Hi, let me introduce myself. I'm an artist and art educator. I've lived with cats since the age of 6. I don't remember ever paying for a cat; most were either gifts from the breeder or an adult that needed a home. Most were male. All were "fixed" (meaning they were either spayed or neutered).
Following are a few of my feline friends:
My first cat was a very large black male, who I naturally named "Blackie." Not afraid of dogs, he was once seen 'riding' on the back of an annoying boxer. The dog never came near our house or neighborhood after this painful and humiliating experience.
While attending Swain School of Design, an art school in New Bedford, I had a number of strays; including a feral cat which nearly destroyed my apartment before I had it removed to a farm in South Darmouth.
While attending Boston University's School of Fine Arts, I had a number of feline pets. The one I remember most is "Mykonos," who lived with me on Hemingway Street. It was not the best of times for either of us...
While graduate students at the University of Cincinnati, my wife and I were given two male Siamese kittens from our landlady. We called them "Grunts" and "Little." They were from the last litter of their 18+ year old mother. Highly intelligent and lots of fun, they lived with us on Mt Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio; at Bell Island, Conn.; Wellesley, Mass., and on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
We had a number of pet cats, including another Siamese (and "Molly" an Irish setter), during the years our daughters grew up in Wellesley.
In the 1980s, after my divorce, I accepted responsibility for a huge Maine Coon cat who had been abused by his former owners. It took him over a year to learn to trust me; but after that, he was one of the most loving of all my feline friends. We lived together for many years at my Moody Street art studio in Waltham (and most likely helped each other to heal). The drawing below is a self portrait with my Maine Coon cat:
Calico cats are not a breed; they are a very specific color characteristic. They are tri-colored with colors in distinct patches, not mixed as in a tortoiseshell.
