Meet My Cats: A Professional Cat Sitter's Feline Family
When I arranged to meet Christine from Nala's Foster Kittens at our local Petco (October 2026), I'd already made up my mind that I was adopting both Bob and Melody. I have a particular soft spot for special-needs cats, and Melody certainly qualified!
Melody had been through a serious medical ordeal before coming into my life. She'd suffered a massive infection, reportedly associated with neurological FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), which resulted in the surgical removal of her right eye.
Unfortunately, her vision in her remaining eye isn't particularly good either. But try telling Melody that she has a disability!
She explores her new home with extraordinary enthusiasm, investigating everything she can find.
She's especially obsessed with looking out the windows, and I strongly suspect she'd love nothing more than to get outside and explore the backyard.
Although our yard is surrounded by cat-proof fencing, I'm going to inspect every inch of it with a fine-tooth comb before allowing her outside. Something tells me that Melody is a climber and explorer of the highest order, and I'd better make sure that fence is prison-grade secure!
Melody has an enormous amount of energy, but she also has an enormous amount of love to give. Every night, she sleeps with me, nestling into my back or curling up against me for a good old-fashioned spooning session. It's hard not to fall in love with a cat who wants to be that close to you.
Her introduction to the rest of the feline family has required a little more patience. Despite taking things slowly and carefully, Melody's exuberant hunting instincts got the better of her one evening, and she redirected some of that energy toward Squirly. Unfortunately, a cat fight ensued!
So, for the time being, we're taking things one step at a time. Melody enjoys supervised exploration of the house around dusk, with some temporary veterinary medication to help take the edge off her excitement while she learns that her new home is a safe, peaceful place and that the other cats aren't prey.
So far, so good!
It's still early days, but I'm already completely smitten with this affectionate, adventurous, determined little girl.
She's been through more than her fair share of challenges, yet she approaches life with an enthusiasm that's wonderful to watch.
Welcome to your forever home, Melody! ❤️
After Panther and Morris crossed the Rainbow Bridge, Luna was clearly grieving. She missed having her buddies to roll around with, chase, and generally play silly buggers with.
Although our backyard is surrounded by a cat-proof fence and Luna normally loves spending time outdoors, she'd started moping around inside the house. It was obvious that she needed some feline companionship again.
I've always had a soft spot for special-needs cats, so when I came across a business card for Nala's Foster Kittens, I contacted Christine to see whether she had any cats who might need a home.
After a week or so of chatting, we narrowed it down to two special-needs cats. Well, I couldn't possibly adopt one and leave the other behind, could I? So I told Christine I'd happily take both!
And that's how Bob (and Melody) came into our lives (October 2026).
Originally named Robert, Bob is a three-month-old kitten with a rather distinctive appearance. For reasons nobody seems to know, his right ear had been badly mangled, and the shelter where he was originally taken had surgically removed it.
My kind of cat!
Being a kitten, Bob has taken the transition to his new home entirely in stride. Everything is exciting, every room is an adventure, and every nook and cranny demands a thorough inspection. Even the occasional hiss or swat from one of the resident cats doesn't faze him. He simply shrugs it off and carries on with whatever important kitten business he was attending to.
And, sure enough, the other cats have already fallen in love with him.
As I write this, Bob is sprawled out in front of my keyboard, snoozing up a storm after a very busy day exploring his new kingdom.
He's only been here a short while, but he already seems to know he belongs.
Welcome to your forever home, Bob! ❤️
Panther came into my life entirely by chance.
At the time, I was working for the owner of an animal crematorium in Bradenton, Florida. His wife ran Feline Friends of Southwest Florida, a small animal rescue organization, and I had taken a job collecting deceased pets from veterinary clinics and handling some of the associated paperwork.
One day, while passing through the owner's laundry room on my way to the bathroom, I noticed an elderly black cat living there. He had a rather unusual-looking eye, and I subsequently learned that he'd endured some terrible experiences before finding his way to safety.
Panther had been living on the streets, surviving on whatever food he could scavenge. The crematorium owner told me that when he found him, Panther had been eating discarded Chinese shrimp takeout from a dumpster. As if life on the streets hadn't been difficult enough, Panther had also survived a horrific attack by either a dog or a coyote, requiring extensive reconstructive surgery to repair his badly injured face.
And yet, despite everything he'd been through, there was something extraordinarily gentle and endearing about this old fellow. I felt an immediate connection with him.
I asked if I could adopt him. The answer was yes, and just like that, Panther joined the family. And what an extraordinary little soul he turned out to be. Panther was quite possibly the gentlest cat I've ever known. He loved absolutely everybody, particularly his feline housemates, and quickly became close friends with Luna and Morris.
One of my favorite memories of Panther is watching him in our cat-fence-proofed backyard. Whenever I went outside, he would become so excited that he would literally prance around the garden, lifting his legs and trotting about like a delighted little horse or donkey! It was impossible to watch him without smiling.
Panther was also my constant companion whenever I worked at my computer. Whether I was updating my website, answering emails, or doing paperwork, there he would be, keeping me company at my desk. But his favorite place in the world seemed to be my pillow.
Every night, shortly after I climbed into bed, I'd hear and feel a familiar thump as Panther launched himself onto the mattress. He would make his way straight to the top of the bed, settle himself above my head, and snuggle up against me on my pillow. And there he would remain until morning.
I suspect he'd worked out that, because I toss and turn throughout the night, the safest and most peaceful place to sleep was just above my head, where he wouldn't be disturbed by all my nocturnal gymnastics!
Sadly, Panther's health eventually began to fail him. After adopting him, I arranged and paid for a full-mouth dental extraction to address his severe dental problems. Having already endured so much in his life, I hoped that getting his teeth sorted out would give him many more comfortable, happy years.
Unfortunately, not long afterward, Panther developed intestinal cancer. He was hungry and clearly wanted to eat, but despite his best efforts, he simply couldn't bring himself to eat anything. Tests revealed that the cancer had spread throughout his body, and given his age and irregular heartbeat, chemotherapy was unlikely to be a viable option.
One of the hardest days of my life was sitting with him in the emergency veterinary hospital, alongside my wife, who had flown in from Hawaii only hours earlier and had barely had the chance to meet him. We had to make the heartbreaking decision to let him go peacefully.
What made it particularly painful was knowing that Panther still wanted to live. He still wanted his food, his friends, his garden, and all those ordinary little pleasures that had made his life so happy. But his body was failing him, and there was nothing more we could reasonably do to help him. So we gave him the final kindness we could.
I will always remember Panther's gentle nature, his funny eye, his enthusiastic prancing around the backyard, his quiet companionship at my desk, and that familiar nighttime thump as he jumped onto the bed to claim his place above my head.
Sometimes I think about the injured old cat who once survived by scavenging scraps from a dumpster, and how his life eventually became one of soft beds, companionship, affection, and the freedom to prance around a garden without a care in the world. I'm so grateful that our paths crossed.
Some cats are affectionate. Some are playful. Some are gentle. Panther was all of those things, but there was something more about him that I find impossible to put into words.
There will never be another Panther. His beautiful, gentle soul was truly one of a kind.
Rest peacefully, my sweet old boy. ❤️
Morris came into my life around the time I was working as the Adoptions Manager at a shelter in Sarasota. One day, a volunteer contacted me about a 15-year-old cat who had been rescued from a hoarding situation. He was recovering from entropion surgery, had a healing necrotic lesion on his ear, and was FIV-positive.
In other words, exactly my kind of cat!
I contacted Feline Friends of Southwest Florida, the small rescue group that had saved him, and promptly applied to adopt him. It didn't take long before Morris joined the family.
And what an addition he was!
Morris was a great big ball of orange fluff with squinty eyes and an absolutely ENORMOUS personality. In many ways, he behaved more like a dog than a cat. Whenever someone came to the front door, Morris would be there to greet them, promptly rolling onto his back and demanding tummy rubs from whoever was fortunate enough to have earned an audience with him.
He made friends with my other cats almost immediately, although he largely ignored Gigi throughout his life. Morris was a confident alpha male, and apparently Gigi was simply beneath his consideration!
He particularly loved spending time in our cat-fence-proofed backyard, coming and going throughout the day, playing with Luna and Panther, exploring, hunting, and generally cavorting around as though the entire property belonged to him.
Which, as far as Morris was concerned, it probably did.
But for all his confidence and swagger, Morris was an extraordinarily affectionate cat.
At night, he would spoon with me in bed. During the evenings, he was my constant Netflix companion, stretched out on my chest, snoozing contentedly while we held hands. He loved physical affection and gave it just as freely as he received it.
And he had his own wonderfully direct way of communicating. If I walked past him and felt a sudden whack against my leg, there was no need to wonder what he wanted. Churu. Immediately, please!
As the years passed, Morris's health eventually began to decline. When the time came, I arranged for him to be euthanized peacefully at home. It was one of the hardest days of my life. What made it especially difficult was that I had to go straight back out to my cat-sitting appointments afterward, without any opportunity to sit quietly, grieve, or even begin processing the loss of such an enormous presence in my life.
Morris is buried in our backyard. I haven't yet planted a memorial tree over his resting place, as I have for some of my other cats. His passing affected me so deeply that I simply haven't been ready. Some cats leave particularly large paw prints on our hearts, and Morris was one of them.
I was fortunate to share several wonderful years with this magnificent old gentleman. He brought confidence, affection, humor, and an almost impossibly big personality into our home. I miss his squinty eyes, his enormous orange fluffiness, his companionship on the sofa, and those unmistakable whacks against my leg whenever he decided it was time for another Churu.
My beautiful, larger-than-life Morris. I miss you terribly, old boy. ❤️
Mimi came into our lives while I was living in Honolulu, running Catify My Home and volunteering at several animal shelters, including the Hawaiian Humane Society. One evening, a fellow volunteer texted me about a 20-year-old cat who had just been surrendered to the shelter. Knowing that a cat of her age would have very little chance of being adopted, I immediately said I would take her home the following day. I hadn't even seen a photograph of her. I simply knew she deserved a loving home for whatever time she had left.
My wife and I brought Mimi home, and she made her feelings about the whole business abundantly clear. She grumbled and complained, as any respectable elderly lady might when her entire world had suddenly been turned upside down.
But we soon discovered that Mimi was a cat of wonderfully simple tastes. All she really wanted was a comfortable bed tucked away in a closet, her food, water and litter box nearby, and the occasional brushing and affectionate petting. She settled in remarkably quickly, and our other cats accepted her without fuss.
Not long afterward, I moved to Florida, with Mimi and our seven other cats following a few weeks later. I collected all eight of them from Tampa airport, each in their own hard-sided travel carrier and looking decidedly worse for wear after their long journey. The drive home to Sarasota was surprisingly quiet. Seven cats sat in dignified silence. Mimi, however, had plenty to say.
She grumbled and complained the entire way, and frankly, I couldn't blame her!
Once home, Mimi reclaimed her preferred accommodation: a cozy bed in the bedroom closet, surrounded by her familiar comforts. With her dad nearby and life back to normal, she settled in as though nothing had happened. Mimi was already nearing the end of her natural life when she joined our family, and we were fortunate to share approximately six months with her before she passed away.
She is buried in our backyard, beneath a beautiful pink hibiscus bush planted in her memory. I always try to choose a memorial plant that reflects the personality of the cat it honors. For Mimi, the pink hibiscus seemed just right: an old-fashioned flower, feminine yet strong, resilient enough to thrive in the Florida climate. When its brilliant pink flowers appear, I'm reminded of the little old lady who asked for so little, complained when she felt it necessary, and faced life's upheavals with remarkable grit. Beautiful, resilient, opinionated Mimi. I'm so glad we found each other. ❤️
This is our first rescue cat, Magic (aka Chops, Chippy Chop, Magie-Pie). She's posing here with yours truly, Richard. In the photo on the right she's showing how much she loves licking sweat off my face after I've been for a jog. I found Magic at the Hawaiian Humane Society. I went in with the attitude that I wanted a cat that nobody else wanted. And Magic fit that bill. She was overweight, black (lots of archaic superstitions here in Hawaii), didn't get along with other cats, dogs or children, had a bad attitude and a permanently weeping right eye.
Upon Chops' insistence that we explore the great outdoors, I've recently started leash-walking her, with great success. Her favourite activity is to find some fresh dog wee and roll around in it. Hmmm.....
(July 12 2017 - Rest In Peace, My Dearest Magie-Pie. Magic was sadly taken away all too soon. She chewed off a piece of my flip-flop/sandal and it got lodged in her gut. Although she had surgery to remove it, for some reason she wasn't able to recover. I brought her body home so everyone could see her, smell her, remember her and start some kind of healing and closure. I strongly recommend bringing your deceased home for a few hours so everyone can sniff them and understand what has happened. I'm not saying it will be easy. It will be extremely tearful, but it's arguably the best thing to do so that your other pets aren't left wondering what happened.)
This big ol' boy is Mugsy. Weighing in at 16 pounds and clocking in at 14 years of age he is an alpha through and through. And even though he and Magic don't get along too well, Mugs performs his alpha duties with aplomb, keeping an eye on his territory (from up high, as in these photos) as well as looking after Bear and Squirrel.
Mugs was rescued from the Kaneohe-based no-kill shelter, Joey's Feline Friends. He had arrived at the shelter with 3 air-gun bullets lodged in him (still there) and with a non-fuctioning right eye and permanent kink in his tail (run over?) As he's gotten older his kidneys have started to fail more and more.
Bear (aka Beary-Bear, Uncle Bear, Snuffles, Snuffs) was also rescued from Joey's. With the gentlest soul of any creature on the planet, he melts the hearts of vets, surgeons, technicians, staff and anybody who meets him.
With the stoicism of a Seneca and the equanimity of a Socrates, Bear has faced a barrage of medicines and procedures over the years - and met them all with quiet fortitude. Maybe he doesn't worry as much as others because, without any ears to speak of, he doesn't hear what's being said around him.....?
I think Bear is at his happiest after his night-time medicine when he knows he's free and clear from me shoving stuff down his throat for another 12 hours. (Bear passed over the Rainbow Bridge during 2018. He is truly missed.)
This little darling is Squirrel (aka Squirly Whirl, Squirly, Squirl). Driving through Chinatown one day I saw a young girl on the side of the road with her, looking distressed. I stopped to assist and she told me that she'd just pulled this kitten off the middle of the road. I suggested I take her to the Humane Society. Weighing in at 14 ounces, Squirly was too small to be accepted, so I decided to foster her.
Bam! Foster failure!
With the most endearing personality I have ever come across, Squirrel runs to the door to meet me, loves playing with the clutter on my desk, snuggles up with Mugs and Bear for naps, and wrestles with Magic until all hours of the night. Oh, and when I wake up, there she is - snoozing on my chest!
And if I turn my back for a minute, I discover that she's typing emails to people that typically read something like ".......zzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxncbcn."
With the totally unexpected passing of Magie-Pie, the house had become eerily quiet. Squirrel, especially, became depressed and I decided that it would be unfair to ask her - as a 9 month old cat - to go through life living without a buddy and wrestling partner closer to her own age (Mugsy & Bear love Squirrel, but are way too old for crazy wrestling matches in the wee hours of the morning).
And, here I am, 2 weeks after she adopted me, happy to say that Luna and Squirrel have become great buddies and enjoy crazy wrestling and chasing sessions. Mugs and Bear? At their age, they take it all in their stride.
Abandoned on the streets on Kalihi, I took Forest in because he had nowhere else to go. And what a blessing he is! (I have a soft spot for the special-needs seniors). After following the Mieshelle Nagelschneider method on cat introductions, Forest is now - after 6 weeks of slow and careful, step-by-step introduction techniques, free-roaming around the house, enjoying feather-chasing and red-light-laser time!
Funnily enough, he doesn't really purr, but, instead, trills with delight when being scratched under the chin. And dribbles with happiness!
The other cats ignore him and, very occasionally, give him long blinks which, in the world of senior cat introductions, is an outstanding success!
This is hard to write....here goes: My friend passed away unexpectedly. Her family did not want her cat as they already had a full complement of pets. Seeing that Isis knew me, it felt logical and right that she join my family. And here she is!
I've known her for years because I drove my friend to the Hawaii Humane Society years ago where she chose Isis as a kitten. I also got into cat-sitting purely through looking after Isis while my friend was away. As of today, Jan 23 2019, I'm following the Mieshelle Nagelschneider steps, from her wonderful book The Cat Whisperer, in order to introduce and integrate Isis into our household.
September 23 2020 - Moon Dreamer has joined our family! A special-needs senior kittie, Moonie is in kidney failure, has high blood pressure and a slight upper respiratory infection - my kind of cat! He's getting azithromycin for the snot, amlodipine for the blood pressure and lactated ringer's for the kidneys. I love this guy and can't wait for him to meet the rest of our crew - but we'll take it very slow and steady to make sure it works! :)
Earlier on in 2020 Tiger Puss joined our family. Found wandering the streets of Mililani, emaciated and starving hungry, he was having a very difficult time because he is blind. We took him in immediately and every night I enjoy the privilege of having him snooze on my chest while we recline in a comfy chair and have our movie time. He gets 50ml of subcutaneous fluids each night just to keep the waterworks moving along. He is a real trouper! xxxooo
One of my cat-sitting clients very sadly passed away in January 2021 and no-one was around to take over guardianship of her orange senior boy with an unusually long tongue, John. So John joined our family and has never looked back. He loves to play chasings with Luna and gets on very well with everyone!
Our big black & white boy, Kazu, joined our family in January 2021. Raised as a kitten in 1 household, his owners dumped him at a shelter when he turned 14 where he plunged into depression and spent 2 years on a chair, barely moving but loving tickles and scritches from passers-by. When I heard of his plight I dropped a few choice expletives about his plight and I decided there and then to adopt him. He fit in to our eclectic household straight away and loves to be petted, brushed and to explore our high-up cat walks and shelves where he spends most of each day snoozing away or purring like a well-tuned V8!