Meet these Cats!
(if the iframes don't work for whatever reason, or are just too slow, visit this link)
Pepper
Pepper is a ten year old (July, 2015) tabby cat that was born and raised with my family! (As I'm writing the draft for this description, she's sitting in my lap <3) Her mother, Sam, was surrendered to us by my parent's friends, who thought she was a boy for the several years they had her. She had two litters with us, with Pepper being the runt of the second litter (see fig. 2). Originally my older sister's cat, I began to grow a fondness towards Pepper after we had found homes for most of the other kittens, and she ended up being the only one left of her litter. When she was about a year old, she was bit by a dog on her right ear, and it began to hang limp (see fig. 3). During recovery, bits of the ear began to fall off while the ear rose again, and now is in it's current state.
She was named by my older sister for the white spot she has on her back, that she said looked like a "salt spot", and "Pepper" was chosen because in contrast the rest of her fur looked "peppered". Another identifying feature of hers (besides her ear) is her "5" shaped rift between her white and speckled fur beneath her neck on either side (sorry I don't really know how else to describe it. Most noticable in figure 2). She's extremely sassy, and always wears a glare. Her arch enemy is Shawty. Her meow is very high pitched, and she kind of squeaks and chirps instead of actually meowing (though I know that she CAN meow... I swear I've heard her yodeling in the middle of the night...). When people hear her for the first time, they usually compare her meow to a dog toy.
- Peppar/Peefy/Papes/Pep
- Mippy/Miss/Mousey
- Chip/Chep/Bibi
- any combination of the names above (ex. Cheppar, Miss Chips, Pippy, etc...)
- mesh, denim
- shiny metal objects (keys, pens...)
- chicken, bacon
- windowsills/looking out windows
- thunderstorms
- strangers/other animals/Shawty
- fish (food preference, she will still eat it but usually reluctant)
Bertha
Bertha is an 18 year old black cat that we got when we moved to my family's current house in 2007, being the oldest cat we've every owned. She had a litter to which all of the kittens were given away. She's always kind of acted like an old cat, her voice has always been raspy as well, and she is older than my younger sister, who I and my older sister tease her for relentlessly. In her prime she was very rambunctious and friendly, but now is much lazier and sassier. When I was young we would come home from an outing and pens and pencils would be scattered all over the place from her playing alone, because she was too shy to play around anybody. As much as I'd love to ignore it, she does show a lot of signs of old age. She's very hard of hearing, and will jump upon sudden awakening and won't notice you at all if you're behind her. She also has a fairly weakened bladder, has lost a fair amount of weight, and will claw her way up onto beds and couches instead of jumping. It's scary to know that she could become ill or pass away any day now being so old, but I've cherished every memory with her and hug her tight as often as I'm able. <3
She was named after the song "The Bertha Butt Boogie" by the Jimmy Castor Bunch (see left), and so were her sisters, Bella and Bathsheba, that we also had for a brief time. She possesses this strange meow, that sounds more like a quack, that really sells her age. Over the past few years she's started "rusting" as well, where her fur tends to give off a reddish-orange look in sunlight (see fig. 9). She's extremely polite (when she's not yelling at least) and she tends to cross her arms when she sits.
- Murphy/Moofie/Marvey/Movie
- Lady/Granny
- Berfa/Barfy
- "Murphy Brown, laying on the ground, rolling around, walking downtown..."
- canned tuna juice
- lying in the shade
- talking
- electric fans
- being drummed on
- being picked up
- not receiving attention
- being woken up
Shawty
Shawty (or more frequently referred to as Mama Kitty) is a five year old (May 2020) snowshoe cat that my little sister took in from a family friend's litter. Mama had a litter of kittens in April of 2021 and another in August of the same year. Since being spayed, she's become remarkably lazy and now weighs almost ten pounds. She has the most interesting fur texture, resembling that of a soft carpet, or an old teddy bear (the right word for it is probably "wiry"). Her eyes are HUGE and blue and she's mostly cross-eyed. She exhibits extremely bizarre behavior, more than the other cats at least. She only drinks from one specific faucet in the kitchen, and refuses to drink from the designated pet water bowl. She's extremely uncoordinated, and constantly misses jumps onto high surfaces. She can sleep for roughly 13 hours straight if nobody disturbs her. She also loves to hide in closets or behind pillows, and will meow at and reach under the bathroom door if it's closed. She's very standoffish as well, and will get irritated if you pet her for too long.
She has a very melodic meow that I've compared to the sound of an electric piano (not a keyboard, but the electric piano setting on a keyboard). Since she was a baby, her fur has been progressively turning darker in color (see fig. 14). She's the only cat that I've had that has such a thoroughly documented family, her mother, brother, children, and grandchildren are mostly all accounted for. I made a family tree once, but it's incredibly outdated by now, and would take way too much effort to try and update it now, as I can't keep track past her first generation of grandchildren.
- Ma/Ma Cat/Mama Kitty
- Mee Maw/Mamãe
- Short Pants
- Ama
- drinking from the faucet
- bird watching
- being alone
- loud noises
- fluffy blankets
- being rolled over
- cat treats (preference)
- Pepper