The Photo Album

Me

What I looked like in 2003 (when I first put this page together)

The cats always did like me best.

Niccolo
The goofiest of the cats. We got him to keep Miles from terrorizing Marlowe and Gilly. Unfortunately the sight of Marmaduke fills him with fury - so we have to keep the two of them separated.

Marmaduke
Our newest (as in we got him 10 years ago :) and friendliest cat. He "followed" Heather home from ceramics. He loves to check out all the available laps, but since he weighs 15 pounds, this can become slightly uncomfortable.

Finally - what happens when cats get too close when you try to take their picture. In this case I was taking a picture of Miles and Niccolo shoved his whiskers in the way.

Tiny Miles
We had to euthanize my favorite kitty on Nov 11, 2011 after a 3 month battle with tongue cancer (which unfortunately is inoperable and very aggressive). The saddest part of this was that he was still his old Miles self stuck in a body that couldn't feed itself anymore. He was a fighter to the end though. He spent much of his last weeks eating deli ham and rejecting pretty much everything else.
He was the shyest and slinkiest of our cats and was able to get along with both Niccolo and Marmaduke (even though they couldn't get along with each other). Heather found him at Caltech and brought him home. He mostly interacted with me and loved to sit on my legs while I read in bed. He also occasionally pretended to be a parrot. He was always the first one to dart out of the basement in the morning, even though he willingly went in there at night with the other cats.

Marlowe
Our cat of 20 years died on May 2, 2008. We had Marlowe since the summer of 1988 - when Heather brought him home from her job. He was a very fluffy kitty (as you can see in the pictures). He had a very LOUD yowl - especially in the morning and evening when he got his wet food treat and insulin shot. Yep - he was diagnosed in mid-2003 with diabetes and got 2 shots of insulin a day.
He was a great cat who didn't let any of the other cats bother him. He loved getting his head rubbed and was very patient with us toward the end - even when we were giving him fluids on a regular basis. He knew what his routine was supposed to be and would be waiting in his pen for his food - yowling if you were late.

McGillikitty (aka Gilly or Miss Gills)
We had Gilly euthanized on Oct 6, 2004 after her health completely collapsed. We got Gilly in the Fall of 1988 in order to keep Marlowe company - and because 2 cats is the perfect number of cats. She had the coolest calico fur - and it seemed you could comb loose fur out of it for hours without making any noticable impact. She was fearless - except when it came to kittens - which she appeared to consider beasts from hell. She was also willing to eat as much food as was available - at one point she weighed over 16 lbs and was referred to as the whale. We had to restrict her food intake to get her down to a reasonable weight. She also had a tendency to stand in the litterbox and pee over the edge - forcing us to have a litterbox inside a litterbox.
She had a good sixteen years, even if she spent most of them on a diet and several of them frustrated by our annoying determination to invite Various Damn Kittens to live with us.
So in memory of Gilly: eat more than you should and think outside the litterbox.