Man-Cat Monday with Tanner ...

Hey, everybody!  Tucker's mom here again!  (I promise that I'll keep my posts to a minimum, since the "kids" seem to be doing such a good job of blogging on their own!)

Anyway, since Man-Cat Monday seems to be a pretty universal theme here in blog-land, I thought I'd share a few recent snaps and a brief bio of MY main man-cat, Tanner!  Tanner is a four year old domestic shorthair who's been with me since six weeks of age (like his adopted feline siblings, he was also a feral kitten, and the only one of the three who still had his mother by the time he was trapped).  I'd never had a male cat before Tanner, and I'd always heard all the talk from friends who'd had both genders about how amazingly sweet the boys were.  Frankly, I didn't much believe it.  All my girl kitties had been plenty sweet, and certainly Olivia, though she did have some Diva-ish tendencies, was no exception to this.  But NOTHING could have prepared me for Tanner! 

When I trapped him it was with the intent to find him a loving home, but within about 24 hours, I was completely smitten with the little guy, and when a cat-loving friend whom I'd enlisted to help me find a home for him called to say she'd found the perfect one, I had to turn her down.  I just couldn't imagine letting him go.  Now, four years later, I love him even more than I did then, and with the exception of having a penchant for playing a bit rougher than his sister The Diva appreciates, he seems to only get sweeter with each passing day.  He has the softest, most gentle expression in his eyes, the most adorable freckles on his nose, and the sweetest, quietest little meow I've ever heard.  (Lest you get the idea, though, that he's not tough enough to be man-cat material, let me also just say that he is not all sweetness and light.  He does, for example, have a habit of enforcing a strict mealtime schedule, and if breakfast has not been served by 6:30 am at the latest, I can count on the first thing I see in the morning being one of his front paws as he attempts to peel back my eyelid with his foot to encourage me to rise, greet the day, and get breakfast in front of him!) 

Suffice it to say, I love this guy a lot, but though I'm sure I could ramble on for many more paragraphs, if not pages, I'll end here and just get the pictures put up!

See - I'm a really tough man-cat!  Look at my teeth!

And see my fancy stripes ...

This is my "lion pose" ...

And this is my No-Nonsense "I am the Man-Cat of this house!" look ...

Excuse me - something behind me has caught my attention ...

And now I must give my manly stripes a quick washing ...

Observe my noble, and oh-so-manly profile ...



Just kidding ... I'm really just a (sweet, loveable) pussycat!  Shh ... don't tell! (And also don't tell a certain Meezer that I have a super duper secret crush on her!  OK?)



Happy Man-Cat Monday, everybody!