Pool Boy's Indoor Cats

[Pool Boy]

Grew up with (over time) four cats. Indoor/outdoor variety -- Dusty, Tiger, Mietzi, and Smokey.

Was married just a year when my wife and I were going to get a rescue cat from Baltimore. I was pressing for two, so they would keep each other company while we worked, but we settled on one. We got to this cat rescuer's house and my wife said we were there to get two rescue kittens. What a surprise!  Sophie and Nigel. A few years later, Claudia joined us as a torty farm cat decided she wanted us more than the orange boy we thought we were going home with. A couple years later, Rosey showed up right outside of our apartment and stared straight up at our open window and meowed relentlessly and loudly until we took her inside.

Moved to our house, lost Rosey to a bad heart, and the orange boy, Gustav, joined us. Nigel departed after a bout with lymphoma. Then the Patio Cats sort of entered our lives. The first one to join us inside was Lorenzo. After Claudia died of cancer, we took in a yearling long haired torty persian mix named Mathilde. Then later, miss June came inside from the Patio (she is the mom of Enzo). We had a rotating group of foster Patio Cats that we placed over the years with homes, but two stuck with us, Beatrix and Fernando. At that point we were up to seven cats and it was beyond our limit. But within the year, Sophie passed after a bout with cancer as well. We were going to stay at 6 and let things settle down, when Gracie, sister of Lorenzo and daughter of June, decided to come in. So we're back at 7.

Pictures coming, but 7 is our limit and I expect will drift slowly down to a more manageable number.

[Pool Boy]

It should be noted that Mathilde was a rescue from the Howard County Animal Shelter. And Gracie, if it was not clear, is a former Patio Cat as well.

[Pool Boy]

Meet Gustav. Gus. GusGus. And lots of other stupid variations on his name that I call him.

He came to us a few months after Rosey, the amazing 22-toed (two thumbs on her front paws) cat with a corkscrew tail, died far too young.  We originally wanted to get an orange boy kitty back in 1997, but when we visited the farm that had the kitten, we instead brought home our cali-sortie Claudia. So, we found out a friend of a friend in Delaware had a cat that accidentally got outside, got knocked up, and had three kittens after they found her. Two orange boys!  So we met them all, and Gustav came home with us in 2002. We sort of kind of named him after that boardwalk joint in Rehoboth Beach, DE called Gus & Gus. Hey we were in Delaware and that where Gustav was born so why not?

After a tricky start, he got along fine with Nigel and Claudia, but he and Sophie were not on good terms until the last few years of Sophie here. Sophie was the Queen, and she did not like Gus the Interloper. But as she aged, and as they got to know each other better, they got along well enough to tolerate each other. Sophie's Gazer Beams were strong enough, even in her old bodied state, to keep Gus from messing with her.

Now? Gus is the Grand Poobah of the house. He's the Elder Statesman. While he runs the show, he depends on his Captain of the Guard, Mathilde (Hilde - or Hill-deeee), to mete out the punishments and keep people in line.  He loves to run, has a tail he calls Swisher, does a good foghorn impersonation, and more. Oh and he looooooves to Yodel and sing.

Yes, I am a cat nerd, deal with it. That is all.

[Pool Boy]

This is Mathilde, Or Hilde (hill-dee) for short. She is The Captain of the Guard, Gus's main enforcer (and the only one he enforces upon). She's the smallest, lightest cat, but the one with the most attitude, spunk, fearlessness and more. Life if far more entertaining, fearsome and awesome with her doing her thing.

[Pool Boy]

It's been a while. We lost Enzo back in June 2018 - pretty sure he had a major stroke. He was only 10.

Then we lost Gussie, the Grand Poobah, this past December - he was, hmmm, 17 and a third. Kidney disease.

Currently Gracie is fairly ill - still working out what is wrong and what we can do.

That said, the other 4 of the 5 current residents (of which Gracie is a part), are doing fine - Mathilde (Hilde (hill-dee)), June (former Patio Cat), Trixie (former Patio cat brought in at about 5 weeks of age) and her brother Nando. They are seeing after Gracie very thoughtfully actually.

The thing is, as hard as it is to lose a pet (a member of the family), unexpectedly or not, you go out sooner than you expect to bring another lost soul in to your hime and do it all over again, because the heartbreak is worth the lifetime of amazing memories with the lucky cat that joins our even luckier household are so, damn, worth it.