Happy Birthday Harley! (and a Giveaway!)

      65 Comments on Happy Birthday Harley! (and a Giveaway!)
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8 years ago today we brought home the little runt of the litter.  The kitten had a scratch on his nose, and the farmers said she liked to hide in the dryer vent when it got cold (its momma was an outdoor kitty). I kept putting it back on the ground to see the other kitties, but it kept climbing back up my legs. I couldn’t resist. The kitten chose me.   The farmer and his children assured me this tiny kitten was a female – something Tony was adamant about getting.  Tony told me if I came back with a boy cat he was making me bring it back.   Tony’s mom was getting me the kitten and all the necessary supplies as an early Christmas present, and the farmer was a friend of a friend.  I called the little kitten Phebe, after the character on the TV show Charmed.   Phebe could fit in my hand, and just wanted to cuddle.  She was so small that when we went to work, we locked her in the small bedroom so she wouldn’t get lost, we only did that first the first week or so.  As soon as we came home we would let her out and she would climb all over us.  After a few days I took her to the vet, who promptly informed me that Phebe was a… BOY!

I started crying right there in the office explaining that my boyfriend would make me take it back to the farm.  I paid for the exam, but didn’t schedule the neutering since I was sure Tony would make me take the cat back and exchange it for a girl.  I sat in the parking lot, still crying and called Tonys mom to explain that Pheobe was a boy.  She assured me that Tony loved the cat, and loved me, and wouldn’t make me take him back.   Thankfully she was right.  Tony was already attached to the litter bugger and didn’t want to see him go.  It took us a few days to come up with a boy name, but we eventually settled on Harley.

Over the years Harley has been there for both of us, through good times and bad.  He has accepted us bringing in two additional cats.   He was there to cuddle with me when I needed to cry my eyes out when one of my best friends died, and two uncles.    He ALWAYS knows when I have a migrane and rubs his nose very gently on my cheek.  He kept Tony sane when he was stuck home , not working due to a layoff and a workers compensation case.  Harley accepts our yelling at the TV during Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills games, and understands that we are going to make him dance when our team scores. The little runt of the litter bulked up to 16lbs at one point, but is now at a much healthier 12 (ish).

Harley has gotten in his fair share of trouble over the years, stealing food and shredding papers but we accept him, because he accepts us, with all our flaws.

Happy Birthday Harley!!!!Harley Kitten Years Collage Harley Older Years Collage

Now for a special giveaway…

Three winners will each receive two $5 off coupons for Tidy Cats litter.  They are good on any size, any variety except Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance LightWeight Litter.  I received these coupons as a thank you for doing the review of Tidy Cats Litter – They even have my logo on them!

 

 

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65 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Harley! (and a Giveaway!)

  1. Maureen Coleman

    Love reading about Harley! We currently have 7 cats,all indoor cats which were all either strays or offspring of very pregnant strays we took in so we could really use a coupon like you are giving away,lol. Happy Birthday Harley!

    Reply
  2. Dorothy Osborne

    We have 2 cats, Diego & Juno. I had NEVER been a cat “person”, was actually afraid of them when my daughter found 2 kittens roaming in a store parking lot & brought them home with the intention of trying to find them homes. Within 24 hours I fell in LOVE with the cats & have slowly overcome my fear of cats.

    Reply
    1. Diane W Post author

      My mom didnt really like pets when I was little so I had a parakeet and fish. I wasnt really around cats that often until I met Tony. His mom had a cat and we would cat sit when she went camping a lot during the summer. His moms cat was super friendly and cuddly – unlike other cats I had met previously. That kind of changed my perspective!

      Reply
  3. missy wilber

    We have 2 housecats that we rescued from a BOCES near us. they were born there and needed a home, so we took them in, they are sisters and look like twins.They will be 4 years old this month and very spoiled!

    Reply
  4. Michelle B

    thanks for the giveaway! I have 3 cats. Cloud is the only girl animal in our family is 13 years old. Next is Calvin and he is 4 years old then we have Hobbs and he 1.5 years old.

    Reply
    1. Diane W Post author

      Jewel is the only girl too. She used to cuddle with Harley a lot, but once we got Oliver, Oliver and Harley became best buds. They don’t cuddle but they play fight and chase constantly. Jewel is usually the odd one out because she plays TOO rough with them so they stop once she tries to join in. So she usually ends up cuddling with Tony or I while they play.

      Reply
      1. Michelle B

        Well my Cloud has always been a loner and she hides everytime anyone else comes to the house. When we adopted Calvin we thought that maybe they would get along but nope she runs and hides from him too. Then it got worse after Hobbs adopted us because he is young and loves to chase and try to play with her to no end so she is all the time hiding from them now!

        Reply
  5. jodi walbring

    We had someone dump a runt near us and he adopted us. he just wants to be loved but our adult cat doesn’t like him so we are still trying to work things out but he sure is a lot of fun and always active.

    Reply
  6. Nicole

    I have 3 cats. Two are littermates, a brother and sister we named Boots and Bruin. They will be 3 years old this April. And then we have Odin, who joined our home a bit over a year ago. He is around 16, blind, with only one eye, FIV+, and spent most of his life outdoors living with a colony. He probably had a home at some point, because he has adjusted to being an indoor kitty so well. And as Odin will only use clay litter, we are a big fan of Tidy cats.

    Reply
  7. Cathy French

    We have two cats, one 12 and the other 8 years old. The little one is a brat but we love them both. They are just like spoiled children and are very entertaining.

    Reply
  8. Linda Szymoniak

    We have three cats, so I’d definitely be using these myself. I have my own dog rescue,but we currently don’t have fosters for cats (we’ll eventually start working with cats, once i line up some good, responsible foster homes for them).

    Reply
  9. Karen F

    I would give them to my mother in law who has been having a lot of health problems. She has a solid white cat, Bop, who is her dear friend and companion.

    Reply
  10. Savannah Miller

    I just got a kitten at the end of October we named her Jekyll and she is our first cat :). Up until this point I was always a dog person, but little Jekyll is slowly but surely turning me into a cat lover!! When I come home my pups always jump up and kiss me and act as if I been gone for years. Never did I think a cat would do this, but when I get home Jekyll is always the first to great me at the door 🙂

    Reply
  11. Carrie Phelps

    I have three cats! My oldest at thirteen is Zorro, he’s a rescue kitty. My middle is Elijah, he’s eleven years old and my little girl Lucy is also a rescue kitty that is now two years old. I also am a member of NH Cats, a rescue group, and am getting ready to take in a fifteen year old cat & a one year old for foster. The fifteen year old will never be adopted so I’m expecting to allow her to own me. I also feed my local feral/stray cats twice daily on my porch.

    Reply
  12. Dorothy Teel

    I have two cats and they make my day, one is super friendly and lovey and the other is very frisky and playful, would not trade my cats for anything

    Reply
  13. alyce poalillo

    I do feral cat rescue so at any time I may have 5 or 6 ferals in addition to my own brood of 6. I have 2 adorable kittens now, 9 weeks old and full of life. So I go through a lot of litter in my house. My own cats range in age from 15 yrs to 1 1/2 years old.

    Reply
  14. tracy reed

    I have 8 cats. The newest kitten, Chino was adopted yesteday.

    Wu (male 5 years old our first adoption), Doby (male 5 years, our 2nd), Misty & Myra came at the same time (owner died) and they are the oldest and their ages are estimated to be between 10-14 years old, next came Biscuit (male 3 years), then Wasabi (female 1 1/2 years old) and then lastly Peanut and Chino. (both born in the carport in March this year. So we always need kitty litter. We also have a dog that is 5 years old.

    Happy Birthday Harley!!

    Reply
  15. Michelle S

    We have our own cats, and we also have foster cats. My number one boy is a large male brown tabby named Andybelle. We had a horrible year with losing 4 of our 5 FIV+ boys, and Andybelle is the last one at 14. He hasn’t had the best year, either, with 4 oral surgeries, but things are looking up for him, and I’m praying that he’ll be around for a long time to come.

    Reply
  16. Stacey B

    We have 2 cats. A male white and tabby, he is absolutely beautiful, and a female tabby/calico mix. My favorite, our white haired blue eyed female, got outside one day, and could never find her again, a little over a year ago. It still makes me sad to think about it 🙁

    Reply
  17. Mary Clark

    I have 2 cats both rescues….one is in need of prayers as we continue to try to save her. She was poisoned and now has a feeding tube 🙁 With having to have 3 litter boxes in house we can use all the help we can get with out cats.

    Reply
  18. Mary Cloud

    I have three cats – an outside cat named Sugar and two kittens who live in the house named Razor and Blade
    annabella @ centurytel dot net

    Reply
  19. Karrie Millheim

    We just got our first cat 6 months ago. I dont know why we never got one before. He is a sweetheart named Caden

    Reply
  20. Hannah D

    2 male cats that are often mistaken for brothers but got the first in Indiana and the second four years later in North Carolina

    Reply
  21. calichristy2

    we rescued a deaf cat(whitey) before she got put at animal control, we adopted wee wee in 2006 from a breeder, and adopted 2more from the SPCA a scottish fold and a persian in 10/2013

    Reply
  22. jenna tomaszewski

    We found our cat; barely had its eyes open, smaller then my hand. It was a few weeks before we could tell its sex. Ended up being a girl we called Reagan. Shes 10 lbs of crazy in a 5lb container but we love her.

    Reply
  23. Melinda Ledbetter

    Mr Ellis was born in my daughter’s attic and was rescued when he fell down in the wall. 17 lbs of wildness wrapped in gray fur, I would use one coupon for myself and use the others to purchase litter to donate to the shelters that have helped with all of the displaced animals from the tornadoes in IL (my town was one that was hit).

    Reply
  24. MsDarkstar

    I have 2 cats, Willow and Crystal. Much like Harley, Willow was thought, when my friend first adopted him, to be a girl. However, when taken to be spayed the vet looked at the cat, looked at the chart, looked at my friend and said “I can’t spay this cat…” when my friend asked why, the vet said “I can NEUTER the cat, but I can’t spay HIM”.

    My friend became a long-haul truck driver and that’s when he came to live with me. He hides in the closet when it rains and he loves my POSSLQ.

    We found Crystal through the local cat rescue. We had lost our second cat, Weedy, a few months earlier and had no intention of getting another cat but POSSLQ said it wouldn’t hurt to “just look”… Next thing I knew, we had Crystal in a carrier and were bringing her home. I swear we had only gone to PetSmart to buy chinchilla food!

    Reply
  25. Julie Myles

    I have three cats, Panini, a Siamese, Flower, a very small sleek black cat, and her brother, Blinky, a shaggy black cat, otherwise known as Adventure Cat.

    Reply

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