Time Flies When You’ve Got Cats
Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 19 Comments
Also, as it happens, tomorrow is the 14th anniversary of Zeus showing up at our garage door on what was, if memory serves, one of the coldest nights of that winter, and meowing piteously to be let in, which, clearly, he was. I always forget which year it was that Zeus showed up, and thus he is younger in my head than he is in reality. In truth he’s now old and a little cranky, and he’s earned his rank of being the senior Scamperbeast. It’s not just him, though — all my cats I think of being a year or two younger than they are. My memory is doing a lot of condensing, it seems. Or maybe, in each case, it just doesn’t seem that long.
Enjoy your pets while you have them, folks. The time goes by faster than you think.
— JS
Sweet Zeus, you won the cat lottery.
The same applies to children, of course.
I forget: did Sugar and Spice come in before or after Smudge?
I guess Zeus is a Beast rather than a Scamperbeast
I see your cat pictures and raise you a picture of my Mouse. I tried to give him away here (and many other places) a few months ago but happily found no takers. He visited the vet Wednesday so I am calling him Nutless the Wonder Kitten for a little while.
https://imgur.com/2BtbWk4
You have given Zeus an extraordinary life, He couldn’t have picked a better yard.
Ah, the dear Scalzi Scamperbeasts! Always good for soothing what aches. My scamperbeast, #SamSam, is 8. To me he is just a big, fast rolly, polly kitten. But the vet says he’s in senior territory. That scares me. How could my baby be senior? I just love him as much as possible and then some. I also have grandkitten Hermie. He’s a runt of a Maine Coon. 10 pounds, maybe. So playful. Only 2. I tell my daughter to enjoy him.
These furbabes just worm into my heart.
Awwwwwww!(I say that a lot! :) )
Health and long life to the Scalzi clowder! Photos of all of them have often given me a grin amid tough times, and I am ever grateful for the happiness they bring to my days. I still fondly remember one of the rotating site header photos (in the site’s previous incarnation) of an annoyed Zeus leaping after an importunate Spice in the yard – one of my all-time favorite photos of the Scalzi cats.
I realized that our two “kittens” are nearly 4 1/2 years old at this point, and the senior fellow in the family just turned 16. The old guy is getting tottery and feeble, and we soak up every moment we have with him. It has been a huge, huge benefit these past two years to be able to work remotely and have more time with our feline family members; their lives are so short compared to ours that every minute with them is precious.
Give your fur-kids a chin-scritch from me, please, and the next time you are gifted an early morning visit from a cat-butt, remember that it won’t last forever, and be forgiving.
I don’t remember when you got Zeus, but I remember the post, entitled “we are suckers,” and illustrated with a photo of Zeus tucking into a bowl of cat food with enough enthusiasm to be a cat food commercial. You’re good people to have rescued all these cats.
I lost a beloved cat in September, and a dog only a few days ago. They are dearly missed.
Definitely, enjoy them while they’re here.
Your animal pics, especially kitty pics, cheer up my day every time! Zeus picked his family well, as did Sugar, Spice and Smudge.
I’m cat-owned myself. We lost our Nimitz to cancer last month. We’ll go to the shelter soon to get a successor. Now we have new pics of the two remaining and the new rug. https://freyjaw.dreamwidth.org/130509.html
https://freyjaw.dreamwidth.org/124497.html
Did Zeus arrive as a kitten or young cat? I can’t recall…just know he has suffered through a few kittens in his time.. Old cats are pretty cool, though, and it’s interesting that they DO start to act like old pharts. I have 1 very senior calico (15), w/a serious attitude, and three who are 13. I now feel like I’m running an old folks’ home.
I had to go through a file cabinet to say our youngest pet (ferret Midnight) is just over five years old. Our youngest cat is about six. How did that happen?
Also, I still miss Lopsided Cat, who died just YESTERDAY.
Happy birthday/Gotcha day Zeus!
It’s wild to me that Zeus is a senior cat in his mid-teens. I’ve been following this blog long enough that I think of him as the young cat behind Lopsided Cat and Ghlaghghee.
A co-worker had as many cats as you do. I asked her husband, if he died first, how many cats was Katherine allowed to have before we had to stage “an intervention.”
Upon reading this Athena is pondering some numbers, which is probably different by parent.
This very experienced husband, gave a excellent answer.
“There are some questions a man does not ask about his wife.”
Diana, found the post. Thanks for the smile!
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/01/09/were-suckers/
Though really, Zeus looked a bit like a grumpy old man right from day one – compare the old and new pictures!
We have a small clowder of our own. Junior, the inherited Library Cat, will be 23 (!) in 3 months. He has issues, shall we say, but us still mobile and loud. Zorro, who invited herself in, is about 16 (we think). Outside, we have Froofy, Little Brother, and Cassius, who we only count as part time because we see him maybe twice a week. All of them just showed up, except for Junior, who we were drafted into taking. AFAIK, Cassius is the youngest, perhaps 2; the rest are double digits. We often get to referee between them, not unlike a retirement home full of grumpy oldsters (and 1 young whippersnapper), the latest in a succession of cats. Just when we think we are slowly clearing them out due to old age, another one shows up: “O Hai, I hear you haz opening?”