We miss you, Mo. Love you always.

So The Cat Blogosphere came together to change NO CATS DAY to MO CATS DAY and decided to celebrate every 09/09.

At present, there are 14 felines in the house.  You read that right kittehs, one-four, quatorze, catorce, XIV.  As you may know, there are 7 of us Furry Bambinos:

Padre (that’s me)

Panda Bear

Meerkat

Cookie

Caramel

Sunny

Sky

And we presently have 7 foster kittens staying here at Furry Bambino Foster Academy.

Jett (with sister Joan watching)

Panda

Domino

Louisa

Kurt

Brigitta

Marta

Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, and Marta’s Mom Liesl is being fostered at our sister academy:

And, we have two outdoor feral kittehs who show up for dinner just about daily:

Mama

Daddy.  (We STRONGLY suspect that Daddy is Sunny and Sky’s biological father. Mom and Dad trapped him this summer and he got his hoohaectomy.)

And then there are all the fosters who have graduated from The Furry Bambino Foster Academy in the past year, since Mo Cats Day 2010!  I don’t know if I can count that high … it’s about elebenty squillion.

Dakota

This is Marigold, now called Mia by her adoptive family.

Rusty

Woody (adopted with Rusty)

Hunter (just look at those toes!)

Silver

Rico

Lilia (renamed Karen), adopted with Vitaly

Vitaly (renamed Jack), adopted with Lilia

Nadia, adopted with Bart

Bart, adopted with Nadia

Joan (renamed Lursa), adopted with Braveheart

Braveheart (renamed B’Etor), adopted with Joan

Friedrich (renamed Furball)

Gretl (renamed Teeka)

And last but not least, Ones Who Came Before: Clyde

… and Mohawk, AKA “Mo”, the Mo-iest Mo Cat of all!

Happy Mo Cats Day, everykitteh! Purrs!

Twenty years ago tonight, David and I visited a friend to meet Mohawk. We ended up leaving with Mohawk that night, and took him home to my apartment. It is a great story, and you can read it here.

In addition, today is a sad anniversary, as it is the day in 2002 that Mohawk left us for the Rainbow Bridge.

Although I had had kitties in my life before (Kiki and Puddy), Mohawk was the first cat for whom I was truly responsible. Kiki and Puddy were family pets, and while I loved them both very much, Mohawk was the first cat I lived with as an adult. Adopting Mohawk was the signal to my parents that I was all grown up, and that I wouldn’t be moving back into their home. Puddy, the family cat, was big, orange, and intolerant of other felines.

Each of The Furry Bambinos reminds me of Mohawk in his or her own way. Meerkat is thin and svelte, the daintiest of the Bambinos. Mohawk was also slight of build, weighing just 10 pounds at his heaviest. In contrast, Clyde, Mohawk’s adoptive brother, weighed 19 pounds at one point.

Cookie is our “Cat Ambassador”. She is not afraid of visitors, and especially enjoys assisting furnace repair personnel. Mohawk enjoyed helping plumbers who visited our apartment.

Caramel is sweet and cuddly. Mohawk’s specialty was cuddling. He liked to climb inside my clothes, while I was wearing them.

Padre, in his finicky dining habits reminds us of how Mohawk used to have to be “invited” to join us for meals. Sometimes we would pick up the basket in which Mohawk was reclining, and carry Mohawk, basket and all, to the kitchen for meals. Similarly, we often have to hunt Padre down at breakfast time, and bring his food dish to him.

If you live with cats, you know all about regurgitation. Padre often gets sick and vomits his dry food. We are trying to switch dry foods in hopes that this alleviates this problem.

You know how they say that there are about 60 different words for snow in the Inuit language? Well, we had about 60 different words to describe “Mohawk’s special skill”. In fact, he earned the title “King of Horking” for his creative works of art. Mohawk specialized in using gravity to add to his performance art. So far, none of The Furry Bambinos comes anywhere close to matching Mohawk’s skills. Thank Bast!

Panda Bear’s “meow” reminds us of Mohawk’s voice. Mohawk’s voice sounded more like a bleat than a true meow. It often sounded like he was complaining, but it was really just the way he spoke. Panda Bear makes a very similar sound, and we are always reminded of Mohawk whenever Panda Bear talks to us. Panda Bear also likes to nap on top of us, like Mohawk used to do.

Mohawk also knew his name and would do a happy dance when we said “Mohawk!” in a happy tone. Mohawk would jump onto a bookcase and wait for his “snuggle bath”. Panda Bear knows his name as well as his nickname, PB. Panda Bear will come to us when we say his name in a happy tone of voice, and we reward him with snuggles.

Mohawk, we miss you, and love you always.

This great graphic was created by the lovely Ann from Zoolatry.

Today, we will show you photos of The Cats Who Came Before, The Current Furry Bambinos, and all the kittehs we have fostered.

Mohawk, One Who Came Before, would be THRILLED to hear that today is Mo Cats Day!!! Mohawk often went by his nickname “Mo”. Mom adopted Mohawk back in January 1991, when he was about 4 to 5 months old. Mohawk was all white, except for a black stripe on the top of his head. The stripe grew out by the time Mo was about a year old. This photo was taken when Mohawk still had his stripe.

This photo shows Mo’s beautiful green eyes. As you can tell, Mohawk enjoyed his pillows!

Clyde is also One Who Came Before. He was a ginormous grey tabby ManCat. At his largest, Clyde weighed 19 pounds! This photo shows Mom holding Clyde. You can get a sense as to how big he was!

This photo shows Clyde’s gentle face closeup.

Now, for the current Bambinos.  This next photo is a close up of Padre.  Note how similar Clyde and Padre look!

Next up is me, Panda Bear. Here is a wink for all the laydeez:

Meerkat, pausing during her inspection of the back yard to pose. Me and her are biological siblings.

Cookie likes to greet all visitors to Casa Furry Bambino, by sitting on this chair by the front door.  Notice how Meerkat and Cookie have such similar markings!

Caramel is the only floofy Furry Bambino. Here she is snuggling a pair of Mommy’s slippers. Check out that floofy tail and those toe hawks!

Now, for the Fosters. The first fosters we had were Cookie and Caramel, whom Mom and Dad adopted!

Our next fosters were Matthew (renamed Neo), Mark, Luke (renamed Shadow), and Joann (renamed Inky). They were here between late September and December 2009.

Joann is attacking the pink boa. Doesn’t she look like a cute little black bear cub?

Our next fosters were Daisy (renamed Bella), Bo (renamed Watson), and Luke, who were here between mid-April and late May of this year. Daisy is the dilute tortoiseshell, Luke is black and white, and Bo is the buff tabby.

While Daisy, Bo, and Luke were here, Niecy and Trish also joined us, bringing our TFC (Total Feline Count in the house) into the double digits at 10! You can tell how tiny Niecy and Trish were by comparing their size to Daisy. Daisy weighed about 2 pounds in this photo. Trish (white) weighed 12 ounces, and Niecy (black) weighed just 10 ounces at this time. They tried to nurse from Daisy, and looked to her as a surrogate mother.

After Daisy, Bo, and Luke got adopted, and while Niecy and Trish were here, Antoinette showed up at our back door one Sunday afternoon. We have a great adoption story for you about Antoinette, but we will save that for another post!

Niecy and Trish went to their furrever home on Friday, August 6, 2010. Our next fosters moved in the very next morning on Saturday, August 7! Beyonce, Kelly, and Michelle are three bootilicous tortoiseshell sisters! Beyonce has already been adopted, and has been renamed Angel. Kelly and Michelle are still here. Beyonce is the long-haired tortie on the top, and Kelly is the speckled faced tortie on the lower side. Doesn’t Beyonce look JUST LIKE Caramel? Beyonce’s nickname was Floofs Junior, and Kelly’s nickname is Miss Speckles.

Michelle has a face that is exactly half orange and half black! Her nickname is Miss Rainbow, because she is timid like our cousin Rainbow.

In addition, on Tuesday, August 10, our next fosters moved in: Winnie-the-Pooh, Kanga, Hidey, and Mr. Bibs. Winnie-the-Pooh is a male black and white tuxedo. I am pleased to report that he is full of cattitude!

Kanga is a female solid black kitten.

Hidey (yes, that is spelled that way for a reason) is a solid black female feral kitten.

Like Hidey, Mr. Bibs is also feral. He is solid black with a white bib and white belleh.

Yesterday, Hidey and Mr. Bibs went to their furrever home, but we will save that story for another post, too.

So that brings our Mo Cats Day blog post to a close, with a grand total of twenty-four (!) different kittehs featured! How’s that for Mo Cats?!

On Friday, January 11, 1991, we adopted Mohawk.  You can read about his adoption tale here.  I wrote about it last year.  This year, I thought I would tell some other “Mohawk stories”.

Mohawk was a real cuddle-cat.  He loved to sit on laps.  He especially liked to climb inside my clothes, while I was in them!

He would hang out for awhile, then leave.  It looked like I was pregnant when Mo was inside my shirt with me.  He also liked to pin us down so we had to cuddle with him longer.

Mo really loved David too.  He would hang out on David’s lap …

… or shoulder.  Mo loved be close to us.

While Mo was very friendly with us, it was not the case with certain medical personnel.  You know, V-E-T’s.

For most of his life, Mo’s V-E-T was a great lady VET, “Dr. D.”, who does strictly house calls.  Imagine!  No forcing a cat into a PTU, then into the car, only to listen to complaints the whole way there.  The tricky part was extricating Mo from his hiding place when she arrived.  But by strategically closing doors to most of the rooms prior to her visit, I would limit the hiding places.

In order to be examined, I had to wrap Mohawk in a blanket.  We would pull out only those parts that were needed.  He would scream and yell at the top of his lungs.  I lived in apartments back then, and I think that Mo’s M.O. was to alert the neighbors with his screams, in hopes that they would call the ASPCA on me.

Mo also used the Scream At the Top of His Lungs approach when having his nails trimmed.  I had to wrap Mo in a blanket to trim his nails, only pulling out one leg at a time.  One time, Clyde became so agitated at Mohawk’s screams, that Clyde came over and BIT me on the leg!  He was trying to protect his brother from Mean Mommy who had the audacity to trim Mohawk’s nails.  Mohawk would get a cat treat afterwards if he did not hiss, spit, or bite me while getting his nails trimmed.  (He didn’t earn many treats.)

When Mohawk got cancer late in his life, Dr. D. referred us to a regular clinic.  At the clinic, Mo did his usual performance of carrying on.  He also BIT one of the V-E-T’s, earning him a great big V for Vicious on his medical chart.  I know that Mohawk is disappointed that none of the current Furry Bambinos are carrying on his tradition when going to the V-E-T.

Mohawk was a very graceful and athletic kitty.  He was skilled at jumping, and liked to get to very high places.  When he was a kitten, we used to play a game of “Mohawk in the Middle”.  David and I would toss a plush ball back and forth to each other with Mohawk in-between us.  The main object of the game to see how acrobatic Mohawk would get while going for the ball.

Meerkat is acrobatic too, and reminds us of Mo when she flies through the air.  Panda Bear reminds me of Mo when he hangs out on the table with us during meals.  And Padre reminds us of Mo the way he likes to play the “belt game”.  Mo would bite and bunny-kick the belt and show it who’s boss.

Mohawk was particularly fond of his sock toy.  Here’s a picture of Mo playing with his sock from his kittenhood days.

Thanks for indulging me in sharing a few Mohawk stories and photos with you.

I guess Mommy knew to expect the “Moon River” song, so when it came on, she grabbed me, picked me up, and started to slow dance with me. Grrrrrrr. While I like Mommy very much, and I might go so far as to say that I love Mommy, I do NOT like to dance with Mommy. I wriggled free and jumped to the top of the cat perch. I stretched out in the sunbeam. Sigh.

Later Daddy told me that Mommy used to waltz with Mohawk to “Moon River”. Poor Mohawk. Luckily I made my escape before she started waltzing!

Mohawk’s Gotcha Day was Friday, January 11, 1991, exactly 17 years ago today.  This is the story of how Mohawk came into our lives … 

 
Mohawk in 1991

Back in the middle of 1990, my friend Lynn had been encouraging me to adopt a cat. Lynn and I worked at the library together while I was in college, as well as the summer after I graduated. I kept telling Lynn how much I wanted to have a kitty in my life, but until I got a regular job after college, I did not want to adopt. I wanted to be sure that I could support myself and the kitty.

Lynn, Dorothy, and Art from the library

I got a temp job through an agency for a few months, then in late November 1990, I started My First Real Job After College.

Meanwhile…

One of Lynn’s adult kids had a cat who gave birth to a litter of kittens in late summer. Lynn had received one of the kittens from her son, for her birthday in October.

By early January, Lynn had called me to “come visit” her at her house. She wanted me to meet her latest family member, a little kitten named “Mohawk”. Mohawk was all white with a black stripe on his head, hence the name. He had beautiful green eyes that looked like emeralds.

 
Mohawk in 1992

Lynn really liked Mohawk, but the two other cats in the house did not. Plus, there were two dogs in the family, including one that resembled a small horse. So Lynn thought that Mohawk would be better off in an environment where he could be the center of attention.

Enter yours truly.

David and I drove over to Lynn’s on a cold Friday evening in January (Friday, January 11, 1991). I had told David that I just wanted to meet Mohawk to see if he liked me. To see if we would be compatible.

Apparently, Lynn had other ideas.

Lynn had gathered up a few of Mohawk’s favorite things – a pink towel, a tiny white teddy bear – and put them into a cardboard box that had once contained a toaster oven. Lynn already had cut holes in the box.

Hmmm … seems like Lynn’s mind was made up.

I thought Mohawk was a real sweetie, but I did not have anything at my apartment for a kitten – no food, no food dish, no toys, and no litter box. I felt so unprepared to take him home that night.

After a pleasant visit with Lynn, David and I got ready to leave. Mohawk had vanished behind the Christmas tree, and would not come out. So I suggested to Lynn that we come back another time (also to give me time to acquire the essentials). In reply, Lynn grabbed a box of dry cat food, rattled it, and Mohawk flew out from behind the Christmas tree. Lynn scooped Mohawk up, and handed him to me.

In parting, Lynn said, almost as an afterthought, “Oh, and by the way, Mohawk likes bread.” I figured that meant I could give him some bread as a treat.

When David, Mohawk, and I got into David’s car outside, David turned to me and hissed,

“Are you crazy?! You don’t have time to train a cat!!”

I looked at David like he was nuts. “Train a cat? What are you talking about?”

“You know, paper train them to, you know…”

I realized then that David had no clue about raising a cat. As a kid, David’s family always had a dog, but never a cat. And my family had never had dogs, only cats. Vaguely I remembered a friend from high school who had had a puppy. Something about lots of newspapers and accidents.

I started to laugh. “You don’t NEED to train a cat! The momma cat takes care of all of that!”

David did not press the issue further, and let it drop. But I could tell that he did not believe me.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way back to my apartment in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland. David and Mohawk sat in the car and had some male bonding time while I ran in and purchased the bare essentials: food and water bowls, food, litter pan, litter, and a few toys.

When we got to my apartment, I immediately set up the litter box in the middle of the kitchen floor and added the litter. I wasn’t planning on keeping it there, but needed to set it up quickly just in case someone needed to use it ASAP.

As if on cue, Mohawk daintily climbed into the litter box, did his thing, covered it, and stepped out with a flourish. He all but blew on his knuckles and rubbed his chest, as if to sneer at Doubting David.

David was flabbergasted. So began David’s affection for Mohawk.

David and Mohawk in 1991

I could tell then that Mohawk and I were going to have a beautiful friendship. “Mo” and I shared a very special bond, one that is hard to describe in words unless you have had a similar close relationship with a non-human friend. Mo seemed to really understand me.

 
Mohawk and Me – 1993

Mohawk, in physical form, was in our lives for exactly 11 years. He has resided at the Rainbow Bridge since Friday, January 11, 2002. After several months of fighting cancer that had spread to his lungs, Mohawk passed away at home, on the anniversary of the day he came into our lives.

Keeping Mohawk comfortable in his last days.
January 9, 2002

So today, January 11, is a melancholy anniversary. It is both the day we adopted Mohawk (or more accurately, the day Mohawk adopted us), as well as the day Mohawk left us to go to the Rainbow Bridge. Mohawk will always be with us in spirit. In fact, we named one of the bedrooms in our house “The Mohawk Shrine”, which is where my computer is and where The Furry Bambinos make most of their blog posts.

Mohawk in Sink in Little Italy Apartment – 1991

Mohawk was a very special cat and our first “Furry Bambino”. Perhaps in the future, Padre, Panda Bear, and Meerkat will let me post some more stories about Mohawk, as well as stories about his adopted brother Clyde. While today marks both the beginning and end of our time with Mohawk, we enjoyed 11 happy years together and still get misty-eyed thinking about him … especially on January 11th.