Tut's Mom's Cat Cuddle--An Introduction

[tutsmom]

Hello, I'm Tut's Mom and I live with 12--yes, 12--Siamese cats in a small town outside Philadelphia, PA, USA. The cats who make up the cuddle are: The Adults: Julius, 16.5 years; Mumbles, 14; Tabitha, 13; Schuster and Precious, 11; and Leonardo, 8; and The Kittens (aka The Elderly Kittens) who will be 11 on October 15: Minga, Chessie, Keiki, Buster, Higgins, and Sebastian. I also have (and please don't tell her I almost forgot to mention her), a 24 year old daughter who is trying to be an actress in NYC.

Tut ruled all of us with an iron paw until he died in December 2000 of natural causes in his mom's arms. Chaos reigned in the household until the arrival of Julius, a 15.5 year old bluepoint, who had been left at a shelter in NJ. Julius, who had been an only cat, quickly assumed command and order was restored--much to Tut's Mom's great relief.

Leonardo, the purrmudgeon of the group, joined the cuddle in October--another older cat turned in to a NJ shelter. Like Tut before him, we do everything his way and in his time.

My greatest pleasures are waking up in the middle of the night and watching all the cats, gently snoring, curled all about the bed like a furry quilt--at least, I know they aren't getting into mischief; and reading books by Doreen Tovey, also of England. Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to track down most of her books. I consider her a fantastic writer.

I found this web site after I ordered Spock's and Drac's books from Siamese Rescue of VA, for which I used to volunteer. I now volunteer for Siamese Rescue Metro, which helps Siamese in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, find good homes. I am building their web site. But we're new--so it isn't complete, if you take a peek!

Jennifer, my daughter, calls the Siamese Rescue groups, my Siamese enablers. When she was a little girl, she used to come to me crying, "Cat rivalry, cat rivalry" when she felt that Ching, another Siamese, was getting more attention than she. Ching was her version of sibling rivalry.

To pay for the catfood and keep a roof over our heads, I manage an intranet site for my employer's web site.

If this hasn't been too boring, I'll tell you more next time.

Tut's Mom

[Ann]

Welcome to the Board. I can't imagine living with 12 opinionated Siamese, but I like the collective name for them, "a cuddle of Siamese".

Doreen Tovey was directly responsible for Alexander, the half Siamese who lived with me for nearly 18 years coming into my life. I read "Cats in the Belfry" six months after the last family Siamese cat died. I'd left home by then, but the book brought back so many happy memories that I started actively to look for another cat. (I've been looking for a copy of "Cats in the Belfry" to send to a friend in California for months by the way.)

I've heard of Siamese Rescue Metro and know that there's quite a network of Siamese Rescue centres in the US. I'm very pleased that the boys books are helping to fundraise for one of them. If you add the url of the website you're building I'll certainly go and take a look. (Don't forget to swap links with Catsup when it's finished!)

Look out for Chalmers Cats. That's Rita and her daughter Lisa. When they were here recently, they were making me laugh at some of the situations Lisa found herself in as a child, due to Rita's involvement in The Cat Register and Rescue. Sounds like there's some common ground there.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about you, your family, the cuddle and Siamese Rescue Metro.

Ann

[jen]

Welcome to the Board. I only have one cat, Sally and she's more than enough to cope with. How you manage with 12?

Jen

[topaz]

Welcome from us here in Derbyshire, England. We thoroughly enjoyed reading your story.
We have a non-Siamese 18 year-old cat named Scargs. When we read about Tut dying in her mom's arms we were touched as we would wish our beloved puss to leave us in the same way, surrounded by such peace and love.
Sadly, all our other animals have departed in more desolate ways. Or is that desolate to us but not to them?
Will we ever know?

[Maria]

Lovely to 'meet' you! 12 cats?? My goodness - I can only imagine feeding time! I also like the idea of a 'cuddle' of cats! I look forward to hearing more about your delightful furry family!
Maria

[tutsmom]

Ann, I might have an extra copy of Cats in the Belfry, or look on eBay. I found a lot of her books there, and also at alibris.com (located in the San Francisco area). I found Cats in May in the early '70s and looked for her books all those years--including on the Internet which I've been using since the early 90s, before it was popular. Anyway...it wasn't until last year that I finally started seeing them online. I was even able to find Cats in Concord, her latest, at Barnes and Noble.com. The quest took persistence, but I'm glad I kept at it. I truly love her books. I hope she writes many more.

Siamese Rescue Metro's web site is at:

www.siameserescuemetro.org

I'm not sure how to make that a link. But you should be able to copy and paste it into your browser. Oddly enough, in all my years on the 'Net, this is my first Message Board--and I'm glad I waited; I like this one.

Living with 12 Siamese isn't much different than living with 1 or 2, as I vaguely recall--just louder. Sebastian, one of the elderly kittens, and a Seal, is the Loud Mouth of the family. From the moment he was born, Sebastian has been talking very loudly about everything that happens in his life. Unfortunately, lately he has decided that 2 or a little after in the morning is the perfect time for a chat. He stares at me until I open my eyes, and if that doesn't work, he pats me gently on the face with his claws and meows until I open my eyes. If I don't keep my eyes open, he starts licking my face and meowing--he seldom has to go that far now that I know his "routine." He has appointed himself the Cuddle's SpokesCat.

Chocolate Buster, his littermate, tends to talk with his mouth closed. When he does open it, he has a gentle mrow. Chocolate Higgins, another littermate, likes to sit on doors and call me to rescue him. He too can be loud, but he such a cute cuddlehug, and his meow isn't the strident one that hurts ears.

Once when he was going through his "Mom Rescue Me from the Door" routine, he had done it too many times in one evening (every couple of minutes). I told him about "Crying Cat" (as opposed to Wolf) and that he could get himself down. After a bit, he started up again and I ignored him. Suddenly I realized his meow had taken on a truly frantic quality, so I decided to check on him. The Poor Baby had managed to straddle the door so that his left paws were on one side and his right paws on the other. And, he couldn't get back up on top of the door. Needless to say, I apologized profusely for not believing him and rescued him from the door. Needless to say, he delights in reminding me of "the Time I Ignored Him when the Door Grabbed Him." (There's just no winning with Siamese.)

Minga only talks when she's complaining about the Chocolates or insisting on a pet. Chessie, who sometimes disguises herself as Minga, also has a gentle meow and carries on pleasant conversations--usually a polite request for a pet or two. Keiki, the smallest of the kittens and a Chocolate, has a lovely, but loud voice. She too likes to carry on conversations--telling me everything those Bad Boy Cats did during the day and could we please find some other place for them to live. (But she really loves them and would miss them if they were gone.)

Julius and Leonardo, the latest additions, don't say too much for some reason. I think the older cats figure Sebastian will say whatever needs saying, so tend to talk a little less. Schuster and Precious also talk some, but not excessively. Of course, it could be as Mumbles says, that they simply can't get a word in edgewise with all those kittens chattering.

More to come. Thanks for the warm welcome,
Tut's Mom aka Sharon

[Ann]

What a huge compliment. Thank you very much indeed!

It took me a long time to get around to adding a Message Board to Catsup, mainly because I've never been one for joining them in the past either. (Although unlike you I have made one or two exceptions.) Catsup is a very lighthearted website (albeit with the serious purpose of helping to publicise and raise funds for PDSA), and I'm very pleased the Message Board is reflecting that. I hope it continues to be a celebration of all the fun and pleasure our cats give us.

A number of members are involved with cat rescue charities and if this Board can help to make them better known, that's all to the good too.

It used to be easy to find Doreen Tovey's books in local second hand bookshops here, but for some reason, they seem to have vanished these days. I only have a couple here although I've read most of them courtesy of the library. What always amuses me is that if you talk about them to someone who's never lived with Siamese, they tell you they enjoyed them, but found them a bit far fetched. Siamese owners on the other hand have absolutely no trouble believing every word!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the individual members of the Cuddle and I'm looking forward to hearing more about them.

Both my boys are vocal, Spock generally has a comment for every situation, Dracs tends to wait until he has something he needs to tell me. He has a particularly tortured yell which sounds like he's being hung drawn and quartered. I rush over, only to discover that his towel has fallen off the radiator and he wants me to put it back. He still gets me every single time!

Ann

[Linda_Wells]

Hi there!
I'm jealous! I have 3 of Doreen Tovey's books - well 2 as I lent one to a friend and she won't give it back! We don't seem to have many second hand bookshops in Nottingham, England, where I live, or I'd be there looking.
I doubt she'll be writing much more, or if she is still alive! She was born in 1906, I think.
I have 4 Siamese and Orientals and getting another kitten in about 3 weeks.
Saffie (Mr Sapphire) was a rescue. He's now 10 yo and had cancer when he was 4. He only has one ear and a bald patch on his upper jaw. He's lilac point.
I lost 6 cats last year. One had spinal cancer, one died of old age and kidney failure (he was 19). We bought a little girl who came with FeLV and died after 6 weeks (the feud is still going on with her breeder).
Then we got another rescue. Harry died of FIP and took our kitten with him. Then Celie, who had been with a stud cat from where we got the little leukaemia girl, went down with leukaemia.
After the New Year we had Saff and our stray, Oscar, a huge black and white moggy, tested for leukaemia and they were clear. Of course, because of the feud, we found it hard to get anyone to sell us kittens. Then we found a breeder who was selling up and went to get 2 kittens, brother and sister. She wanted to keep the boy, so we came away with an Apricot point little girl and her mother a red (flame) point. We went back a day later and got Rosie, who is a Havana. In 3 weeks I am getting a little boy who is something special; he's a fawn tipped caramel OSH. Apparently there are only about 6 in the country.
Linda

[tutsmom]

I wonder if the shortage there of Doreen Tovey's books is that the bookstores are putting them on eBay or listing them with alibris? I'm sure at least two of my copies came from England and one from New Zealand. If it had not been for the Internet, however, I would not have found any of them other than the Cats in May that I bought at a used book store in the early 1970s. I think the one bookstore from there was named the Red Snapper. If I find the address, I'll pass it along just in case they have more.

I certainly hope Mrs. Tovey is still alive. Besides being a lovely person, in Cats in Concord she had two younger cats. Another first for me--amazing how Siamese bring "firsts" into one's life--I wrote her a "fan" letter. I had never written an author before telling them how much I appreciated their work, but this time I felt unusually compelled to do so. I never heard back, so I don't know if she received the letter or not. Since it was just a couple of months after the anthrax scare over here, I wasn't certain if other countries were allowing US mail to cross their borders or not.

Linda, I am so sorry about your loss--I've had similar happenings in my life, so I know how difficult and emotionally draining that situation can be. To lose 6 loved friends so close together--the cats and I send you purrs and headbutts.

Well the cats are demanding that I pet them instead of playing with the keyboard, so I'd better take the hint before they "Do Something."

Sharon

[Miles]

Welcome to Catsup - we're looking forward to hearing about your kitties...with 12(!) of them, you certainly must have some stories to tell...!  We also like to see pics...if you have some you can post, please do....! (if you need a hand getting them uploaded, just check Ann's instructs on how to post pics, and if you get stuck we're always happy to help...!)....