Adolph was a rescue kitty - he came from the Humane Society. My sister liked him because he would lay in the cage with a paw stretched outside it, looking like a very mellow fellow. And even though you are not supposed to take animals out of the cages, she did. Adolph snuggled up to her neck, wrapped both paws around it, and licked her face - sold! LOL

You can't see it in the picture above, but Adolph had a half-Hitler mustache, like you can see on Mittsy. Since he was mostly white, it was very predominant. His original name was Hitler, but the Humane Society changed it to Adolph, figuring it would increase his chances for adoption.

He was 8 months old, but still young enough to almost be a kitten. His brother was in the cage next to him, and all he did was pace and yowl. So my sister liked that Adolph could be so cool, while his brother was annoying.

The Humane Society paid for a free checkup at our vet as part of the adoption process. So, two days after getting him, we took him in. The vet examined Adolph and said that Adolph had a bad heart. He was a "blue baby", where one of the valves wasn't closing properly, so unoxygenated blood was getting into Adolph's heart. The vet said Adolph would probably die young, maybe not even get past 2 years old. He recommended putting Adolph to sleep. We protested that! The vet then suggested that if we were determined to keep Adolph, he should be neutered, as that might help relieve some of the stress on his heart. Well, now we knew why Adolph was so mellow! :-(

We talked to the Humane Society, and they said we should bring Adolph back and select a different cat. We asked what they would do with Adolph, and they said he would probably be put to sleep. We said no. We couldn't find any vet school that would do the heart operation at a discount, so we ended up just having him neutered and front-declawed and kept our fingers crossed!

A few months after getting Adolph, we got a call from my sister-in-law, Kim, wanting to know if we wanted another cat. Mitzi's owners had separated; the wife could not have cats in her apartment and the husband did not want him. He'd let Mitzi out, and Mitzi, who was front-declawed, had gotten into a fight with another animal and was chewed up. After hearing which cat and why, I said we'd take him!

So Mitzi, now 6, became Mittsy (he had white paws, so it fit), he became MY baby, and he became the cat that started the whole darn cat thing! :-) It was like coming home, I think, for both of us. Mittsy seemed to understand he was my cat, and I loved that!

Mittsy had cuts on his ear and nose, and a pretty bad hole chewed or scratched in his side. I had to give him antibiotics for a couple of weeks, but Mittsy always had sinus problems after that. Just like me, his Mom! LOL

We got Mittsy just before or after Thanksgiving, and I made a turkey on the second day we had him. Little did I know that Mittsy would kill for poultry! LOL I was de-carcassing the turkey, and Mittsy was on the chair beside me. He lunged for some meat, and I scooted him off the chair. His leg got hung up on the chair, and he let out a caterwaul! My sister heard him clear to the other other end of the apartment, behind 2 closed doors with the bathroom fan on! In getting him untangled, Mittsy bit me, but it was on my fingernail. It hurt like blue blazes, but caused no damage. I was mortified at hurting this already injured kitty! :-(

Mittsy was a garbage bag detective. He could find the exact spot where a chicken or turkey bone was, inside the bag, and chew a hole *right there* to get at it! We quickly learned to take garbage outside, or if it was late at night (and not safe to take the garbage out), store the bones in a place like the microwave until the next day.

Another thing you can't see in the picture above - when Mittsy would sit upright, he had 2 half hearts on his front legs, making a whole! It was a teensy bit lopsided, and his legs never quite were next to each other, but it was there. I never did get a good picture of that, though.

Since we had had dogs, we decided to see if da boys could learn how to give paw. It took a little while, but we did it! They also learned to sit up, but not very well, and we gave up on that one eventually.

Adolph taught himself to play fetch, but never learned the word for it, like Homer does. He would just keep bringing back a toy to be thrown over and over again. Adolph liked non-cat toys, like q-tips (clean ones!), pen erasers with those nylon bristles, and plastic flower heads. When he fetched Hershey's Kisses, he would bring it back by the little piece of paper - so cute!

He did have one cat toy he LOVED. It was an orange and black tiger striped carrot, with red yarn fringe. By the time he died, most of the velour had been chewed off it and the fringe was gone.

Mittsy liked to "hunt" his toy by sitting on it, like he was hatching it, then digging into it with his back claws, picking it up and shaking it to "break" its neck, then proudly walking off with his "kill" and yowling with a special cry. Now, when that's done with a bright red mouse type toy, it's hysterical! I called it his "Little Red Baby" and it can be seen in the picture above. Mittsy also liked plastic straws to play with.

What I am describing here is how Mittsy would get "medieval" on his Little Red Baby. Adolph would do it with his carrot, and Homer does it with a towel. It seems to be a natural cat instinct?

Every so often, we would be reminded of Adolph's heart problem. He and Mittsy would be chasing each other through the apartment, and Adolph would just stop and lay down. We were warned about that, it was Adolph's way of taking care of himself.

One thing Adolph found to be fun was when we would turn our back to him, bend over a little, and waggle our butts at him. He couldn't resist - he'd come running over, jump up, and smack us on the butt! LOL

One time I was sleeping on the couch, and something woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw Adolph stalking towards me. I put my hand up to my face, and sure enough, he jumped up to smack me! LOL

Did you ever have flying pizza? We did! My sister and I were eating a delivered pizza on a TV tray, and the pizza was still in the box. Adolph stood up to see what we had (he LOVED pizza) and in doing so, his paws flipped the box, and the pizza went flying!

Adolph liked a lot of people food besides pizza. One of his all-time favorites was cheese popcorn, which my sister ate. He would sit behind her on the back of the couch, and try to take a piece out of her hand as she put a bunch in her mouth. Of course, it didn't help that she had taught him to take a piece when it was held between her lips! LOL But she would throw down a handful for him, and he would leap tall buildings to get to it, always giving a war cry and "killing" the first piece! LOL

Both of these cats were like dogs. They wanted to be held constantly, and would wrap their paws around our necks. Adolph was a kissy-cat, and would lick mainly on the face. Mittsy was not a kisser. The one and only time he licked my hand by accident, he did the patooey thing, like he had tasted something nasty! LOL

Mittsy loved to lay behind me, either on the back of a couch or easy chair, and drape his paws over my shoulder. He always had to be touching me. If he was on the bed or the seat of the couch, one paw was stretched out to touch me. :-) Adolph had to be in the same room as Vicki. Sometimes he would sit about 3 feet away, back turned to her. This was "sentinel duty". :-)

It was strange getting an adult cat that I didn't know any of his tricks or words. One thing we found out is that Mittsy knew how to pee on the toilet! What a blast that was to show people if they happened to be over when he did that! Through the years, Mittsy was prone to cystitis (urinary tract infections) and I'd have to take him in for antibiotics. But, because it causes an "urgency", if Mittsy was too far from the litter box, he knew he could pee in a drain like the tub or sink or the toilet. On the way to the vet one time, he had to go, and he hung his butt over the edge of the car seat, so the few drops went on the floor instead of the seat. Smart kitty!

One year, da boys got fleas. We had a terrible time getting rid of them! Adolph, being a white-skinned cat, was sensitive to the powder and shampoo. Mittsy, being a long and a short hair (the black was shorter, the white was long), was difficult to comb. We managed, but what a pain! And when Adolph was shampooed, he cried so heartbreakingly!

A few years later, we watched my girlfriend's cat, who was an outdoor kitty. He ended up giving da boys fleas again. :( At this point, I had been injured at work, and became permanently disabled. Knowing how Adolph's skin was, we decided not to use any chemicals, but would just comb da boys, since I was home and had the time to do it.

They both came to love being combed, and would come running over and jump on my lap! :-) Mittsy only liked being combed in short spurts, but Adolph would have stayed all day! LOL

Adolph had this cute thing he did with the comb. After combing his back, I would flip him over like a baby. He would grab the comb, wrapping his paws around it, and hold it steady while he moved his cheeks back and forth over it! So kewl! I have found that Homer will do the same thing, too, with his brush. :-)

It took 3 years, but we got rid of the fleas without using chemicals! Yay! But I had to tell my girlfriend that I could no longer watch Shnudel after that.

One funny thing that Shnudel did, though .... The first time I had watched him he hid under my bed. The second time I watched him, we had just moved into a new apartment, and my mattress and box spring were still on the floor, no frame. Schnudel immediately tried to dive under the bed - thunk! LOL Then, I had a flat sheet flipped on the bed. Schnudel scurried around the perimeter of the bed, under the sheet - very funny to watch!

Another Adolph trick: He had a natural tendency to tuck his head, roll onto his shoulder, then flip onto his side. So my sister would point her finger at him and say "bang!" and he would do his roll. Eventually he would do it if you just said "bang!". :-) I am slowly teaching Homer this trick, as he does the same thing. He actually did it for my sister one day!

After a few years, my sister had the opportunity to move to California, and off she went, taking Adolph with her. Something happened, probably as a result of too much stress from the flight, but Adolph ended up in the animal hospital with his heart problem. There was a buildup of fluid around his heart, and he was having problems breathing.

He stayed in an oxygen tent at the vet's for 10 days. Every day was a trial for him, but he ended up pulling through!

A few years after she was out there, I went to see her on a vacation. When I walked in the door, Adolph let out a meow that lasted all of 15 seconds, as if to say, "I remember you!". Vicki said that anytime I called and left a message, he would react to my voice. :-)

Vicki lost her job, and ended up moving back to Illinois, but she did it by car this time. So, no heart problems with Adolph! She stayed for a while with friends, who already had 4 cats, and poor Adolph was outnumbered.

Eventually, she and I got an apartment together again, and da boys were reunited! They always got along so well together. Even when they fought, you could see they were playing.

One strange thing about those two. Mittsy had an obsession about Adolph's eyebrow whiskers. He always chewed them off! We read somewhere that a mother cat will do that to her kittens to keep them from wandering off, but I don't know how true that is.

One of Mittsy's funnier stunts was to take a low carton - only about 5 inches high - and place it over Mittsy. He would shrink down to the ground inside it. You could then move the box slowly around, and never spot the cat underneath! LOL

Mittsy loved to play through things, like the hand holes in boxes, underneath doors, etc. Sometimes, when we were doing the low box trick, Adolph would come over and sit on top of the box, and he and Mittsy would play through the hand holes!

I have found that Homer enjoys this, too. He will play cat hockey for a long time with a toy, underneath a door, back and forth.

When Mittsy was 17, I found out he had kidney disease. There is no cure for this - it's a fatal diagnosis. All you can do is relieve the symptoms somewhat. I can't remember how we discovered he had it. But some of the things to watch for are flesh sagging away from the spine so it is very pronounced, the scruff fur sinks slowly when lifted (due to dehydration), the gums are pale and tacky rather than red and slick, and the body gets a strange odor from the backup of the poisons in the system. To me, he smelled like a cold locker room.

So, for 8 months, I had to give Mittsy IV's of Lactated Ringers, plus every few days give him a teaspoon of special Maalox to counteract some of the things in the solution that were NOT good for Mittsy. He hated getting this done. Try and get a cat to sit for 5 to 10 minutes when he doesn't want to be there!

I usually pinned him under my arm, and then had a good grip on his front end with one hand and administered the IV with the other. Mittsy would yowl and I would cry and reassure him. Eight months of that! :-(

During this time, we got some bad news. My brother's cat Mario had been found dead the day after Christmas. The vet thinks Mario, who was 16, had had a heart attack and died in his sleep. My nephew was about 7 at the time, and was very upset at losing his first pet.

But finally, the disease gained control of Mittsy. He could hardly walk, although he was not in any pain. When it got so bad, I took Mittsy in to be put down. My baby was gone at 18. :-(

Two months later, we moved to a new apartment with Adolph. He'd been very mopey and we thought he was just missing Mittsy. But then we noticed how saggy he looked. Uh-oh!

So we took him to a new vet, and sure enough, he had kidney disease, too! Now, just so you know, it is not catching, ok? But the vet said that with Adolph's heart condition, Adolph's body age was a lot older than his real age, so it really was not unexpected.

Adolph ended up getting IV's, too, but he only lasted 2 months. He was 13 1/2 when he was put to sleep. Eleven years longer than what the first vet had predicted! Can you imagine all the joy we would have missed if he'd been put to sleep way back in the beginning?

Ironically, all three cats, including the one that started it all, died within a year, even though they were all different ages. Strange, huh?