The tomcat Trouble is becoming huge. I understand that he could go to 16 pounds or more as a huge Domestic Shorthair cat but what I don't undserstand is his gentleness before Dr. Wallach gets to snip his gonads. This cat will jump into anything you are doing and lay out huge front claws before pulling them in and nudging you with his head and mewing with joy. This guy lays out teeth and claws but once you pet him he folds up, lies down, and closes his eyes.

I'm hoping he's just as nice once Dr. Wallach sends his BBs to go see where his mother's and sister's ovaries and uteruses are (uteri was an OK plural as well but I didn't use it). Will he be the same good guy with his gear gone?

The girls are spayed and Trouble is going to be neutered this month just as soon as my Social Security dough lands on the 16th. Males are cheaper to make sexless - their surgery is done externally just like my wife has been reminding me for almost 38 years while holding a steak knife.

I don't Like the Trots either but the tomcat is always welcome.



They were loading for a race but Trouble only had eyes for me.



Meanwhile, Mister Mittens was rolled up in a cat bed with her daughter. The cat in the foreground with the tail hanging is sweet little Shiloh.

I get such a kick out of you with the cats.

And I get a kick out of my favorite policeman.

I still have some old stories about Great Uncle Ed Driscoll (I.R.T. Police Dept., my grandmother's brother) from early in the 20th century and I think people should know about them.

One time around 1919 my great uncle was trailing an Irish thief and and stickup man in plain clothes with a partner. They're going over the Brooklyn Bridge on the train from Manhattan.

Downtown in Borough Hall they trailed him and a policeman in uniform recognized the fellow and went to make to make the arrest. A brawl took place. Great Uncle Ed's partner drew his pistol to shoot the man but Ed cried out, "Jesus, don't shoot him, he owes my sister money!"

Great Uncle Ed died as a bachelor as an old man and a cop for more than 30 years. He was also a Navy veteran that had been at sea in the the first decade of the 1900s. He was also the cheapest bastard that ever walked the planet. Ed lived with his sister (my widowed grandmother) when he died in bed and my Uncle Raymond found more than 60 bank books going back to 1909 in savings accounts. Some just had a few bucks, some had hundreds, some had thousands.

Tight cheap Irish? Yeah, but a good cop and Navy vet out of the 19th century.

I will post pics one day of my old man, Pecks. I adopted him in October of 2002 as a kitten. I can't believe he's going to be 9 this year.

He was a shy kitten, and really didn't come out of his shell until after he was fixed. He's always been an attention whore though, and I don't think when Trouble gets snipped it will change his personality much.

Trouble will be the same after as before.

Dr. W the vet would say the same....better to snip before Trouble matures....you don't miss what you never knew you had. And once Trouble begins to "mark his territory" you might not feel so kindly toward him.


PS...Trouble is still growing...he is a young cat. But, as he gets older you don't want him to be too fat...not healthy. Trouble is a "food hog" as you've described him..so he may like to eat...alot. See what Dr. Wallach says about this.

Always spay and neuter your pets. For one thing, it will eliminate the tendencies toward wanderlust, especially during the Spring. Many of the pets you see dead on the side of the road were merely following their instincts in search of a suitable mate. They will roam far and wide to satisfy their need to mate. Fixed animals are happier, better pets and it will help to keep down the number of homeless/unwanted animals.

There is the thought that spaying and neutering will create an overweight animal -- and in some cases, this is true. I had one of my female cats spayed on the later side because of a heart condition that worried the vet (in terms of putting her under anesthesia). But she started to go into heat nearly constantly, pacing and presenting herself to my male cat (who was fixed, but still tried to get it on with her whenever possible). I couldn't take it anymore so she was spayed. She put on a considerable amount of weight, but I attribute that more to her changed lifestyle (ie. not wailing and pacing around all day long) than an increase in food. She isn't a big eater, really, but she is more the exception in my experience than the rule.

Once the momcat Mister Mittens got spayed it seems like she wants to eat 24/7 but we're careful with her. The tomcat is long and lean and eats a lot but at 7 months is still growing. Sweet little Shiloh gets crowded out of a lot of meals by her mother and brother but she is taken care of. The day she came home from being spayed she was leaping all over the place.

When Mister Mittens began "presenting herself" to her sexually immature son we knew it was time for Dr. Wallach, DVM to do his thing with her.

I saw a TV show that claimed that a male and female cat can spawn off 8 million cats within 10 years.