From commentor Amy:
Here’s our darling Gabrielle Marie, better known as Gabby, Gabber, Babber, Babby, Babbo or Babbalona. She came into our lives on January 20, 1994. She was a few months old according to the estimate of the cat rescuer we got her from, making her 17 years old this October.
__
We were meant to have Gabby. The apartment building I lived in before getting married had a resident gray cat who was what we called a “big talker.” This cat had personality plus, and my then-fiance and I were in love with her. After we got married, Mark pushed me to get a cat. I reluctantly agreed (I’m a clean freak, hate cat hair, etc.) so we tried the local animal shelter and they didn’t have any younger cats. I found an ad in the paper, called it and was elated to discover that the available cat was gray! She had been abandoned on the porch of a lady who was known to take in stray cats and the rescue lady thought Gabby had been abused by a male, because she didn’t seem to like or trust men.
__
We fell in love with her immediately and have loved her ever since. I consider her my “first born,” since our daughter didn’t come along until 1995. Gabby is spoiled rotten, and is the best cat EVER. She has never been as comfortable with Mark as she is with me and Meg (our daughter), but she loves all of us, too.
__
I can tell that Gabby is feeling her age. It’s harder for her to jump up onto the bed, she doesn’t like to go out as much as she used to, and she seems to crave warmth more than usual and has taken to laying right on top of me even if I’m on my stomach. As soon as she gets comfortable, she purrs LOUDLY. I don’t mind. I love that cat so.
__
P.S. Gabby has a bit of Tunchnicity as you can see by the picture.
MeDrewNotYou
17? Wow! She looks pretty good for her age. I like her Tunchiness and the look she’s giving you (Why the hell did you wake me up? A picture?!). It must also be interesting for your daughter to have a big sister that’s a cat. I’m guessing most kids are big brothers/sisters to the furriest family members, not being beaten up and told there’s no Santa by them.
stuckinred
A funny letter to the NYT about CATS!
“What cats lack in retail homage, they do make up for in embroidered quotations and cheesy poetry. In her more flowery days, Drew Barrymore reflected that “if I die before my cat, I want a little of my ashes put in his food so I can live inside him.”
DPirate
WTF Lisa Murkowski write-in candidacy advertisements ?!?
Hey, it’s a fat cat thread…
wilfred
More deadbeats: go get ’em banks:
It’s common sense actions like this that give me hope.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101014/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
SapphireCate
woke up to find a gillion copies of this photo (and several videos and other pix from the same Rose Garden press conf) in my email. One of those families standing behind the president… those are my cousins. Cool!
Rosalita
my first impression of that photo was that this is a gray version of Tunch, and then I read that in the the p.s. — so true!
so happy you have had so many good years with Gabby! I took in a stray kitten in ’96. he’s fourteen now and still acts like a kitten in many ways.
Rosalita
@stuckinred:
love the article, thanks for posting the link!
Mum
Beautiful cat!
debbie
Since this is an open thread and although it will likely surprise no one, NPR checked into the filings that political groups have to submit when buying ad time on TV and found sloppy and incomplete paperwork:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130551853
Audio will be available after 9 am.
Linda Featheringill
Good morning, Gabby. Such a pretty kitty!
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Old catzez are the bestez kittehs!
Please give Gabby a scritch for me. We’ve never had one live past 17. We currently have one at 17 and how he’s lived this long is amazing.
Kristine
Beautiful grey kitty!
Steeplejack
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
My last two went 18 and 20 years, respectively. One was a black street rescue, the other a purebred Russian blue. Completely different backgrounds, so it seems the only constant is that if you get into the Steepleton Arms you have scored the platinum rewards program.
I can’t have a cat now, but I will be getting back into the market at some point.
WereBear
Lovely kitty. Those steely gray ones are marvy. And I’m partial to black and whites. But of course there’s the tabbies…
I’ve gotten to 17 with my longest lived cat, so far, but it’s really a genetic crapshoot. Smaller cats seem to have an edge, but my 17 year old was a big, long boy with a lot of Siamese from somewhere.
Trinity
She is gorgeous!
asiangrrlMN
Gabby is just beautiful. I love the look she’s giving you. Great story, too.
Annie
She is awesome. I love the part where to get warm she snuggles with you and purrs loudly — sure warms my heart.
kideni
What a beauty! And such a contented kitty in that pic — the look of love and the carpet kneading are so sweet. I can almost hear the purring.
Paul in KY
Great kitty! I have a grey female just the same shade. Real loving girl, kinda high strung though. Hates all other cats, except her buddy CB.
Damned at Random
Beautiful old girl. At 17, the Tunchitude hasn’t done her any harm. If you aren’t too tidy freaky, you can put a stair box by the bed to help her up. I’m a belly sleeper, too, and my old Siamese loves to sleep in the small of my back – of course, she isn’t as big a load of love as Gabby. It’s lucky you found each other all those years ago
FIONA
She’s beautiful.
Ab_Normal
We purchased a cedar chest and placed it at the foot of our bed to ease the path for our old arthritic kitteh. Classier than those pet steps they sell on the tee-vee…
Edward G. Talbot
Thanks for posting. We had a gray cat born August 1993 who just succumbed to kidney disease last year. He was magnificent, as is this one.
Amy
Thanks for the nice comments. And yes, Meg does consider Gabby her “sissy.”