This post has not been “fixed” and the comment bar is open. A forum member gave me the instructions. You can read where and how in the post re: comments. The link is in the post giving directions if your comment bar is ever in “trouble.” 🙂
http://en.support.wordpress.com/enable-disable-comments/
Oh and I’ve read various blogs that have written it is in bad taste when writing to use the “faces.” However, I don’t consider myself as a writer. I’m merely a dispenser of information, therefore I will continue to use the “faces.” 🙂
Regards,
~yvonne
Gingerlee. Age approx. 14 years. Formerly feral. Trapped at about age 6 months.
Approximately (75% of solid orange tabbies are MALE). However, the solid orange gene produces a FEMALE now and then. The cat in the photos above is named Gingerlee who was once feral. Gingerlee is a petite little girl who is now 13- 14 years old and one of the sweetest of my cats. She is quite a talker but her meow is barely audible. Gingerlee makes me laugh when she is telling me something.
The next two photos are of Gweenie, another former feral that was caught at aproximately 8 months of age. I love this little cat who I consider to be highly photogenic. I could take photos of her all day and never get tired. She is all the things that I would want in a human friend. Gweenie is now 14 years of age.
Another solid orange female is Tooley ( no photo available for this post) who is about 9-10 years old. She is also a small cat but not as talkative as the other two females but thrives on affection as well.
I’m not sure how Tooley came to be in my husband’s shop. I went out to the shop early one morning to discover a young kitten looking at me and then scurrying back to duck under some machinery. I began putting out food and water at night after I got home from work. After a few days I set a Have-A -Heart which I baited with sardines. I checked the trap at 2am and there she was looking so scared. I brought the trap inside and was able to shake her out into a cage. After 2 weeks she was a “tweetey” cat that was putty in my hands.
So if you see a solid orange cat it is most likely a male. When I stumbled across these three girls I was lucky.
Gweenie napping in a box.
Gweenie. formerly feral and now a much loved house cat
Post and photos by ~Yvonne Daniel (all photos on this blog are the sole property of Yvonne Daniel). Please do not steal from me.These are my copy rights. Thank you. 🙂
Pets, People and, Life 
Such beautiful ladies! I had a female orange kitty named Tammy. She was light, almost tawny, shorthair. And very small, but she popped out a batch of kittens, then disappeared the day we had a vet appointment to spay her…she came back two months later, terminally pregnant…another adorable batch of kittens…repeat…Finally after three litters we managed to whisk her off! After that she was pissed. She disappeared for good, I don’t remember the exact circumstances. I was maybe 8 or 9…her kittens all stayed with us for years. We never gave any of them away. It was crazy with…I think 18 cats swirling around at feeding time, what fights!
Sending you gentle hugs and good juju…
Laura
Dr. Laura, I am sorry to be tardy in replying to your comment. Your kitty gave you plenty of kittens to love and adore. It is a shame that she disappeared after being spayed but that sometimes happens if they are not kept indoors. I can imagine you as a child and happy as a lark when you were out with the cats.
I hope you are doing ok. Be well. I care. Hugs, Yvonne
What a beautiful cat!
And I use faces all the time 😃 Screw the haters 😉😉😉
I’m so glad that you are not biased about faces. I think they help make our thoughts and sentences complete. 🙂 I don’t believe they are actually haters but that they don’t think faces have a place in proper writing. But since I’m not an English major nor do I aspire to be a writer I think I’ll continue with my own style of writing. 🙂
Mrs Sensible has a ginger cat, but it is male. It was a feral cat that came in search of food. It was three weeks before the cat would let Mrs S pick him up. Now he won’t leave her alone.
I’m thinking that you had some fun watching Mrs. S. try to tame the feral tom. He needs to be fixed so that he does not run off to pursue the females or get run over while straying or attacked by dogs, etc. etc. I would hate for her to be attached to him and then he disappears never to be seen again. I’ve tamed a number of feral cats. After they figure out that life is so much easier they generally become putty in your hands. I bet her cat is extremely handsome. 🙂
Those cats are so beautiful, I had two cats in my life of that colour. The first one was a Persian cat with golden eyes and she lived for 21 one years and the second one was an european cat who lived 19 years. Her eyes were kind of yellow. Do you think an orange colored cat lives longer than cats of other colors? Have a nice day, Yvonne
Hi Chatou. No, I don’t think color has anything to do with a long life. I’ve had one gray long haired cat live to be 18-19 years. My dad found her on the street of a small touwn as a starving kitten. She was a beauty that loved to go for rides.
Thanks for commenting Chatou.
~yvonne
I never knew this about orange cats! Does this go the same for partially orange tabbies? My parents have an outdoors cat who is white and orange.
Sarah, the white and orange cats can be either sex. Have your parents gotten the outdoor cat spayed or neutered? Thanks so much for commenting and I’m glad that you learned “about orange cats.” 🙂
Nope – we think it was a drop off, as it has never sprayed and never had kittens (and it has been around for a decade or so). We think someone probably had it spayed or neutered long ago.
That’s one less thing to bother with. Only one of my cats came to my house as a neutered male. Very skinny and bedraggled. Now he’s a handsome dude.
They are very rare indeed. There are considerably more orange females with a spot of white or more on them.
Yes, so true. My three orange girls do not have any white at all. I did have 4 but the older one died at age 14 about a year ago. She always remained semi feral. The odd thing is that two of them came from a large feral colony and I just happened to trap those two females. The other two, Tooley and Gwennie, I trapped where they, were the only cats (separate locations) apparently having been thrown away by someone.
I had perceived that all ginger cats were male so this has been educational :). Given the odds, how amazing that you have three females. Your photos are gorgeous and I agree with you about Gweenie, what a doll. We had two ginger toms during my childhood, one was a bit aloof and ended up running away, the other was a beautiful friendly chap. I wish we’d put more effort into his name though (and that of his sister’s): they were christened Muffin and Puffin respectively, but 99% of the time were known as Ginger Kitty and Black Kitty!
The ginger kitties are special. I think their personalities are a bit different from other cats. There is nothing wrong with the names Muffin and Puffin. I think the names are cute.
Be still my heart. How I love what I always called Tabby’s. Yvonne, is there a difference between Orange cats and Tabby cats. I loved and lived with my Mortichi for 27 years and Mortichi II lived 21 years. I’m not sure if you’ve read my posts regarding my love affair with Mortichi #1. You’ll find them at: http://www.sheridegrom.com/2013/04/15/, http://www.sheridegrom.com/2013/07/16/ and http://www.sheridegrom/2013/07/18. I’ll be posting more stories this year.
Your 27 yr old cat is sort of a record I think. You should check into that. Simply amazing. None of mine have lived beyond 17, 18 with one that made it to 19. But now I know that they need regualr dentals or at least most cats do. There are some breeds of cats, I think that are completely orange with no stripes. Gwennie has subtle tabby marking on her head with the “M” showing. I don’t see any tabby stripes or broken stripes on the body. But the fact that she has the “M” I think makes her a tabby. Tabby is not a breed as you know. It is merely a pattern of markings. I should do a post about that. I will be sure to go back to your comment and read about your kitties. I love cat and dog stories.
Yvonne – I must write more about Morti. He taught me so much about life and unconditional love. There’s much I don’t know about cats but I do know I’ve never met one I couldn’t fall in love with. At the present time we have two 15 year-old Shih Tzus. One has dementia and it would not be fair to bring a cat into our home so we are waiting for Scooter to live out his days and keeping his as comfortable as possible. I am worried about my dog, Miss Priss. She’s blind and never lived without Scooter (we of course rescued both of them). Scooter was already in our home when we rescued Miss Priss from being a puppy mill mother. Do you have any advise on how I might proceed? I know Priss will grieve when Scooter passes but I’m not sure how she’ll take to another rescue coming into the home. I don’t want her to feel threatened in any way. It would break my heart. She’s such a sensitive dog. We wouldn’t take in a young dog, it would need to be at least 8 or so. Prissy is the dog with me in my avatar.
Sheri, I honestly do not know what advice to give you. I’ve read a lot of varying opinions about how dogs and cats experience grief. I think the best thing to do is wait and see how she reacts. I would not remove all traces of the scents left behind by the deceased dog. Leave the food and water bowls in the usual place as well as the bedding. Do not wash the bedding.
If Miss Priss stops eating then consider another dog that needs rescuing from a kill shelter. Make sure it is a dog similar to the one that is gone. Have someone assess the personality of the dog. Make sure it is a sweet and even tempered dog.
Often an older dog or even a younger dog is given up to a kill shelter by family members who do not want to be bothered when a parent/relative dies or goes to a nursing home. This would be a wonderful opportunity to save a life and give Miss Priss a new purpose for living.
All the best,
~yvonne
Yvonne – Thank you for addressing my concerns. Both Shih Tzu’s came to our home from rescue. Thanks for reminding me not to wash Scooter’s bedding as he has a bed on the floor and Prissy [my dog] has always slept on the bed. I don’t want to threaten Prissy in any way. She’s 15 and still in good health other than being blind and a very sensitive lady. Once she came to our home, she’s never been without Scooter so we’ll have to wait and see how she does without him. He sleeps about 22 hours of the day now but his presence is still here. The amazing thing to me is that he’s always been a picky eater and now he’s eating everything [licking his plate clean each time and he’s gained 2 pounds] but he’s had a heart murmur for many years and maybe that could be water gathering around his heart. We are trying to do everything the vet tells us to do to keep him comfortable. We are giving him a compounded medication – not to prolong his life but to keep him as comfortable as he can be in the time he has left.
If the time comes that it seems Prissy needs a companion, you can bet it will be a rescue and we will carefully search out another shih Tzu around 8 0r 9 years old. We have rescued cats in the past from relatives of individuals in the past where the younger generation was going to put the pets on the street when they were getting ready to put property up for sale. Of course, back in the 70s and 80s when the military was moving families around every 3 years, families would move and leave pets behind. I have no idea how someone could do that. Our pets are family members and where we go, they go. Sure, it costs a lot of money but before a pet is brought into a home – and the family is mobile – that has to be factored in.
Thanks for sharing this journey with me. With Tom being so very ill and Scooter is his dog, it breaks my heart for he knows how ill Scooter is. The two of them have been and still are ever so close. Thank you, Yvonne. May God grant you a pain free day and provide you peace and joy. Remember, God loves you and I do too. Sheri
Dear Sheri, I am so sorry that your husband is so ill. You have little time for yourself and I’m not sure how you have time to work on causes and blog also.
Now about Scooter. Has he been tested for hypothyroidism? That sometimes causes dogs to eat more and can cause heart problems as well. Hypothyroidism can develop very quickly within a few months, even though your vet might have done the test previously. If your vet is “upscale” and has a reliable machine, he/she can run the test in his/her clinic. I suggest that you have this done soon. Meds for hypothyroidism do not cost much. I have one pet on thyroid replacement. It is odd that Scooter is no longer a picky eater. So I’d get that checked out. Did you change his food and perhaps that is why he now has a hearty appetite?
~yvonne
Let’s see . . . to answer your concerns about Scooter’s increased appetite. When our vet diagnosed him with dementia and ordered the compound she included a small amount of appetite stimulate. I’ve also made a small enclosed area where Scooter can eat in perfect peace without Prissy bothering him. She always likes to keep checking out his plate, I think to make sure she has whatever he’s eating. Then she goes back to her own plate. I wish I’d discovered the idea of making his own private dining area sooner because she eats much faster than he does.
I have to take Scooter to the vet Monday morning as he has developed an abscessed front tooth and he only has 4 teeth left. I hate for him to go under to have the tooth pulled so will have his thyroid checked while we are there. I feel we are so close to end of life for Scooter I have to do whatever I can to keep him comfortable. My heart aches.
You asked about how I have time to work on blogs and causes. Yvonne, sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me going. I fight to keep my head above depression, serious depression. Staying current with helping others and fighting for change in our government gives purpose to my life and my mind active. If I let go of my ‘work’ I’m afraid I’d simply fall apart.
Dear Sheri, I’m so sorry that you have had such a rough time. One never knows what is going on with another. We always tend to think that our own problems are unique. I’ve had problems along similar lines.
I do not mind be dumped on. I’m glad that you feel comfortable with me to unload some of the emotional burden. I will always listen and in fact you can email me at yvonnedanielrn@yahoo.com if you choose to do so.
Thanks so much for your kind words. ~yvonne
Anhow the appetite stimulant is most likely the cause of the increase in food consumption of Scooter. But it never hurts to have routine thorough check ups of your pets if you can afford the vet fees.
Yvonne – Thank you for moving our discussion to e-mail. I’ll e-mail later. Thank you and with love. Sheri
Dear Sheri, feel free to email at this address. yvonnedanielrn@yahoo.com
Lottie Nevin
lottienevin.wordpress.comx
bettydharma@gmail.com
212.118.227.25
Submitted on 2015/02/04 at 2:28 pm
I wondered what had happened regarding ‘comments’ – I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the photos that you’d posted about orange cats or as we call them in England, Marmalade cats, or Ginger cats. I didn’t know that you could get females, I’ve only ever had ginger Toms before and all of them have been very naughty, but very loveable! They are quite different from other felines in character. Yvonne, I’m just back from a week away so need to catch up with you properly. Will email later tomorrow. Lottie XXXX
Lottie I copied your comment and moved it over to the “orange cat” post. In one of my comments to someone else I wrote that orange cats seemed to have a different personality. And by George it is just not my observation as you have confirmed this in your comment.
Thanks so much for taking time to comment. You must be exhausted from the trip.
Funny thing is that Andrew commented on this post and I replied but I’ve no idea where it went. Maybe it’s on another post. I’ll have to look around.
It seems that I am such a dodo bird about some aspects of blogging. I had hunted around and found one place at the top of the post when it is still being edited or whatever and the discussion box had unchecked itself. That was after I had already contacted the Forum. But the Forum member gave directions on how to turn on comments on older posts and so that is how this one now has a comment box.
Goes to show you or shows to go you that an old bat is never too old to learn. I really believe that blogging has helped my mind remain good so far. Don’t know about tomorrow but I’m “A- OK” for now. 🙂
Will look forward to your email. I reckon Andrew and Shirley are OK since he liked the comment post. I really feel for them. I just know they are probably more than tired and frustrated.
Hugs, yvonne xxxxx