PH2LB shack on the internet.

Shack pets

This page was last updated : 06-Jan-25 14:56:20

Itze

Every time time when I go to the shack in the attic, my girlfriend's cat Itze comes trotting behind me to sit on the desk or on the blanket on top of a stack of boxes.
QSOs, soldering fumes, noise from PCB drilling, etc. don't seem to matter to him and he's completely fine with it. 

  

  

And then there comes the time we all know it's going to happen. Our beloved round fluffy friend, buddy and shackcat Itze became very ill and suffered epileptic seizures. After a few vet visits, things seemed to get better but the after 2 weeks, in the evening he suffered such a severe epileptic attack that, despite everything we and the vet tried, lasted so long that he suffered irreparable brain damage that he would no longer have any quality of life. That's why XYL and I have made one of the most difficult decisions we can make. Without any more pain, Itze crossed the rainbow bridge and is now SK. He had just turned 10. Our house and shack won't be the same.

This was the last photo of Itze we took from him that faithful day. 

  

Shack cat Itze 2008 - 2018/08/20

Moppie aka Monster

In December 2018, while we where still grieving about the loss of Itze, and me sitting at home with a severe burn-out, we receive a phone call from a friend of the XYL. We where asked if we could like to give an elderly cat (10 years old) a forever home because the owner could no longer take care of the cat.

Because every cat deserves a for-every-home, we decided to visit and see if there was a click between the cat and us. And sure it did and on the first day of 2019 our friend brought the cat called Monster*.

* - she was called monster because when she was a kitten, he and her sister (SK) trashed a very expensive leather couch. 

Monster became my rock during my burnout. She was the one who waked me up in the morning with licks, was the one who came to me before I self even know I would have a anxiety attack,
keeps me company at my "home office" and ensured that I take regular breaks during the day when I was working from home.

In the evenings, she likes to lie with us on the couch in the evening (preferably on my lap or under a blanket) and comes with us to bed.

And just like Itze, she is a real shack cat who likes to sleep or just lay in her basket when I'm in the new shack. 

 

After a year or so, due to her very warm and loving personality towards us, we decided to give her a new name. So we gave here the name Moppie (Dutch for sweet or lovely person).
And when you call her Monster (my father sometimes does that), she lets you know by a whining meow or even a hiss, that she doesn't like her old name (or maybe just to show that she still got it).  

 

Although she is very loving towards us, she is very territorial towards other cats. Even at an age of 16, she doesn't have any problems fighting adult cats, who "accidentally" enter our garden. 
Our sweet neighbor cat Tobby (4 years old male) sometimes visits our front garden, but when Moppie finds out, its trouble.

But when Moppie is sleeping on her blanket on the windowsill, Tobby comes to visit the safest way for him : Zoo style. 

As you can see, she is not impressed at that moment (because she was just waking up from a nap), 1 second later, it was all growling and hissing against Tobby again.
But because he knows he is safe, he just sits there. And after a minute Moppie cools down and she is starting a staring contest.

 

 

More shack pets 

On the dutch ham radio forum zendamateur.com there is a extensive thread about shack pets.

Read it at : https://www.zendamateur.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15758 (and google translate is your friend if you can't read Dutch).

 

---