We have hosted many cats over the years. Our first cat, Basil, instructed us at length in the art of cat nurture. After our last cat, Marni, died we decided not to have any for awhile as we travel so much and it is difficult to get good carers. Then Covid struck and many cats were made homeless temporarily or permanently as a result. Their people were forced out of their homes, or became ill and could not look after them. We decided to help out by fostering cats from Lost Our Home Pet Rescue. Our first foster cat, Poptart (pictured right), was incredibly cute and a bundle of fun. She went missing on the first day and we thought she had escaped. The shelter was alerted and sent help to search for her in the sweltering heat of summer 2020. We posted flyers on lampposts. We came home exhausted, feeling incredibly sad, stupid and responsible. While I was out in the back yard calling her name she suddenly appeared in the house! There was a knock at the patio door and I looked in to see a beaming Barbara holding Poptart. We had searched the house twice and two 'professionals' had joined us but she had evaded us all. After a few weeks her people recovered enough from whatever ailed them (for privacy reasons we never found out much about our cats' back stories) and we said a sad goodbye.

Poptart

Basil, our first and smartest cat and trainer OUR FIRST CATS

Stefan, a Maine Coon. My favourite CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE

Morgan, who had a terrible life but was the sweetest, most loving cat we had.

Marni, a feisty lady who bossed us around loudly and endlessly. We loved the little bi**ch anyway.

Other cats followed. Cowboy Dan and Wrangler came as a pair. Cowboy is a large, mellow yellow fellow, but Wrangler bit me twice completely out of the blue. I got infected and we returned him to the shelter. They both got adopted by Dawn, a health care worker that we befriended, but Wrangler bit her too and was returned to LOH once more. Sad, because he is a nice cat but mentally disturbed. (UPDATE Nov 2022: Wrangler did eventually get adopted successfully, LOH told us) . Dawn renamed Cowboy Cheddar, appropriately as he looks like a big hunk of cheese, and they live happily together.

Then one day, LOH called and said they had two cats who had lived together but they had feline immunodeficiency virus, so they could not be with other cats. FIV is an immune system disease that is not communicable to humans. Cats that have it may never develop symptoms but must be carefully shielded from infections. They were being kept in cages separate from the other cats that roamed the sanctuary. So, of course, we said yes, we will foster them. We don't know much about their story but apparently they came from a hoarding situation. They ended up at LOH and were taken home by Priyanka, one of the shelter volunteers. She fell in love with them, adopted them, and lived with them for a year and a half. Priyanka is Indian, and when her mother-in-law died, Priyanka and her husband were honor bound to return to India to look after his Dad. She was devastated at leaving McGregor and O'Malley. Then Covid struck. Priyanka's husband returned to Arizona to work but Priyanka is miserably marooned in lockdown with his Dad. We are in touch, but more of that later.

We had McGregor and O'Malley for about a month, hoping that nobody would want to adopt them because of the FIV, but of course the inevitable call came that about 7 people were interested. We looked at each other and realized that we had fallen totally in love with them. Barb's face crumpled. One look at her and I knew that resistance was futile. So we adopted them ourselves and became infamous 'foster failures', in shelter parlance.

These two cats are a total lesson in unconditional love. They groom each other, sometimes sleep holding paws or curled up together, and chase each other and play together with nary a spit, spat or hiss. McGregor likes to be snuggled up beside us all the time, watching TV or on the bed, but he is not a lap cat. He hates to have his paws touched and he barely tolerates being picked up. Clipping his nails at the vet involved a team of handlers in kevlar jackets and gloves and a lot of screaming and outrage on the part of the cat. I exaggerate, but you get my drift. As soon as he was released he became his normal placid self again. A great actor, he is. He loves a cuddle and, most of all, to be groomed by Barbara. He would do that for hours if she was willing. O'Malley, on the other hand, is an equal-opportunity lap cat. He slightly prefers my lap but anyone will do. He is more active than Greg and races around the house, through his tunnel and over the furniture. He plays violently with the Kitty Tease, a sort of fishing rod with a worm-like cloth lure on a string, hurling himself in the air and crashing down on his tunnel with gay abandon. I don't think they are gay but they sure act like it sometimes. Here's a link to a 7-minute YouTube video of them in action, grooming, cuddling and watching TV.

They are big cats, both 14+ pounds and living with them is like living with a pair of small lions. Here are some of their best photos:

O' Malley and McGregor		Best Friends CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE	Greg on Bed
Greg on His Condo	Hearts	Mirror, Mirror, Who is the Fairest One of All?	Halloween Cat
Alas, Poor McGregor, I knew him well CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE Cat TV Nothing on TV	We are in touch with Priyanka in India and I compiled this page primarily for her. We hope she will be able to visit Greg and O'Malley soon! O'Malley steals Chairs Portrait of a Young Cat	Train crash! Cat on line. Wreck Cleared. Injured Perp on IV.	Up a Tree. (does not enlarge)