Thanksgiving and Joey's Gotcha Day

Welcome one and all to our annual Thanksgiving/Joey's 11th Gotcha Day celebration!!!  CB has him down for the 25th but we do it on Thanksgiving each year.

This year is a very special one since our beloved Joey has been diagnosed with skin cancer and chronic renal failure.  We hope that with treatment he will be around for a long time to come.  We are enjoying each day that we have with him and giving him lots of extra love, special foods and anything he wants, really!

Joey when he was still living outdoors.

In honor of  his 13th year (since he is a feral, we really don't know what day or month he was born other than in fall 1999) we are going to list 13 things that we are so very grateful for about Joey.

1.)  We are grateful for his sweet loving nature.  He gets along with all the other cats and will not fight even when provoked.  He will just walk away.

2.) We are very thankful for his cancer - if it hadn't been for his skin lump, we might not have done blood tests that told us he had chronic renal failure!  We might have lost him to that without even knowing what was wrong since he showed no symptoms of any kidney issues.

3.) We are appreciative of his homeopathic cancer vet - Dr Loops.  So far Joey's lump is shrinking and he is acting more like himself and being more social. Other than his CRF, he has no other symptoms.  So far, so good.

4.) We love his loud numbly purr.  You can't help but hear him.  If he even thinks you are gonna pet him , the motor revs up ad the purr gets going.  It wakes Pop up when he sneaks on the bed with Mom!  She has to keep telling Joey to be quiet and not purr - like that will happen!

5.) We are thankful for his funny sideways hop when he gets excited or happy about something - just like kittens do when they are happy!

Joey with his bandage/bandana

6.) We love his tiny face and huge big golden eyes - he looks so intense when he looks right at you.  He makes eye contact whenever you speak to him.

7.) We love how he loves to help Mom make the bed - hiding under the covers and making her work so hard!!! heehee

8.) We are grateful for how easy going he is - he never makes a problem when he has to go the the vet.  Not even when they have to take blood or give him fluids.  He just lets everyone do the procedures and is happy to help.

9.)We love his big droopy belly that swings from side to side when he walks. He is small but all his weight goes in his belly - always has.  When he was still outside, people thought he was a pregnant girl cat - NOT! 

10.) We love the tiny ear tufts at the end of his ears and the way his left ear has a nick in it - probably from a fight long ago.

11.)We adore how he likes to make a Joey sandwich - snuggled between two ladycats.

Minnie and Joey wrestling years ago.

12.)We are grateful that Joey's litter mate Minnie is still with us and can be with her brother.  Only two other cats from that feral group are still alive now - Sweetpea and Ivy.  Ivy and Joey have grown very close and snuggle often together.

13.) Most importantly, we are very thankful that we took Joey in on impulse that Thanksgiving Day 11 years ago.  He had been in yet another fight and  had an abscess. He came into the enclosed porch willingly but then freaked out and hid behind the freezer all day. It took most of the morning to get him out and into a safe place. Not what Mom had planned during all the dinner preparations!

Enough about Joey - let's get this party going.  Since you all must be chock full of turkey, we are going simple with cake and ice cream to celebrate today! Help yourself, put your feet up and kick back in one of many snuggle spots throughout the house!  Just chill and enjoy the mellowness like our  Joey!

Thank you for stopping by to help us celebrate our Joey.  We do appreciate each and every one of you and hope to be friends for many years to come!  This party will be running for a few days so those of you that are busy on Thursday can still visit!  Happy Thanksgiving from all of us Cats of Wildcat Woods!