This picture was taken in September of 2010 as the debut image for Zee & Zoey’s blog. I was surrounded by my beloved furry family with Jazz front and center. As I reflect back, I realize I am never alone… the circumstances might change, but my cats always adapt to be by my side.

There is no doubt my cats are an integral part of my life and I have always lavished them with attention, both consciously and subconsciously. The conscious became especially evident the past few months as I spent nearly every waking moment taking care of the special needs that Mr. Jazz had to ensure his final time with us as comfortable as possible.  Now that he has passed on, I find my mind frequently wandering and I wondered if I had inadvertently given the other cats less attention than they needed or did they not even notice the difference at all?

I came to the conclusion despite the general preference cats have for routine, they are also far more intuitive and flexible than what appears on the surface. What happened, I now realize, is that they adjusted around my needs with Jazz to suit their own. It was an implied, “we know you love us, but you need to take care of Jazz so we’ll figure out our own unique ways to spend time with you when we need it.” And mind you, it’s not as if I was ignoring them – far from it, but I just wasn’t myself, yet there they were, right by my side all along. Read more

Sometimes the moon and the stars align just right and synchronicity becomes the theme of life as in the case with our little Kizmet. Kizmet, that quirk of fate kitten that I instantly fell in love with when I went to Pet Supermarket on a Monday afternoon during my lunch break at my day job to buy some cat food. Why is this significant? Because normally I do my pet food shopping on the weekends in the Pet Supermarket that is near my house, but for whatever reason, I felt compelled to go on a week day and to the location near where I worked. The moment I walked into the store and our eyes locked, I knew he was destined to be a part of our family and thus the name Kizmet, as in fate, but with the “z” that is a predominant trait in our Zee/Zoey household.

The other reason for the synchronicity – apparently our little guy who was found abandoned on the streets before he was rescued was born on the 4th of July and if any cat is the definition of a live wire, firecracker, it is our Kizmet! So, please join us today in a double celebration as we say Happy 1st Birthday to Kizmet and Happy 237th Birthday to America!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! Read more

Shortly after we got Zee, we began a complete knock down, drag out renovation of our home. Zee was with us every step of the way and loved being part of the process!

Once upon a time, a long, long, long time ago in 2005, way before high quality photos and knowledge of the Internet and blogs, there was a kitten named Zee who was still so young that he had not yet grown into his full, fluffy mancoat. For the most part, he was a happy and content cat, sharing his days with his older feline family members, some boring humans, and a dog. Because he was an active and curious sort of fellow, eventually his older feline family members got tired of his bold and obnoxious kitten ways, the dog ignored him, and while the humans were well intentioned, they were no substitute for a cat’s company and he longed for a younger kitten  playmate to share his pent up energy with.

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“Hey Buddy”, says Peanut to Kizmet. “You looking for a fight around here?”

Somebody left a comment the other day on a post I did featuring a very serene picture of Zee, asking me if my darling family of eight cats fight with each other. To which I say, the better question to ask would be, “Do pigs fly?” Read more

Awww… just look at that little cutie pie! Doesn’t he just melt your heart? It’s hard to believe he will be a year old in July so I thought I would share a picture of him as a kitten while I still can! Enjoy the sweetness and Happy Wordless Wednesday!!