Introducing myself

My name is Oscar and I'm a black cat and I live in Melbourne, Australia and Daddy tells me I'm twelve years old which means I'm an "old man" whatever that means but my Daddy calls me his little kitten.

Every day I wake Daddy up about 3:30 a.m. for my first breakfast since I love my kibble and if he doesn't wake up I meow and if he still doesn't wake up I take my paw and pat him on the neck and he usually wakes up and says "stop" and then I put my whiskers right in his face and if that doesn't work I put my ass in his face and he gets up and gives me my kibble for my first breakfast and then he goes back to bed, and then just before the sun comes up I wake him again for my second breakfast and usually after that I want a drink of water out of the bathtub or the sink, and if Daddy goes back to bed again he usually shuts his door so I meow and meow and meow and meow until he can't stand it any more and he gets up and lets me into the bathroom and gives me my drink and then I take a little nap until the sun has been up for a couple hours and it's time for third breakfast and I love my kibble and even though there's food left in my food dish I always like to be served fresh kibble even though it's dry kibble so I meow and meow again but by that time my Uncle Kevin is usually awake and he gives me my third breakfast and my second drink out of the tub and he sometimes tells me that I already have food in my dish but I just stand there and look at him and try to say, "Dummy, don't you know I like to be served?" and sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't so I just keep standing by my food dish and I meow until he gets it.

After my third breakfast I curl up next to my Daddy while he sleeps in and even when he gets up I stay put and sleep until it's time for mid-morning snack, and after mid-morning snack I might go poo box or run around the house with my brother Gerald (Daddy says he's 14 years old and even older than me) until it's time for mid-morning catnap and I climb up into my kitty tree in the living room and curl up and take my nap. I have kitty dreams of chasing butterflies and birdies and watching the squirrels I used to see when I lived in Michigan.

I could go on but you probably wonder what I look like so I'll tell my Daddy to post some pictures he took of me and my ginger brother Gerald.

This is a handsome picture of my big brother Gerald about a year ago.


Gerald and I always liked to sit in the windowsill together and look at the birds and possums and neighborhood cats and other creatures in the parking lot outside since Daddy says we're "indoor cats" and we never go outside except for the times I manage to zip through the front door when Daddy comes in and I make him chase me.

I was sleepy one day and Gerald thought I needed a good licking.

But today I'm very sad because my brother Gerald isn't here any more because a couple nights ago he died and that made me very sad. Daddy whispered into my ear and told me that Gerald got very sick two weeks ago in his kidneys and his liver at the same time and he had something called anemia which made him very tired and he was something called dehydrated and I remember that Gerald stopped playing with me and wanted to be left alone and would hide in his carrier cage or in the corner of the room and he didn't want to eat any of our kibble and he got very thin and he didn't lick himself the way he told me cats are supposed to. Gerald is my big brother and he was already a couple years old when my Daddy adopted me as a kitten from the Humane Society in Toledo Ohio and when Gerald first saw me he ran up to me and licked my head:



and then he taught me all about how to be a cat and he taught me how to stretch out on the floor:


and he taught me how to roll around whenever I see dirt and how to lick myself and how to go poo box and how to watch birdies through the window and all sorts of kitty things.

Daddy says that I think I'm a dog and it was Gerald who taught me how to be a cat but I think Daddy's dumb because I know I'm not a dog because dogs are big and stinky and they bark but Daddy says that when he adopted me he learned that my cat mother died when she gave birth to me and that a woman in Toledo found me behind a building with all my litter mates and she took us all home and fed us kitten food with eye droppers until we were two months old and then took us to the Humane Society and that's when my Daddy found me. And my Daddy says that since I was raised by human hands from the moment I was born it was Gerald who taught me how to be a cat since Gerald came to the Humane Society when he was four months old and he was found as a street cat which means he roamed around the streets when he was a boy but I was always a house cat. And Daddy says that when he came to Humane Society for the very first time he wanted a black cat like me but there weren't any black kittens there, but he saw a ginger kitten that he really liked and when they put them together in a special room the ginger kitten ran up to Daddy and jumped into his lap and purred and Daddy fell in love with the ginger kitten and agreed to take him home and named him Gerald. And it was two whole years later that Daddy went back to the Humane Society and got me since I was the black cat he always wanted and he says that the woman who raised me said that I had about six litter mates of all different colors when I was born and all my litter mates got adopted on one day at the Humane Society but no one wanted me because I was black and I was there for a whole week before my Daddy chose me and the woman told Daddy that she had come back to the Humane Society to check that I was adopted since she had promised that she would adopt me herself if no one took me in a week's time and the time was up but Daddy promised he'd give me a good home and a good brother and Daddy kept his promise.

Daddy's cooking a turkey today because he says it was American Thanksgiving on the day that Gerald died even though we live in Australia and we didn't celebrate it on that day but that we should celebrate it today because Gerald gave us so much to be thankful for and above all we're thankful that Gerald lived a joyful and carefree life and that we were able to give him happiness in return for all the happiness he gave us. Daddy's been crying a lot the last couple days and even though cats don't cry tears like humans do I'm very sad myself and I hope I can show Daddy that I still love Gerald and I miss Gerald and I can comfort Daddy the way I always do by purring and curling up next to him when he sleeps. The kitty doctor's office that Gerald and I go to sent us some flowers today when they heard about Gerald and those are the flowers on the desk in the "picture of me" for this blog.

The turkey smells so good and it's driving me crazy and I'm scampering around the house all day because I love the smell of turkey! I love my kibble but I really love turkey! I'll write a little bit later after Daddy gives me some turkey.

OSCAR