Our wonderful domestic short hair stray that we allowed into our home and hearts. Little did we know that Franklin would soon become an integral part of our family. He is estimated to be 18 years old and still purrs when you mention his name or give him some attention.
What a nice story and happy ending for Franklin!
Our 1st Siamese, Ming lived to 21 1/2.
Lucky Franklin :O)
WOW, reading about Echo, how much fun is this little guy !! I just love that, how smart! f-mattox lucky you to have him !
gdjoslin, I have stared at Bubba and I swear as much as I am a cat person and go to shows etc, I can't remember ever seeing a cat with jet black whiskers, he is so darn beautiful, so too is freckle nose Boomer, but those balck whisker are something ~ ya got to love it !!!
They are all awesome! I'll have to get pictures of our brood. We have 5 dogs (strays) and 2 cats (strays). My hubby swears there's a sign out in front saying "drop all unwanted pets here". He's right, I can't stand to see abandoned and neglected animals.
Sampson having a bad fur day. He wanted to "play" with some squirrels and couldn't. He is 11 years old. I took him in when he was only a few weeks old from a pet shop the city was closing down for bad conditions.
Sampson in adorable; we had a cat very much like him once. We normally have 2-3 around the house, but have cut back since Mollie is not very tolerant of cats. Nothing bothers Echo.
I used to have 3 cats here too. My oldest was Bud a short hair cat with similar colors. He was my "Buddy" for 18 years. My other cat was a calico named Lucy, she was about 8 when she got sick. It broke my heart so bad. Sampson spent a month looking for each of them after. They sorta raised him and he was lost.
Echo knowing all those words and phrases amazes me. Such a beautiful bird as well. How long have you had him? I can't imagine a pet talking to me. Sometimes I wonder what they would say. It must be like Dr. Dolittle some mornings for you.
My son and his wife had Echo for about 4 years; but when their first child came along Echo became very jealous and aggressive toward the baby. They were going to give her up for adoption (Echo, that is--not the baby)but by then we knew Echo and she knew us; so we offered to take her.
At first we thought she was just mimicking what she heard--not really talking; and that is mostly true. But she does actually have some cognitive ability. For example, she never says good night in the morning; or good morning at night. She only says goodbye when you leave the room and hi when you enter. She only says water when you turn on the faucet or take water from the cooler. She only calls Mollie when she hears Mollie bark--not when any of the neighbors' dogs bark. If I ask her, "where's my kitty", she meows; if I ask her "where's the doggie", she goes wuf wuf wuf; if I ask her "where's my piggie", she snorts; if I ask her "where's my ducky", she quacks like a duck. She only asks for grapes or apples or crackers when she actually sees them, and never mixes them up. So there is real intelligence there.
Other African Grays like "Einstein" and another whose name escapes me were actually taught to distinguish colors, shapes, materials (wood, plastic, etc.) and numbers. You could ask Einstein "how many blue squares" on a tray full of different shapes and colors and he would give the correct answer. I have no such plans for Echo; I'm sure she could do it but I don't have that kind of patience.
Oh, Alex is the other celebrity talking gray; there are many videos of Alex and Einstein on YouTube.
I've hopefully posted pix of Dash & Squeak, the two black cats we adopted from a no-kill shelter last July 4th. The names are self-explanatory. No, they are not siblings, but were fostered together. They came as a "two-fer". Yes, their whiskers are black.
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