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Hairballs and Whiskers

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Hairballs and Whiskers

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05/11/2026

Well, it's been one week since the last of the H&W crew joined the others. (I miss you so much, Slippers.) Thank you for all of your kind comments. I read every one.

While my heart is still numb, I'm better each day. Yes, The Crew has left me behind, but I'm not alone. I started to share this in February but immediately deleted the post because I just wasn't ready. I guess it's time.

Friends, please meet Dixie. After we suddenly lost Franky to cancer in January, Slippers started to decline. I knew he was sick, but some (supportive) friends told me he was just lonely. They really meant well. I held out for a bit, but on Valentine's Day (what would have been Mr. Uncle Floozie's 22nd birthday) I came home with this cutie. If I'm being honest, it was a last-ditch effort to make Slippers better. I was desperate. Of course, it didn't make him better, and they never became best friends. But I do think her presence gave him comfort during his last 2 1/2 months. (And I didn't feel so guilty leaving him to go to the grocery store.)

Dixie is the sweetest girl. Because of her, I didn't wake up alone the day after Slippers joined the others. For that I thank her. We are working on a relationship that is all our own. I don't want her to just be the one who kept Slippers company or who slept with Slippers and me every night or who was adopted after Franky left us. I want to make memories that belong just to us. It's difficult to not make comparisons to the ones I shared so many years with. She's 11 1/2, so we'll never have 20, or 18, or 15, or even 11 years together. But I'm looking at 60 toward the end of the year, so I'm not exactly a spring chicken. I told her that it's just us old hags, now. 😏

05/04/2026

Please Note:
If you are new to our page or have missed the very few posts made over the past year or so, please take a few minutes to read them before you comment. Social media being...well...social media, I know people sometimes type just to type. Please, please, please, don't make any negative comments about our many recent losses. It's all right there if you just take a few moments. Everyone has been so kind this past year, but I am just protecting my raw feelings. Thank you.

Friends,
Slippers is currently giving his best friend, Johnny, a long-awaited bath while at the same time giving his best frenemy, Franky, a much needed bop on the nose. We had 18 of the most blessed years together, and he was my very best baby boy. The very, very best...

Losing 7 cats in 5 1/2 years has broken my heart.
Losing 5 of those cats in 14 1/2 months has broken ME.

And so...
The Hairballs and Whiskers Crew is all together, again.....except they left me behind. 💔

That's really all I can say at the moment.

05/03/2026

Happy Anniversary, Slippers 🖤

18 years ago today my daughter brought home the absolutely cutest orphaned kitten I had ever seen. He was 2 weeks old, and he has been my best little buddy ever since...my heart. We've had the sweetest 18-year-long journey any duo could ever hope for.

Friends,
Slippers has begun his final journey, one for which I can only stand beside him and hold his paw. I've made him as comfortable as I can this weekend, hoping he will slip away on his own terms. I am meeting his every need, giving him all of my love, and letting him have space when I feel he needs time to rest alone. From his very first bottle feeding, he has given me years of love and silliness. To his very last breath, I will give him love and all of the strength I can muster.

04/19/2026

Happy 18th Birthday, Slippers!

Buddy, you made it. Over these past 3 months, there were certainly times I didn't think we'd see this day. After what we've been through since February 2025, I think you knew I just needed you for a while longer. You may be a bag of bones and mainly live on Churu squeeze treats, there may be potty pads all over the house, I may have to carry you to the potty and clean your bum (and your legs and feet and bikini area), you may have to use stairs to get on the couch and bed, and there may be pillows next to those pet steps because you fell off the side once, but you certainly have more up times than down times. Other than a couple of nights when we actually said our Goodbyes, you still have a light in your eyes. While I can't believe how quickly you've changed since January, I think we still have some good days left.

I'll take whatever I can get. 🖤

By the way, I think you have a little birthday treat stuck to your mouth. 😏

(See Baby Slippers in the Comments.)

01/23/2026

Friends,
Thank you so much for all of your kind words on the loss of our Franky. I have read every one. 🖤

Many of you were with us when we lost Johnny in December of 2020. You may remember that 2 days later Saturn and Jupiter aligned to form The Great Conjunction (on the left). Several of you even sent me photos of your view. Well, tonight, 2 days after we lost Franky, Saturn and the moon are closely aligned (photo on the right with Saturn up and to the left). I am really cheap, and my phone is really old, so the camera is not great at night, but I think you can see them well enough.

No, I do not believe in astrology or celestial bodies aligning and somehow affecting us mere mortals. I have, however, been in love with astronomy and the night sky since I was a child. I also firmly believe that God tosses an occasion wink to His children every now and then. 🙂

01/20/2026

Friends,
Always remember me snuggling my mom like I did in bed last night. Don't ever think of how there was an unknown monster inside of me quietly attaching itself to everything in sight. Please know that I was happy this morning. Then the vet helped me nap while he checked out my insides. I had such wonderful dreams that I was actually excited when I heard they weren't going to wake me wake up. I told Mom Goodbye. I hope she heard me. I love you all.
-StupidHead

Franky Brown 2014-2026

From Me:
I woke up the morning of February 13th, 2025 with FIVE cats. I go to bed tonight with ONE. 💔

01/17/2026

Friends,
*sigh*
I didn't even want to post this, but many of you have been with us through the good and the bad for years. A lot of bad since December of 2020... So much bad in 2025... Plus, we could really use your prayers. I can't believe we are here, again.

Franky will be going in on Tuesday (1/20/26) for exploratory surgery. My brain is still struggling to fully wrap around this. Not to be overly dramatic, but I'm just too mentally drained to write out a full explanation, so I'm just going to copy and paste what I wrote to my daughter:

"Long story short:
I took him in Monday because he has been off. He'd lost 2 lbs since he went in November for his allergies. Bloodwork showed slight hyperthyroidism and high glucose. The vet wanted to recheck the blood and urine glucose on Wednesday to make sure it wasn't from stress before we treated. While using the ultrasound to find the bladder, he saw a large mass on his intestine. He highly suspected a certain cancer. He aspirated and sent to the lab. No obvious cancer cells were found, but there was immense inflammation which could make it hard to get to them with the aspiration. There was more blah blah blah in the report. The best way is to go in and see what is there then remove something, get an actual biopsy, find something that needs medications, or, if it's something so bad or that has spread, let him go."

So, that's where we stand. When the vet called me last night (Friday) with the latest results, he even offered to stay after hours and do the surgery today (Saturday). Franky is feeling much better after a few things the vet did on Wednesday, so we didn't feel the rush was necessary. But Franky is now trying to convince me that the new food pyramid guidelines state that squeeze treats are currently included in the group of foods that should be consumed the most. 😉

So, please say a prayer or two for our little StupidHead. If you've never called a cat StupidHead, then you've never truly loved a cat. 😹

01/02/2026

Happy 12th Birthday, Franky!!!

Those of you who have been with us since way back when will remember when Franky aka Franklin aka Franky Spanky Panky W***y aka FRANKenstein aka Frahnk aka StupidHead joined us 11 1/2 years ago. He was something else 🙄 from the start. If ever there was a cat who is a CAT, it's this goon. 😆

I rarely post here anymore because circumstances just made it not fun, anymore. (None of the page followers did anything.) But, because many of you were vested in the lives of the H&W cats, I still post major updates. So, you know that 2025 was a difficult year for us. I started the year with 5 cats, yet I begin 2026 with just 2...and one of them is this do**us. 😉

So let's give a big birthday shout out to this guy...or a nose smooch...or a belly scratch...or a poke in the eye. It's your choice. 😄

09/17/2025

In 2007, a tiny, filthy, flea-ridden 3-week-old kitten made her way into my hands. She was a mess from her very first day to her very last. Floozie (just Floozie at the time) immediately thought she was all that, and she adored him right back. They grew so close that I felt their relationship had the appearance of being a bit inappropriate, as he was 3 1/2 to her 3 weeks. 😉 So...you know where this is going...he became Uncle Floozie. She was even Cousin Mangy for a time.

As my husband laid Mangy to rest today beside her once beloved Mr. Uncle Floozie (she kinda grew too cool and grouchy for him later 😁), Flooze told my husband (or so he says), "I got this from here." 🖤

Together from her first day with us until he passed away just 12 short days ago- but (with the aid of this photo beside her) to her last breath...

Mang Yang Mangy CrazyMang The Mangler Maaaaange Brown
2007-2025

09/16/2025

Friends,
I can't believe I am making this post so soon after Mr. Uncle Floozie left us, but you have supported us for so many years that I know many of you love the H&W cats.

Mangy will be joining our Sexy Beast tomorrow (9/17). If anyone has lived life and ALL 18 years of her life, it's this CrazyMang. She's been an extreme hoot!

So, I do not focus on the past 3 years of diagnosis after diagnosis. I don't focus on this past year of setbacks, especially the past few months. I don't focus on the turn she has taken the past couple of days.

I remember my promise to her to know when it is time. I remember how her nails turned my hands and forearms into ground beef every time she took her bottle with such exuberance. And I don't have to remember the chew marks she left on the corners of some of the bedroom furniture and what is now my craft table...because I see them daily. 😏

After she has joined her "uncle" tomorrow, I will make a post that I think will give us all a much-needed smile. Please join us for that.

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