This pose was known as "Casual Kitty". Cuddles could often be found with her
"arms" crossed, relaxing quietly, usually in the middle of the floor.
Update 15-Apr-2005: Cuddles left us today.
Lori came home from work and found her. We will miss her dearly and we are very happy for the time we had with her. Lori especially will miss her very deeply. Cuddles was with her during some of the hardest times in her life.
Cuddles, where ever you are: we will always love you...
Visit Her Memorial Page at Rainbows Bridge.
This pose was known as "Casual Kitty". Cuddles could often be found with her
"arms" crossed, relaxing quietly, usually in the middle of the floor.
This pose was known as "Road Kill Kitty" for obvious reasons. Cuddles could
frequently be found sleeping in this position, on a chair, on the floor...
Just about anywhere!
Cuddles would often yawn as you were walking up to her. Lori happened to catch
this shot of that gaping maw. Feel yourself being drawn in?
This was Cuddles's way of getting into the Spirit of the Season over Christmas of 1998. When meowing was heard, but no Cuddles found, a stoop down led us to discover Cuddles
under the tree. She claimed that spot as hers while the tree was up.
Cuddles would sleep most of the time, like many cats do. Sometimes you found in her rolled up in ball like this on the old blue chair. It became her chair - it was usually
so lined with cat hair that no one sat there anymore. We'd clean it up from time to time.
We called this pose "Speed Bump Kitty". Actually, this was just one of many that have achieved the designation.
Here's another variant of the "Speed Bump Kitty" pose. This is one is "cuter", we think, because of the foot draped over the step.
O.k., so why "Speed Bump Kitty"?
Well, because when she positioned herself like this on the steps, you really had to slow down and step over her.
This was not unique to the steps, of course. Cuddles would plunk herself down right in the middle of just about anywhere, making a perfect obstruction, much to the consternation of Jamie Ann, who does nothing slowly once she is in motion.
Devotees of Month Python's Flying Circus will quickly recognize that Cuddles had not yet mastered the principles of "Not Being Seen".
This was taken in the second bedroom of our new home in the Plainfield/Joliet area.
Some more notes about Cuddles and her pictures...
The first five pictures were scanned from photographs and sized manually. They were taken in the house we had in Elmhurst, IL.
In the fall of 2000, Cuddles apparently fell down the steps in that house and hurt her left hip. This left her unable to climb up on the old blue chair or jump up on the bed. She was seeing a kitty-chiropractor every four to six weeks, as needed.
As of 22-Apr-2002, Cuddles had gotten very old. She doesn't "bounce around the house" anymore. She moves very slowly and appears to have some trouble getting around. We loved her as long as she was with us, but we knew her days with us would end eventually. She still enjoyed attention and "yelled" at "mommy" (Lori) to get it. She was still rather a silly, entertaining kitty.
The "Speed Bump Kitty" pictures were taken in what was then our "new"
house - we moved back to Carol Stream in Springtime of 2001. We had gotten a Sony Mavica digital camera. These are the "e-mail" size pictures from the diskette written in the camera.
June-2004 Update: Cuddles reached some 20 years old, was very arthritic and very lame. She stayed in one place most of the day. She actually had two litter "boxes" (home-made pans, really): one in the master bathroom and one in the hallway where she liked to be. She'd been pooping in the hall and we tried that to see if that was what she needed. Apparently, it was. She hadn't left a mess on the rug for some weeks after.
Our experiences with "Yesterday's News" (recycled newsprint, extruded ala a "meat grinder") were very good. It soaks up the moisture and emits very little odor. We used that under a light topping of ordinary clay litter.
Bye-bye, precious Kitty - we will miss you, we will always love you.
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