Ahem, until very recently, I had contented myself with the joys of watching my "virtual" kittehs at YouTube. Had many kittehs before, but I was still suffering "kitteh grief". At the same time, there was this little niggle in the back of my mind: move on, move on. So, for quite a while, it's been brewing. I got out my camera today, and managed to take a kitteh pic before the camera battery stopped working. Kitteh is very camera shy, but not so bad on her debut. I removed the camera battery so that I could recharge it, but left the camera with kitteh, so that she could befriend it. When I snuck out, she was rubbing her face against the edges of the camera. She's got a plan... Here's my first photo of Tootsie, the polydactyl Maine coon: I found her online, via a local cat rescue charity. Uh, this was the photo they posted: And, the description was not exactly encouraging either- shy, needs patient person, etc. But, she is a purebred Maine coon, an...

Two seemingly unrelated trains of thought came to mind, and coalesced for a post. It was prompted by a great post yesterday by Trex . Read it. He mentioned the loss of Elissa, his human friend, and also, the loss of Gus, his kitteh friend. The losses occurred some 2 years ago, and as a regular reader of TRex, I followed both events. Losing a friend, human or cat, can cut your guts right out. In the story about Elissa, TRex posted part of the lyrics of a Cyndi Lauper song- Time after Time. When you’re lost, You can look and you will find me. Time after time. When you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting. Time after time… That's what friends are. This is just a great song. The following YouTube has the audio with the lyrics overlaid. Direct link is here (4:00) Now the idea of coupling this with information about pet insurance may seem a bit sordid, but trust me, that is not my intention. It's just that I had read some comments about various online friends almost losi...