BOB
Bob at 4 months
I adopted Bob in March, 1997, while I was living in Mountain View, California, the heart of the Silicon Valley. There's a story behind that.
Of course, I'm going to relate it... but then, that's why you are here, isn't it? :-)
"Bob" was "Calvin" when I first met him.
As I heard it, a teenaged neighbor, Tanya, was coming home one day and encountered the police picking Calvin up - the story has it someone was taking him for dinner - LITERALLY! Tanya asked if she could take him, and find him a home. The police let Tanya take Calvin.
For her and her family Calvin was a third cat - Elmo and Tommy already being in the home. Tanya's younger sister, Vanessa, had two cockatiels and a rat. So there was reason Calvin would be only a temporary resident with that family.
Calvin did okay at his new home for awhile. He was a stray, and became perfectly content as an inside/outside cat.
Shortly after Calvin arrived at the condo complex, he took to hiding in the shrubs and ambushing people as they walked past - the great hunter! :-)
One such episode was my first introduction, as he jumped out and "captured" his prey (me) by the ankle while I was out walking Mooch. Mooch wasn't too happy being surprised by someone attacking Daddy. But Bob was only slightly smaller than Mooch's 7 pounds at the time, so Mooch was of mixed emotions about protecting me. I guess discretions turned out to be the better part of valor in Mooch's eyes, because he allowed me to fend for myself against the "raging buzzsaw" climbing my leg... Thank God I was wearing thick-clothed jeans!
Calvin proved to be a very playful and friendly kitten, as long as you don't mind claws like needles.
Joanne (my second ex-wife) and I were thinking of getting a kitten to keep Mooch company since spending Christmas with her daughter, Mandi, and seeing how well Mooch and Mandi's kitten, Vegas, got along.
A few days after I "met" Calvin, we went to the Humane Society and saw the most gorgeous pair of 2-year-old Balinese SHOs (short haired orientals). We fell in love with them.
We also realized that we both like Siameses and SHOs because of their "person"-alities, their vocalizations, and their general attitudes...
Although we wanted these Balineses (an "inseparable pair", per the cage label), we recognized at their age, they would not likely accept Mooch well in the same house. All we could picture was the scene from "Lady and the Tramp" - the two Siamese cats singing "We are Siamese, if you please..." and sequentially springing out each of their claws, with the light gleaming from each claw-tip...
We decided we better get a kitten smaller than Mooch, so the house would be Mooch's until they got to know each other. It seems easier to bring a younger sibling into the household and have it accepted. Otherwise, the current "child" will feel it is being replaced.
So we started looking at the newspaper ads for SHOs. This was about a week or so after Calvin had ambushed me.
I was taking Mooch out for a walk one evening. I opened the door and Calvin was sitting there.
Joanne had not seen Calvin, yet.
As Mooch was stepping out the door, Calvin charged into the house and straight to Joanne, rubbing against her legs and purring like crazy! Next thing, he was in her arms and begging for scratches. By the time Mooch and I returned, Calvin was in ecstacy.
Joanne set Calvin outside once Mooch got back. Calvin sat on the doorstep, crying for 15 minutes before giving up and going away.
Needless to say, Calvin was the topic of discussion that evening.
A day or two later, we were walking past Calvin's home and noticed Vanessa's birdcage lying on the patio floor, door open and empty. Then we turned the corner down to the parking lot and met Vanessa's mother arriving.
We asked about the overturned cage. The mother said Calvin had knocked it over, and she had just returned from school and telling Vanessa the birds were gone.
We asked if they were still looking for a home for Calvin, and the answer was a resounding "YES!"
We said it again differently, "Are you ready to let Calvin go to someone else?" Again, the answer was "YES!" So we figured this was the time to take him off their hands.
We picked up Calvin as he walked up to us, took kim back to house, put him in Mooch's travel crate, called the vet, set up a "now" appointment, took him in and had him shot for everything. We also had him and Mooch dosed for fleas, since he was infested, and the fleas season was upon us.
We thought Calvin was 6 or more months old, based on his size, but were told during his examination that he was no older than 4 months, if that, based on his teeth. And he was already 7.5 pounds!
We didn't like the name "Calvin". For one thing, the cat in "Calvin and Hobbes" was Hobbes, not Calvin. And neither name fit him... So we decided on Bob, since so many Bobs had been showing up in our life around that time.
Within a day, Bob had settled in and was playing with Mooch non-stop!
That was at 4 months... Bob is now almost 7 months old, and around 12 POUNDS!!! He weighs half again as much as Mooch!
Bob at 6+ months and 12 lbs!
Joanne returned to Canada recently to be nearer her children. Mooch, of course, went with her.
Bob is doing extremely well... enjoying being an inside cat, with little desire to go outside, unless I am sitting out on the balcony, or we are at the river, sitting out on the shore. Then he will want to be out with me and does well on a leash (thinks he's a dog half the time).
Bob is still getting used to not having Mooch around to play with during the day.
November, 2000
Bob is now 4 years old and about 15 pounds.
(Pardon the picture quality)
He and I have moved from California to central Georgia. (2000)
Bob is doing very well!
He really likes the new home in Georgia, too. It is about twice the living space of the condo in California, so he has running room and places to hide and ambush my girlfriend, Crystal, and me.
One of his favorite places to sit is on Crystal's computer box at one of the windows in the family room. Her computer is between her desk and mine, so he sits right behind me - close by, so I can't get away.
Bob close by me in family room.
I'm still guessing Bob is half lynx, half Maine Coon.