Tango & Cash are no longer kittens

Aw, my 'babies' are one year old today. They were born in the Santa Clara County Animal Shelter in their mama's cage. They were too young for that staff to care for, so they contacted Town Cats to come and take them. They were fostered by a cute couple, who have since fostered many more cats. They did a great job raising them to be confident little kitties. Tango struts her stuff to all other animals, but not so much with people. Cash is more a people cat and will submit to other animals. They are in so many ways, the same but opposite. Cool cats.

The first several pics were not taken by me. They were taken either by Charles or Ruby Clark and all rights belong to them. They were the foster parents for their first 5 months.

Top row: All the kittens at 2 days old; Mama Nala & her kittens at one month,
Second row: Tango at one month, Cash at one month, Together at one month
Last row: Tango & Cash snoozing, Tango & Cash playing, Cash & his pink puffball

Ruby let Cash take his little pink puffball with him. He still has it and still plays with it. Who knows why he's so attached to it, but he'll play with it, then hide it, then forget it, then cry for it. He doesn't forget so much anymore, but sometimes he does.
The following pics were taken by me.

L to R: Tango & Cash fighting at 10 mos., Tango (r) & Cash (l) on their 1st birthday, Tango (m) & Cash (r) and Tornado (l) in the shot for scale.
Tango is still pretty small. Perhaps she always will be, or perhaps she'll keep growing. Cash will probably grow a little bit more, but mostly thicker over the years. He has a small head, but huge whiskers and a long skinny tail just like Tornado. Tornado's body was like Cash's when he was younger. He's gained some weight in the last few years. They are both pretty heavy, but Tornado is like lifting a sack of potatos. To compare, I can still lift tango by her belly with one hand. She feels like a feather, but visually she's about 85% of Midnight & Misty and 75% of Tornado.

TiGGeRs iS WoNdERfuL FuN

Yes, another video :)

First Catnip

Tango discovered something new today :) One month ago she wasn't interested. Today, just shy of 7 months, she stuck her snout right in the tupperware container and immediately wanted more. I obliged knowing how much fun it would be for both of us.

Enjoy!

Could they be any cuter?

They're so sweet together :) Sometimes we can't tell them apart despite such a size difference and Cash has only one paw in white.

This one you really can't tell who is who because you can't see the chin or the paws. I just happen to remember it was Cash on top.

Last Sunday, we decided to let the cats out on harnesses, but unfortunately Tornado escaped before we got the harness & leash on him. He didn't go very far and for once was super easy to catch. Here he is coming too close to me to get away, lol. I could take a picture AND catch him. Sad, lol, he used to be so spry ;)

He sure looks like a panther here :D

Here's Misty - not acting the princess she usually is.

She is on a harness.

Another shameless kitten post

Yes, I know, but I can't help it.

I was going to post some cute pics and mention how well everyone is doing, but now instead we have a crazy story to tell!

See this little one? (Cash)

Doesn't he look all sweet and innocent?

HA!

See this pic?

You'll never ever guess where the little monster ended up!


Really, you never will. So I might as well just tell you.

He got himself behind the upper cabinet. What's that you say? "But, it looks like it's against the wall!?!" "It looks permanent." Um, yeah, it most definitely is. Well, because it was a corner cabinet, it had a kitten sized triangle opening in the back corner. The little monster who obviously will live up to his name and cost us big bucks throughout his lifetime, went nose first down that hole and couldn't get himself back out!!!

He was crying and crying and we didn't know what to do. Poor little baby. I had hoped he had enough room to turn himself around and climb his way back up, but it turns out he was just trying to back himself out. He tried pretty hard too. But there was nothing he could do. There wasn't anything we could do either. There's only about 12-18 inches of space above that cabinet and it's about 3.5' tall above the counter. I'm 5' tall and fat, so there was no way I was able to reach more than my fingers over the edge of the hole.

I turned to my mom and said, "we have two options: call 911 or Neal (contractor friend)" She said, "I'd rather call Tim (my bro) first." I went "ffttht" to that, "whatever, then call him because I can't do this." I was trying to unscrew the screws holding it to the wall. Tim answers his phone and once he stops laughing (admittedly this is hilarious) he says he'll be home in 1/2 an hour. Well his sense of time is about as good as my dad's sense of distance (i'll save that for another time) so he got home nearly an hour later. Luckily, my mom had the good sense to wait about 5 minutes after that and call Neal. He came right over - about 10-15 minutes later - and assessed the problem. He's about 6' or 6'1" and in great shape as a contractor should be. He managed to lean over and used his flashlight to peer down the hole. He saw (and i quote) "kitty butt," ROFL! He tried to reach down and grabbed a couple of paws... the back paws. About 3 minutes later Cash was out, none the worse for wear. Neal said there were lots of claw marks on the wall back there... no doubt!

I went out back and found a piece of wood for Neal to cover the hole with so we don't ever have to go through this again. He was out of there just a few minutes later. 10-15 minutes later, Tim comes strolling in. (rolling eyes here). Ok, now that I add that up, Tim was home about 45 minutes after we called. Still, it was a major emergency and he obviously didn't get that because he stopped off at the fridge or pantry for some food first. Oye! Brothers!!!

So anyway, I guess Cash has only 8 lives left and he's only 5 months old. None of our other cats ever got into so much trouble before. The worst I remember was Misty getting stuck in a tree that I ended up having to climb to get her down. No big deal.

He seems to be a little tuckered out tonight, but other than that, not traumatized. We thank you so much Neal! You're the best and we owe you big time!

Now just for fun, here's an adorable pic of his sweet sister Tango :D

Obviously she's going to rival Misty as model. By the way, I did buy them a bed! But typical cats, they like the box better to snooze in during the day. They sleep at night with my mom. (she's so lucky!) But we wonder if that'll change when my dad gets back from his latest backpacking trip.

New News!

As promised (a day late) in the last post, I have some new news.
Mom and I adopted a pair of kittens!

Meet Tango and Cash :D Tango is in the back and Cash is up front with the white chin. They were woken up from a nap when I took this, so that's why he looks a bit buzzed.


I adopted them from Town Cats so if you're in the south bay, I very much recommend them - or you could donate to them. They really really care about who adopts their rescues.

Tango & Cash were from a litter of five who were born in the Santa Clara County Humane Society. Their mama was picked up (and she's very very sweet) and instead of spaying her right away they put it off for a few days. Although I'm not sure I like the idea of spaying a cat who is full term... the kittens inside are essentially aborted. But since they put it off, the kittens were born in the Humane Society. They were all going to be euthanized, but Town Cats rescued them and 4 of them have all been adopted out. Unfortunately one of them lived only a couple weeks. It got sick and never recovered.

By the way, the picture's not my usual quality, but it's their first pictures taken by me. I used my new iPhone to do it so it would be less intrusive. Perhaps tomorrow they'll be ready for the big camera. Cash is ready already. He wants out of his "safe room" (read my bathroom) and is a very confident kitty. Tango is more cautious, but I think we've bonded already. I can't wait for them to cuddle with at night :D That may be quite a while though because Misty & Midnight usually spend the night on my bed and they may not like the newcomers. We'll see - they aren't cuddlers though, so maybe they'll be cool with it if they can tolerate the kittens.