Postings To Begin Soon

I will soon begin recording Ashley's illness on the pages of this journal. I currently have them in a bound journal. I can tell y'all that I have tried to search the Internet for her disease, Hodgkins-like Lymphoma in cats, but have not been very successful. So, I thought I would post my journal of what has happened leading up to and including her diagnosis and treatment. I will also try to include a picture of Ashley soon, as well.

Ashley is a black and white cat. She was born approx. May 14, 2000. She was found by my brother, an automotive mechanic, along with her sister, Cindy-Lu, and another sibling in a car that was towed to him needing repair. The kittens were staying within the engine compartment. He caught Cindy and brought her to me to care for. Ashley bit him and ran off, scared. The other sibling was caught the next day or so. The owner took the third sibling back "to shut the mother up". Ashley hung around but wasn't caught until November 1, 2000.

The Name Game. Cindy was named Cindy becasue she reminded us of cinders with her black and white. Cindy is followed with "Lu" because at the time we had another stray - a Russian Blue - named Misty-Blu. When he caught Ashley, he called me to pick her up. We tried to keep their names similar. We named her Ashley for ashes and followed it with another southern-sounding name: Mae. Since, we have had another black and white kitty "delivered" to us somehow. She appeared on the back deck mysteriously. We live out in the country with a 6 foot fence around the back yard and back deck with an additional foot of wire going around the top to keep the dogs in the yard. One of the dogs use to climb the fence when he was younger. Anyway, the new black and white kitty we named Katy Rose. Katy is short for St. Catherine of Sienna (the patronness of fire protection - figured we needed the protection with two cats named for the end result of fire) and Rose for the Rosary, a prayer offered to Mary for her intercession with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, her son.

Please return soon for the beginning of Ashley's Journal...Thanks!