My friends’ black cat had kittens. She was telling me they had some interesting personalities. I decided they would make great anime characters.
Cole likes to glare at you like he is judging you so I made him a tough looking guy with his ears pierced.
Drawn by Kayanna M. Smith
Chauncey is a fun loving energetic one so I gave him a bubbly personality and a big smile.
Drawn by Kayanna M. Smith
Clarice is a wide eyed sweetie so I gave her big bright eyes and an elegant gown.
Drawn by Kayanna M. Smith
Mama cat, Puma, is a thin small girl. I gave her a wistful look and a beautiful gown.
Drawn by Kayanna M. Smith
Uncle Lou is an elderly white cat who is very rotund. He has taken on the role of daddy cat and is helping raise the kittens. He is quite the lovey boy so I gave him a nice big smile and round figure.
Drawn by Kayanna M. Smith
I am excited to get them colored. Here are the inked drawings. I think they turned out fabulous.
The picture with the two kittens is Cole, front, and Clarice, back.
I used to be an indoor and outdoor cat. I came and went as I pleased. That was until after I had lived with my girl for some time. At first, she wouldn’t let me out at all. Eventually, she let me out when she left to go to school. When she came home, so did I. Although, she once saw me on her way home and I was running in the opposite direction. As soon as I realized it was her calling me, I ran back to the porch where the door to where our first home was. She came around to the porch after locking up her tricycle and we went inside where little Spot was waiting. We were all happily reunited after a day apart.
At least that was how it was once. But this new place was where we came after a long plane trip trapped in a cage in the cargo hold. I had no idea where we were. I didn’t realize the climate was different. The ground was certainly different here than where I was born and raised. I soon found out quite by accident…
I managed to get outside once at this place. Someone had left the front door open and I took the chance. I walked outside on the porch. Then I walked off and past the sidewalk. I stopped when I had reached the grass. The ground was much too soft. Where was I? I hollered for help. I couldn’t help it. I was so confused and scared.
My girl came up behind me and talked to me. I was too upset to notice what was different with the tone of her voice. Then she scooped me up from behind and carried me back inside the house. Trust me, it didn’t take long for me to calm down after that. I don’t appreciate someone catching me and picking me up, but I was freaked out and once again my girl saved me. She carried me back inside to safety.
I didn’t go outside after that. It was too strange and scary for me. Besides, I could hear dogs out there. I have never liked dogs. Also my girl was inside with me. She was looking out for me. Better than anyone else ever could. I had no reason to go out after that.
I was used to hard dirt. Not soft grass. I didn’t know how to react or what to do. Besides, my foreclaws were gone now. How would I defend myself against another cat? I didn’t know. I did know there were plenty of strange cats out there. One even came up to the house and tried to talk to my girl. Spot and I weren’t having it. We told the newcomer he wasn’t welcome to my girl and his mama.
We were the two cats here and we weren’t allowing another to come in. My girl didn’t say or do anything. I know she heard the cat. Perhaps she had remembered the other cat that had come to her? That much have been it. That one was a full fledged tom cat. He was a lean mean hunting machine. He had lived in the desert, where I’m from.
But Spot and I wouldn’t allow him into our home either. My girl tried to help him, but to this day, she can’t say what had happened to that cat. I know she must have cared. She even tried to call after he was placed into a shelter. But she never found out anything.
So, she probably was afraid to do anything wondering if the first cat who had tried to join us had been killed in the shelter. I think she also didn’t want to upset Spot or me. We were her priority. A new cat was another added responsibility that she couldn’t afford to have. Seeing it from her point of view makes me very grateful that she never got rid of us and did what she could to keep us together.
I knew my hunting days were over. But my girl would feed me well. That much I knew I could rely on. What would I have done without her? I have no idea. I think I would have died early without her care and love. Sadly, my claws and teeth aren’t the best. I have lost most of my teeth over my life. I don’t know why it happened to me. My claws tend to be brittle too. But as I have written before, my girl takes such good care of me, I don’t have to worry about going hungry.
I know how much she loves me too. She shows me by giving me wet food whenever I ask for it. She even told me she’d keep even if I ever lose all my teeth. She is so sweet and kind. I’m glad she’s a part of my life even though she is a whirlwind.
This month’s cat vocabulary is the word love. One of the most important things in anyone’s life. It doesn’t matter if you’re human or a cat or anything else. None of us can live without love. Especially after ill treatment.
Love cures most ills and cats know this very well. They have shown me over the years how important love is. I am forever grateful to them for that.
Cats’ hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. —Stephen Baker
It would certainly appear so. But don’t be fooled. Cats might just be ignoring you. Or perhaps they didn’t like what you said to them. Sometimes it’s just hard to judge their reactions to us all the time.
Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, he is still only a whisker away from the wilds. —Jean Burden
I can’t say I understand why some people insist cats are domesticated. They aren’t. They have fooled you if you believe it. My cat son adored me and seemed very tamed. That is until he hid in the grass as the big cats do.
Here’s a fact that perhaps many humans wouldn’t think of about us cats: We can swim. Not that we like to. We don’t usually like water unless perhaps we’re tigers. I hear there are even tigers who like to run through the snow. That’s not me. I’m not one of those cats. I’m a little tuxie and I hate to get wet. I don’t even like steam from a shower my girl might be taking.
We are born with the ability to swim when we need to. Usually we don’t have to. So, that’s probably why you wouldn’t know that about us. We’re usually so agile that it shouldn’t be too hard to understand how it is we know how to swim without being taught. We just do it when we find ourselves in water. Not a pleasant thing to have happen. It’s annoying for us. We can dry out from being in water. Not pleasant to look at either. Being dripping or soaking wet is not my idea of fun.
This wasn’t my idea. I know now it wasn’t my girl’s idea either. It was her mother’s. That woman wouldn’t let Spot or me into house until after we had our foreclaws removed. It was major surgery. Not a pleasant thing. I was already a middle aged cat at the time. I don’t remember the surgery, which is probably a good thing.
My girl believes removing a cat’s foreclaws is a form of mutilation. She is correct. We are maimed for the rest of our lives. Yet, too many humans think it’s a good thing to do. What they mean is they think we cats are objects who shouldn’t mess up their immaculate furniture, which is more important than having someone who will love you unconditionally. I’m glad my girl loves me more than she cares about how her furniture looks.
The vets and vet techs were good to both of us. We were both unconscious during the operations. They put a mask over my face and then I was out. I woke up later in a cage unsure of what was going to happen next. I was groggy and don’t remember much of anything else. That is until my girl was there and happy to see us both. She sat in the back seat of the car with Spot and me in our carriers.
Spot yelled and used terrible language to all the humans in the car. I was so scared that sadly I lost bladder control. My girl knew it happened and didn’t give me a hard time. It was quite embarrassing. Of course, he couldn’t stop complaining loudly and angrily about being trapped in a cage as I was too.
She took us upstairs to her room and closed the door before letting us out. I, of course, found a place to hide. Spot went exploring like the crazy bottle fed half human raised cat that he is. My girl seemed more relaxed. I sensed she had missed us overnight.
It didn’t take me long to find our things. The litter was different to help our paws to heal up. She told us don’t worry about it, she would clean it up. Just use the box. Spot used it first and true to her word, my girl cleaned up immediately. Then I used the new litter too.
I do remember what happened afterwards in the house more clearly. I’m lucky my girl was there when one of my paws starting bleeding. I was sitting on the back of the couch at the time. And to my surprise, I fell into the blinds. I wasn’t expecting it. I tried to use my foreclaws forgetting they were now gone.
I was so startled that I ran up the stairs and into our room. My girl noticed the blood and without any warning, she scooped me up and grabbed a washcloth. She took me into the bathroom and closed the door. She got the washcloth wet and wrapped it around my paw. She held me on her lap and talked to me.
I was scared. But she was comforting me. I didn’t want to be trapped in such a small room, but she wouldn’t let me go. She was firm, but gentle with me. She told me she was worried because my paw was bleeding. She said it was bad and tried to get it to stop. Eventually, it did. She let me go and cleaned up the blood I had trailed around the house.
She covered for me and kept me out of the hospital. So, I didn’t complain after that. She had taken care of me once again. What would I have done without her? I don’t know. I think I would have just hidden away until my paw stopped bleeding on its own.
I also remember jumping on top of the stereo cabinet. I slid towards the mantle over the fireplace. At that time I didn’t understand what was happening. I was always such a good jumper. Even my girl had noticed and told me so. She’s seen me do it quite often and was impressed by my skills. Yet, here I was sliding. It was because I didn’t have foreclaws to use as stop moving after a jump.
My girl and the blind guy tried to encourage me and keep me calm. Her mother didn’t want me to jump on any of the furniture. I don’t know where she got such notions. It’s what we cats do. The blind guy and my girl understood that kind of cat behavior. Why couldn’t my girl’s mother understand too?
I guess the woman thought she could control everything and everyone around her. Well, I hope she’s learned by now, she can’t control cats or even my girl. I’m glad my girl never took that attitude towards cats or anyone else for that matter. It’s just one of the many things which makes me love my girl all the more.
This month’s cat vocabulary is a term from Twitter known as furever human which means the human a cat gets to live with for the rest of their lives after living in a shelter.
Cats tend to get excited when they meet their furever human or even humans. They just know when they smell us. When they see us. They try to get our attention to let us know they know. Or at least it’s something like that. When I met Nuri for the first time, she was in a shelter. She was off by herself. I saw her alone. So, I walked over to her and as soon as my shadow fell over her, she looked up and started talking to me.
It doesn’t matter what she was telling me at the time. It was as if she knew who I was to her. She was just having a causal chit chat with a friend. I picked her up briefly and she didn’t complain.
When I was asked later which cat I wanted, I asked for her. She came home with me and that was that. Yes, it still took her time to adjust to her new home. It took us time to get used to each other.
There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat. —Wesley Bates
Cats are real and living pieces of art. They have so much grace. They are quite athletic. All the jumping they can do. The climbing. The loafing. All with such grace as to make us believe they have some secrets we haven’t mastered yet.
The trouble with cats is that they’ve got no tact. —P. G. Wodehouse
Cats are bold. They will tell you what they think of you without caring how you will react to it. They don’t sugar coat the truth. They just tell you plain and simple. They don’t need to tact to tell us anything.
Sir Socks Le Chat 