After our experience with Ethel, Ray honestly thought that we had enough cats. With adding any additional cats to our home, while
we had the room for more, the additional cats would take time away from the other cats, and that wouldn't be fair.
Our decision was to assist with an agency that traps - fixes - and releases cats back to their original areas. We got the idea because
a co-worker had a lot of wild cats (feral cats) behind his house. He also had a humane trap to safely catch the cats without hurting
them, then animal control would pick them up. If the cat was healthy, they would put it up for adoption. Sadly, due to so many kitties
going into animal control, the vast majority of them do not get adopted and must be put to sleep.
We would not be so successful with this idea. The first kitten trapped was brought down to the animal control and a digital picture was
sent to Ray with a number of the kitten. Ray used this to identify which cat he was there to pick up. The original plan was to have the
kitten fixed, then release it to it's field once it healed up.
Did we mention Ray's cat habit? Well, Ray went down to animal control and identified the right kitten. He was, of course, adorable. Ray
put a deposit on him to "adopt" him and came back when he was "ready".
In the mean time, another cat was trapped and brought down to animal control, so Ray identified her as well and put a deposit on her
too.
The first kitten we named Linus, he was tiny and adorable. We named the cat Peanut and they came home a few days apart. Again, our
plan was to release them to the field from which they came.
Linus was so tiny. He was also very thin. Ray got to play with him while feeding and caring for him. He was so small. Ray fell in love with
this kitten and told his wife that we would be keeping him.
When Ray returned to pick up Peanut and bring her home, he knew that she would be staying with us as well.
Part of the problem is that tattoo. When you adopt the cat, they tie your name, address, DNA, etc, to this cat. God forbid that this cat
get hurt and they track us down for some sort of punishment... Ray decided that if his name is forever tied to the cat, the cat will be
tied to him - forever. We will love and care for the cat, and it will be protected for the rest of its life.
Thus, Linus and Peanut became our cats too.
Linus is our big cat with a tiny head. Poor Linus. He gets scared and darts around the house. He will allow us to pick him up
and hug him. He purrs very loud when you pick him up. He is also very heavy. He has got to be our heaviest cat (along with Biff). After
he got over his cold as a kitten, he fell in love with the food bowl. Since we "free feed" our cats and hope they know the right amount
to eat - mostly, they do - Linus got pretty fat. He was so small and frail, yet now he is very large and strong.
There is so much love in this big boy. To gently pick him up and lay him across our shoulder, while he digs his claws deep into our shoulder
and purrs like there's no tomorrow is wonderful. Lately, he has not used his claws on our shoulder as much, and he purrs instantly when
you pick him up. He won't let you pick him up all the time, but when he does, he shows you the love!
