Our Cats

 

Duke "the Tooth" Doty

Duke is a 16 lb (he's not too fat either) silver and sable mixed breed (read mutt) who must have some Siamese in him based on his personality. He is a two person cat. No one else is allowed in the club, although his stance on this seems to be softening as he is getting older. Most of the time though he may act like he wants an outsider to pet him, but its just a lure so that he can get them closer to his teeth.  Hence the nickname.  He is named Duke after John Wayne, because of how he walked when he was a kitten. He does two things that are particularly amusing. 1) He sits in what we call his 'dignified pose' See the top row right picture. He does this all the time. It looks uncomfortable, but it works for him. 2) He is the unofficial safety officer of the kitchen. If you leave the kitchen while an appliance is running he has to let you know about it. Pots on the stove, microwave goes off, Duke will let you know.

Duke as a kitten

Some more recent pictures of Duke

Rest in Peace Midas

On December 11th 2002 we experienced the loss of a dear friend and companion. One of our three wonderful cats, Midas, died from an inoperable brain tumor. The felines in our house collectively referred to the as 'Da Boyz' are now diminished in body by one. His memory remains with us and his brothers.

Midas's struggle at the end of his life was a difficult one. At first his condition was thought to be infectious anemia, then as that corrected he developed a short term diabetes then primary addisons, and finally some targetted neurologic deficits. Unfortunately by the time all the dots were connected and they actually looked at his brain for a tumor, it was too late to do anything about it. From May 2002 through December he struggled through all these phases of illness. All the while purring and loving as best he could. Toward the end I know it was our selfish desire not to lose him that kept him alive. It was a diservice to him, but thanks to him we know better now.

Midas "Evinrude" Doty

Midas is a 12 lb orange short hair mix. His mother was 1/2 bobcat. Midas was the runt of the litter.  What he lacked in stature he made up for in energy and personality.  He was quite the hunter and quite possibly the friendliest cat in existence except when it comes to other cats. He had incredible leaping abilities and occasionally liked taking showers.  We recently got some pictures of Midas'  21 lb sire, a farm cat who regularly caught rabbits.  His dame, named Bobi, weighed ~35 lbs (the 1/2 bobcat) died in 1995.

 

 

Rest in Peace Gorbi

On May 9th 2008 we experienced the loss of another one of our beloved boys. Gorbi had been diagnosed with asthma two years ago. The last two years have been difficult for him, but in our research we have found that 2 years post diagnosis is virtually unheard of. Given this we were blessed to have him as long as we could. We learned many new skills these last two years and I would like to thank the folks at the "Feline Asthma with Fritz the Brave!" website. The information we found there made things easier for us and Gorbi. I highly recommend the site to anyone who has a cat with feline asthma.

 

Duke is alone now, but seems happy enough.

 

Gorbachev "Bonk" Doty

Gorbi is a 12 lb white mix that we found outside a theater several years ago when he was a 4-6 week old kitten. He was a bundle of energy and quite the lover. We called him Gorbi because of the black smudge birthmark that was on his head.  By the time he was two it was almost gone so the name doesn't seem to fit quite as well.  Gorbi is always hungry.  Unfortunately, Gorbi has a problem with eating things that were never intended to be eaten.  He had to have surgery in December 1998 to remove half of a plastic mouse from his intestine.  His nickname "Bonk" came from the sound made when his head hit things as he ran through the house as a kitten.

Here are some kitten pictures

 

Some more recent pictures of Gorbi

Updated May 14 2008


rdoty's family page
rdoty's home page