Once upon a time in the Lost Woods of Colorado…

Just kidding! We don’t live in the woods and we’re not lost. People can find us very easily and do – they come to visit kittens all the time!

My name is Shira and I’m the Queen of Everything at LostWoods. LostWoods is just a name. Lisa-mom says it’s really a dream name – a dream about her and Ken-dad living out in the woods on some mountain away from people. Not FAR away, just far enough away that they aren’t looking out their window at someone else’s window. For now we live in a town and we only have a few trees. Some of them are big enough to climb and I like to go exploring in our yard and check them out. Lisa-mom doesn’t let me do that very often, though. She can be a big pain sometimes!

My job today is to introduce you to all of us at LostWoods so when you read our stories you’ll know who we are. Oh, I won’t introduce all the kittens that have lived here – they do that themselves! I’m just going to tell you about us permanent residents.

Like I said, I’m Shira. I’m the oldest of us Norwegian Forest Cats here. Lisa-mom picked me out in a picture to be her first wegie and she flew half way across the country to pick me up in person. When she got there, my Mindy-mom said lisa-mom could take a different kitten home, but she still chose me. Of course! I’ve loved my lisa-mom ever since we spent the night in the hotel room and she played with me with a bright orange feather. She let me sleep on her bed and whenever I cried because I missed my first family, she talked to me and I cuddled up closer to her. I’m pretty certain that’s when I became the Queen of Everything.

I’m not the oldest cat at LostWoods. That title goes to Zeke, or Uncle Zekie, as we call him. Zeke isn’t a Forest Cat. Lisa-mom and our two legged brother Justin picked out Zeke at a shelter and brought him home before I ever was born. Zeke is a very nice cat, even if he isn’t a Forest Cat. He’s very patient with everyone at LostWoods. And he loves being on laps. It’s a good thing someone does, because we wegies aren’t especially fond of lap-sitting.

About the same time lisa-mom brought Zeke home, she also got a cat named Maggie Mayhem from the shelter. Maggie used to be our friend, but when Talia and Peanut arrived and I had my first kittens, she decided she didn’t like anyone any more. She especially didn’t like Peanut. So now Maggie lives on a farm with lisa-mom’s brother. Lisa-mom says Maggie likes it there – she’s the only cat who gets to stay inside the house and she doesn’t have to put up with all us other cats any more. Even though Maggie doesn’t live with us any more, she is in some of our stories.

The next oldest Norwegian Forest Cat here is Talia. Talia is sometimes called “Princess” although I don’t think Ken-dad means it in a nice way when he says it. But lisa-mom does. She says Talia is a show princess and she always wants the kittens to have Talia’s princess attitude when she takes them to shows. Talia is pretty quiet at home, but at shows she’s a real drama queen, posing for the judges like she owns the world. I don’t mind Talia. She’s a pretty good mom-cat and she doesn’t argue with me about who should be Queen of Everything.

Peanut’s real name is Star Shadow, but nobody ever calls him that. He’s the first boy to live at LostWoods. He’s Talia's, Bria's, and my boyfriend sometimes and I’ve got to say, he makes some good looking kids. Someday when he and Talia are older, I think they will retire together because they’ve always been best friends. 

Bria is the third girl here. Bria is very shy and she’s scared of me. I don’t know why. I’m only swatting her to remind her that I’m the Queen. Everyone else seems to understand that, but Bria acts like I’m trying to kill her or something. She’s a really good mom-cat though (better than Talia, really) so I leave her alone when she has kittens in the house. And she’s really sweet with my kittens, so I leave her alone then, too.

The last cat that came to LostWoods (at least for now) is Comet. Comet is our other boyfriend, but he doesn’t live with us all the time. He stayed with us for a few months when he was a kitten, but then he went to live with his Brenda-mom. (We call her Aunt Brenda.) Comet and Peanut don’t get along – I guess they are competing for which of them us girls love best – so he can’t live here all the time. But he says living with Aunt Brenda is great ‘cause she spoils him all the time.

So there you have it – the LostWoods cats. We like to tell stories about our adventures. Lisa-mom likes to tell stories about the things we do – some of them aren’t very flattering to us, but she thinks you’ll enjoy laughing at us. And the kittens… well, the kittens always have something to say. Sit back, relax, and read all about us in the Cat Tails from the LostWoods.