Save The Cheese

We are your basic unassuming family in a small town in North Carolina. Garner, to be exact.

Edward is a Project Manager at IBM, working more hours than he really should, but makes up for it by working from home, so he’s always around. His main hobby is playing Horn with the Triangle Wind Ensemble and the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra. Ed’s always had cats since he was a baby and has never met a cat he didn’t like, and very few that haven’t liked him. Admittedly, he’s responsible for most of the cats in the household.

Kimberly is a part-time instructor at Wake Technical Community College. She’s into crafting and volunteering. A strong supporter of animal rights, she is also a vegetarian. Kim also grew up with cats and finds it difficult to pass up taking care of any strays or special needs cats she hears of that need to find a home.

Ed and Kim have two daughters, both who are into dance, music and general play. For the sake of privacy and because of internet “freaks,” we choose not provide any other information online.

The household is really run by six cats…all with special needs:

The matriarch of the house is JennyAnyDots “Jenny.” She’s a tortie who, at 14 years old and cranky, is somewhat of an outsider to the clan, although in times of cold weather, and/or jockeying for the best space on the bed, the others have been known to curl up with her. Jenny is a loving cat who dishes out kisses, loves sitting with people and absolutely LOVES babies. She will always sit with her back to a baby and allow them to pull her tail and grab her fur without ever complaining. Jenny’s “specialness” is that she has diabetes, which we’ve been able to control with prescription foods. Jenny came to us from the Wake County Animal Shelter.

Jasper is the eldest male at 11…or is it 12? Jasper is, well…not the brightest bulb in the house. He adores all people, although prefers older kids and adults. He is a flame point apple-head Siamese with all the vocal power of an opera diva. To meet Jasper, all you have to do is be invited into the house and sit on a chair…you’ll soon have him in your lap. He was a Hurricane Fran rescue who came to us with his sister, Jasmine, from Second Chance. Jasmine, unfortunately, was never well, and died soon after adoption. We had a necropsy done and it was found that at some point prior to our adopting her, she had been poisoned with antifreeze causing renal failure. Jasper’s “specialness” is that he is REALLY not too intelligent and (joking aside) there are some indications of possible brain damage.

NotSo is our very un-politically correctly named 7 year old. A beautiful and sleek black cat with piercing yellow eyes. He’s wonderful with kids and other cats, although when we adopted him, we were told that wasn’t necessarily the case. Coming to us from Best Friends, we originally intended to just foster NotSo to keep him out of the adoptathon circuit during Halloween time. He arrived walking on a lead and harness, leapt up on our couch and never looked back. He literally made friends with our other cats (except Jenny) within HOURS, and we knew this was his forever home. His “specialness” is that he’s missing a key ligament in his left-front paw, making it all kinda floppy. He’s modified his walking gait such that he flips the paw out so that it lands correctly on the floor and he’s able to walk on it. In times when he gets too excited, or if he’s startled, he’ll stumble and walk on the his knee. Sooo…his name comes from his paw being “Not So” right.

Jester is our playful 3 year old. He’s gray and white with one of the softest coats I’ve ever felt. He lives up to his name by being the joker of the house. He plays tricks on the other cats, and humans, and lives to play. ANYTHING is a toy. He’s also a world-class thief who has been witnessed taking our daughters toys and purposely hiding them in a stash under the couch or under chairs. If it’s missing, he’s got it somewhere. We have to do weekly raids of his stash points to clear out all the pens, toys, mail, money…you name it. Jester came to us from the ASPCA after we went there to sell Girl Scout Cookies, saw him and “just knew” he’d fit into our house. Jester’s “specialness” is that he has stiff hip joints which requires that he walks stilted.

Our newest is Mika.  Mika is a brown spotted tabby of about 6 months. She came to us as a “barn cat” who as the runt of the litter was, unfortunately, getting beat up by several of the others in her litter, including her mother. She’s VERY shy and right now only allows Ed to pet her. She’s “special” because of her shyness and she’s very tiny because of worm infestation.  She’s on the mend, though, and may be our first non special needs cat.

And Cheese…well, you know the story of Cheese from the Welcome page. What we don’t say is that he is wonderful with our kids and other cats. He truly enjoys life. He has a small, high-pitched meow that certainly doesn’t go along with his size. He was captured at Knightdale High School. Although we do have a picture of him in the snow, Cheese has absolutely no interest in the outside world (all our cats are indoors only, but the snow was too good to pass up.) If an outside door is opened, Cheese will go the other way.

And that’s the clan. For a view into our daily life, our blog is at http://www.walaskicitings.net