Please share stories and photos of your pets with us.

Here are my two cats, Boris and Natasha. The black and white is Boris. I got him at the San Jose Shelter in late 2005, when he was little more than a kitten. His hobbies include walking in front of me in a serpentine fashion to control my movement through out the apartment. He may have been a sheepherder in a former life.

He sleeps less than any other cat I have ever know. He is always watching. I believe he works for the NSA and has been tracking my communications for years. The only time he wants affection is when I'm typing at the keyboard. He comes up and plops himself down on my hands while I am typing, or tries to climb onto my chest.

If he needs to take medication, it is a big fight. But if I should drop one of my pills on the floor, he will swoop in and try and eat it before I can get to it. I thought I could use this in the future by dropping one of his pills on the floor, hoping he would take the bait and think it was one of mine. He didn't fall for it. He just gave me his "what do you think I'm stupid look?" The upside is that I can blame him for my many typos.





This is my little, loving Maine Coon Natasha. I got her in early 2007 from the Unconditional Love pet rescue operation in San Jose. Since I am away from the apartment working 12 hours a night, or perhaps 24 hours or more on fishing trips, I though it best to get Boris a pal. The Unconditional Love people go into other shelters and take cats that are scheduled to be euthanized, placing them them in homes. Unconditioned Love saves hundreds of cat a year. Back then I volunteered my photography skills to photograph rescued cats. Later it was just easier for them to do it themselves with the advent of better digital cameras. I will post some of those photos below soon.

Natasha hobbies include sleeping on my lap when I'm watching TV. Sometimes we have contests to see who can sleep longer; she usually wins. The first one is when she was just a kitten:





Here are a few of them together:



The photo below were taken a few days after getting Natasha. She still lacked hair from her spaying operation. The ones below were not taken with my professional photography equipment. I used my point-and-shoot. Sometimes Boris and Natasha refuse to give me the time to setup my equipment before presenting "cuteness." As an old photographer once told me, the best camera is the one you have with you at the time.





This next photo is one of my favorites. It didn't take long for Natasha to find Boris' weak spot.



-Mark-

Here is my Ziggy. He is an American Wirehair that came to me on my 45th birthday. My neighbor breeds cats (sigh) and he was of no use to her as he has a kink on the end of his tail. Her loss--my gain!



Here is his sister, Brillo. She is a former grand champion Wirehair, but once she achieved that status, and had 2 litters of kittens (with complications) my neighbor decided to cut her losses...and I gained a sweetie pie!



Last but not least, is Felix. He came to me from another neighbor who lets her cats breed at will. He had been kicked out of the "colony" when he became breeding age and sought refuge on my porch in January of 2005. We trapped him on Super Bowl Sunday of that year and had him neutered, and slowly (as he was pretty feral) he made his way into the house, where he is now our "cuddler in chief."



Thanks for looking!

Here is one of the cats I photographed for the pet rescue operation. I cannot remember his name.

I think the caption was: "Does anyone need a new home?"

-Mark-

Below is my 16# love cat (Billy Boy) and my 9# Yorkie (Sassy). Sassy is 10 years old and Billy Boy is 5. I got Sassy when my niece moved next door to a family who raised Yorkies - couldn't resist the cute factor. Billy Boy came along when my 2 cats I had for 14 years died within a couple of months of each other. 2 of my granddaughters called to tell me they were saving one of the kittens their cat had just had for me. I told them only if it is female and short-haired. Of course, she was actually a he and he has long hair! Love him anyway!

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This is Momamy, Farsi for Petty Lady. She was another rescue cat. When they have eyes like this, it means they are one or two genes away from being an albino. If I did not already have two cats at the time, I would have taken her home. Had I know more about Boris, I might have dump him and takeen Momamy home. Boris just gave me a nasty look! I believe he knows what I'm thinking. That's a bit unnerving.

White cats, particularly when albino or close to being albino, are extremely sensitive to the sun and should be an indoor pets only. Their ears are the most vulnerable area. They can develop caner if they get too much sun.

It makes you wonder what kind of individual would abandons this beautify creature at a euthanizing shelter. Needless to say, she found a loving home.

-Mark-

That is a beautiful white cat! My daughter also photographs shelter cats to help them find homes. She is not as good as you are to sticking to keeping only two cats. She evades the question of how many she has, but it is more than 10. At least she takes good care of them. This is one that I adopted.

I would like to post pics of my baby but can't figure out which line to post for the picture to show up.

When I get off work tonight I will create a quick online tutorial on this and send you the link. It might be helpful for others too.

Note: Iimpy figured out how to post images. If anyone else is having trouble, please let me know and I will make the tutorial.

-Mark-

I figured it out!
This is my baby, Mia. She was so tiny when I first got her, to keep her warm I made her a coat out of a sock.



Now that she is grown she is all of five pounds and very rotten. She still loves her clothes.

That is either one big sock, or one tiny dog. Very cutie!

BTW, the sock was a brilliant solution. I'm impressed.

-Mark-