Ornery, Sketti and Misses
We were given these three when they were just nine weeks old (in 2006, I believe). All three have had two litters of kittens. Ornery and Misses had their first litters within 24 hours of each other, and took care of each other’s kittens. Ornery actually laid in the box with Misses, and Misses curled up to her while she (Misses) gave birth. It was the sweetest thing.

Ornery is the smallest, short and stumpy.. even smaller than some of the younger ones. She keeps her head down when she walks and runs, which always looks funny. She has a funny hoarse meow, which she definitely uses when she wants something. She doesn’t like to be held much but does like attention. She got her name from a kitten I had a long time ago.

Sketti is long and lean and also has a funny meow. She’s always rolling around on the sidewalk when she wants petted, so we nicknamed her “Belly”. I named Sketti after seeing her once with spaghetti sauce all over her face. Somehow, most of the kittens she had were mostly, if not all, white. Neither of the other two (all three are siblings) had kittens like hers.

Misses’ meow is very whiney. She has a habit of jumping up on the window screens when she wants something.. and just hanging there to get our attention. She loves to be petted and held. She used to wake Mark and I up (when she was in the house) by patting our hands or arms to get us to pet her. She’s very needy. Mark named her Misses to go along with Mister.

Possum was one of the cats I had when I met Mark. She was one of the kittens from Kanga’s only litter. She and Kanga used to get along so well and always slept together, but Kanga got moody after I had them both spayed. Since Kanga’s death, Possum has become more independent. She doesn’t pay much attention to the other cats, but she loves attention. She’s afraid of Mark (as was Kanga) and most other people. She used to love to nap with me or just sleep on my lap. Sometimes I sneak her in so she can still do that. I named Possum after seeing her get into something greasy and come out looking like a possum. Possum was born July 4, 2004.


Mister was a stray kitten that hung around our yard a lot. He would sneak into the garage when I had Kanga and Possum out there and eat their food. He would take off whenever he seen us coming. Mark started putting food under the deck for him and sneak up on him when he was eating. Mark would catch him and bring him in the house and just pet him. Eventually, the kitten got used to us and didn’t run anymore. Mark decided to name him Mister. He’s very independent, but still loves to be held and petted. We’re not sure how old he is, but he’s a little bit older than the mommas.

The kittens, all born in 2007:

Princess was born from one of the mommas’ first litters. She also had a litter of kittens before we were able to get the girls spayed. None of her kittens survived. Princess is kind of needy but also very cautious. She reminded me a lot of Misses because, while she was in the house, she would follow our hands to get petted. Now, she’ll only let us pet her if she wants petted, other than that, she’ll stand back. How needy she was earned her name Princess.

Buttfrack was named because of the shape of gray fur on his head. My nephew used to say butt frack instead of butt crack, so we named him Buttfrack. He is the biggest “kitten” but also the biggest baby. He loves to be petted and he gets this curious, innocent look on his face when he wants attention. He, for some reason, doesn’t get along with Mister.

Gandolf’s  name came from Lord of the Rings’ Gandolf the Gray. Gandolf is such a big baby! He loves to sit on my lap and nap when I’m outside. He’ll just lay there, all relaxed and let me baby him.  I call him Gandolfy or Dolfy most often.

Favorite, aka Paybee, was named because she was my favorite kitten out of the bunch.  I changed her name around a lot and now I call her Paybee-Baby. She’s a spoiled little girl and loves to be loved. The tip of her tail is crooked, making her tail curl under when she puts it down – so cute!

Teeny, aka Sweet-Teeny, was one of the surviving kittens from Sketti’s first litter. She and Tiny were so small, therefore earning their names. She actually lost about half of her fur as a kitten (We’re not sure why), but then it all grew back softer than ever. She’s long and lean just like Sketti.  Teeny used to hate being petted but now she likes is, but not too much. She’s a tough girl that doesn’t seem to need much, and seems to like it that way.

Tiny, aka Tiny-Yub (Love) or Yubby (Lovey), Tiny is the second surviving kitten from Sketti’s first litter.  He’s all white except for a spot on his ear and his tiger-striped tail, and is also built just like Sketti.  I call him Yubby and he answers to that, as well as his actual name.  He loves to sit on my lap and let me love on him. He’s definitely a big, spoiled momma’s boy :)

Fluffy, aka Fluffernutter or Mr. Nutter, was the last addition to our little family. One of our neighbors found him in their yard and assumed he was ours, so they dropped him off in our yard. He’s a bit spoiled by Mark. He seemed to have taken Bubba’s place after we lost him because they look similiar. He’s usually off doing his own thing, but always comes back. He doesn’t like Mister.. probably because Mister chases him around, either to fight or because he thinks Fluffy is female. We estimate Fluffy’s age as not much younger than the other “kittens”.

That’s all of our cats. There was once Kanga, Bubba and Blacky, but we lost each of them. Kanga and Blacky are buried next to a tree, where all the daffodils and tulips bloom each year, along with a lot of the kittens we lost.

We also have two one dog, Pokey.  Pokey was born from Kaleigh’s first litter of puppies. (Kaleigh was the black lab/shephard mix that Mark had when I met him.  She disappeared after Christmas ‘08.  She was Mark’s baby and we miss her :( ) Pokey, the perfect size for a companion for the cats, just loves the cats (So did Kaleigh, and the kitties loved getting attention from either dog.)  We wonder if she thinks shes a cat lol.  When she was in the house, she’d sleep on the top/back of the couch like the cats did, and now that she’s outside, she sometimes curls up in the kitty house.  I’ve even seen her being protective of some of our cats when others are trying to pick a fight. (The funniest thing is when she goes crazy because someone else’s cat is in our yard – lol)

You can see more pictures of our babies here.