The Story

The day Bryan and I came back from Hawaii in June of 2001, our male cat, Tiger, met us in the driveway. With him was a simese/grey tabby mix female, and 3 grey and orange tabby kittens. I recognized the cats from the neighbor's behind us. Tiger was obviously very proud of his new family. Before we had the chance to object, all 5 cats went into the house while we were unloading the car of our luggage. They pretty much made themselves at home. A little while later Tiger and the female cat slipped out of the house and left the kittens behind for us to "babysit". The kittens spent a good 3 hours with us. They spent most of the time playing with each other and with some of the cat toys we had laying around the house. One of the female kittens decided to curl up in Bryan's lap and he pretty much fell in love with her. Finally around 1:30 am, we kicked all 3 kittens out of the house and went to bed.

The next evening, Bryan called me into the bedroom and told me, "Why don't you go get those kittens, I miss them." He continued to add, "In fact, why don't you tell them that we'll take that little female if they want to give her away." I went to the neighbor's and the kittens were out in the front yard playing. I picked up the little female (I recognized her because she was the friendliest of the 3) and I went to the front door. I asked the guy if he wanted to give her away and I told him the story of my tom cat bringing them home the night before. He said, "Let me ask my wife," and he did. She said it was ok. He said, "I guess you got yourself a new kitten," so I took her home.

We noticed that both her front and back foot on her right side were grey and both her front and back foot on her left side were orange. The grey feet had black pads and the orange feet had pink pads. We got "blink" from black and pink, so we called her Blinky. Niether one of us really cared for the name that much and figured that it would be temporary until we could think of something better, but it turned into a permanent name.

We've had Blinky for a little over a year now and she has recently had a batch of kittens. She had 5, a solid orange tabby (male), an orange and white tabby (male), an orange and grey tabby (female), a calico (female), and a striped calico (female). The orange tabby male unfortunately got real sick and we had to put him to sleep. The orange and white tabby and the orange and grey tabby we took to Ralph's Grocery and gave them away. Fortunately, the kittens went to a couple of girls that looked to be good friends, so hopefully, the two kittens will get to spend some time together. We kept the two Calicos. The regular calico we named Bandit, and the striped calico we name Angel.

Care Sheet

Origin

It is believed that cats originated from Egypt.

Feeding

Cats are nibblers and they would prefer to have food available to them 24 hours a day. The best way to feed your cat is to provide dry food 24 hrs a day by way of a self feeder (a large covered container that holds a lot of food) or by keeping dry food in a dish. It's best to put the fresher food on the bottom. If your cat does not like or had a hard time eating dry food, you can moisten the food by adding a little water. You probably shouldn't leave moistened food for more then a day because it can get hard and sometimes even moldy. You can supplement this feeding by giving your cat a small can of wet food once or twice a day or even once in a while as a treat. Do not give your cat only wet food because wet food is mostly meat and is not a complete balanced diet for your cat. DO NOT give your cat milk. Milk has lactose in it and can cause your cat to have diarrhea. If you really want to give your cat "milk" as a treat, give your cat a milk substitute or formula instead. You can find various healthy milk substitutes for cats in the pet aisle of your local grocery store. Also, always provide a fresh bowl of water for your cat every day.

Environment

A cat would probably prefer to sleep with you. Other places they would like to sleep is in your window sill, on your couches or chairs, or an in our case, on top of snake tanks. If you want to designate a specific area for your cat to sleep, you can try offering them a bed made of a box and an old pillow or you can purchase a cat bed from your local pet store.
If your cat will be an indoor cat, you should provide a litter box for him/her. The litter box should be scooped daily and the litter should be changed about once a week. Maybe more if it starts to smell bad or if you have more then one cat. You don't need to purchase a real expensive litter. We use Johnny Cat for multiple cats, which is very reasonably priced, and we have found that it works very well.
Cats are very active and very courious. You should provide your cat with a variety of toys. I have found that cats prefer toys with cat nip in them, toys made of animal fur, or toys with bells. The smaller the toy the better. But don't get a toy that is so small that your cat may swallow it. You will find that cats will play with just about anything though. One favorite with our cats is the little plastic piece that you peel off of milk jug lids. They just love those!
Also, cats love to sharpen their claws. They will use about anything to do it with to, especially your furniture, drapes, etc. It's probably best to provide your cat with a scratching post made of wood and carpet, or of some other kind of material. Something for them to scratch on rather then your furniture. We have provided our cats with a multiple level scratching post. They love this because cats also love to climb.

If you would like to read more about cats. I have found that "Cat's In The House!" is a very fun and informative site to explore.