Inmate Central

Posted by Winston Smith (A) on August 31, 2014 at 13:02:59

Hi Lee and LWR-

Lee, please keep Mr Bean inside, as you cannot risk losing your boy, ever. They are definitely family, no doubt!

We lived in a rural area (Leona Valley) where coyotes roam freely, wiping out the local cat population that was not kept indoors. But they were there first, and they are only doing what nature has programmed them to do to survive, just like those foxes you mentioned. It's just part of country living.

I'd love to send you and LWR some pics of the Big Mags via e-mail, because I am slightly retarded and can never up-load pics to my posts here (always a huge FAIL; clearly my fault.) But I won't unless you would like. Some folks have found our description of her size hard to believe, so seeing is believing. Actually, our vets were really shocked at her size and musculature, as cats display marked sexual dimorphism, wherein males are much larger than females. They kept wondering, if this kitty girl is nearly 30 pounds and 40" long, what the hell is the size of the MALE cats from that litter? Guess we'll never know........

Oh, and I must admit, Lee, that I would LOVE to see pics of your Mr Bean. Kitty pics make my wife and I so happy, as they remind us of our beloved (and now lost) fuzzy family members.

As hard as it may be to believe, I am deathly allergic to cats. Thus, with the passing of our beloved Mags less than a year ago, my personal physician here in NZ told me it would be best for my health not to get another, as I have suffered from terrible asthma for nearly 40 years as a result of our little furry friends, and that with advancing age (now pushing 60), it would be wisest to eliminate that from our environment. I've considered Siberian Forest Cats, for their ultra low felD-1 protein production (the protein responsible for the allergic reaction in humans), but as my ex-wife was a breeder of Siberians, she let me know that many have a disease that compromises kidney function, as I recall (could be wrong on that, though, as it's been many years since we discussed the issue.) And each Siberian is utterly individual in their production of the protein, meaning it's a crap shoot if the kitten will grow up to be low allergy or just average. Big bummer there, of course.

Because Maine Coons are very likely descended from Norwegian Forest Cats (like Mags), and the Wegies (as NFCs are known among breeders) are descended from the Siberians (or so it was thought as of a few decades ago, or so), Killer and Mags were the least allergy-inducing cats I have ever had. Short hairs usually produce copious quantities of the offending proteins, and are the variety of kitties that wipe me out, allergy-wise. But even Killer and Mags both would nail me if they sat in my lap for over an hour or so. Thus, movie time was ALWAYS Maggie's favorite time --aside from dinner-- because Daddy would sit in one place for hours, thus allowing the Magster to "Occupy Daddy's Lap" the entire time (Mags was part of the very early 'occupy' movement, and her activities were closely monitored by the FBI and NSA. Fortunately her only acts of terrorism involved mice, rats and gophers, which are thankfully outside the purview of these agencies, at least for now.) ;-)

So, kitty pics are all I have left to enjoy, and thus my deep, deep appreciation for anyone so kind as to take their time to share such adorable pictures of those cute kittens and cats that LWR so kindly shares with us. Bravo, LWR!

And yes, I did do the allergy shots for nearly 17 years (from 5-21), and they helped (but not completely, I must say; just lessened the symptoms somewhat) but when that was dropped from our coverage at my Dad's work, it became too expensive to afford. And once I realized that the shots weren't doing as much as I hoped, I simply said, "I'll just live with the asthma and sneezing and watery, red eyes because I love kitties so darned much." And so I did, until our beloved Mags passed from cancer last year.

Life is not fair, but thems the breaks, I suppose. At least I will always have the memories of all the beloved fuzzies I was privileged to share my life with. They certainly are family.

And now I can look forward to LWRs posts as they roll through. And any Lee M would also care to share (and anyone else, for that matter), as I really cannot get enough kitty pics, to be honest......

So keep up the great work guys! It is all appreciated deeply. :-)