Happy 9th Birthday to my Charlie!

Lately, I have been watching YouTube videos about the power of manifestation. Charlie is an example of that.

As many of you know, my Aunt adopted the first Ragdoll in our family back in the early 1980s. His name was Halston – and he was an awesome cat. He was seal mitted with a blaze too. So it’s no wonder that I like the color pattern as he was the first cat I fell in love with.

Years later, when I was creating Floppycats.com and creating the Ragdoll colors and patterns pages, I Googled images of seal mitted with a blaze and found this cat:

I thought that Dandenong Tora Rhianne was the most gorgeous cat I had ever seen.  I reached out to Ciara Ragdolls and found out that they were in Germany…so that wasn’t going to happen (getting a kitten from Germany).  But I printed the photo and also kept it on a vision board.

Years later (2009) when my cat Rags (the real reason this website exists) passed away at the age of 19.5 years old, I began my search for kittens.  Well, I actually had already started the process while he was alive because I knew he didn’t have a lot of time left.  I wanted to get a kitten that was related to Rags.  So I searched on PawPeds for Rags’ father (the breeder wasn’t sure which of his dams were Rags’ mother because Rags came to us with his half brother Cosby – they both had the same father, Ragnarok Thor.  So we were able to search for that).  From that search, I was able to locate breeders in the USA that had breeding cats that were related to Thor and therefore related to my Rags.

It was about 5 breeders that I had on my list (met my criteria for “good breeders” and had cats related to Rags that were breeding) – and I didn’t want to put a deposit down.  I am a believer in fate and “knowing” when I see the kitten – so I just decided to continue to check those 5 websites every now and again to see if new kittens were listed.

Several months after Rags had passed, I had gone to Albuquerque for 6 weeks, and while in Albuquerque one night, I had my laptop on my lap and I was browsing those 5 breeders websites when I saw this:

My heart sank.  I knew he was mine.  I couldn’t have emailed the breeder, Lora Tesh of Soulmate Ragdolls, fast enough.  I didn’t really have the money for him nor was I probably emotionally ready for him – but I knew he was mine, and I had to make it happen.

Ironically, Lora had named him, “Casey” – which if you say that out loud also sounds like, “KC” – which is where I live.

Well, Casey became Charlie.  And Charlie became mine.  He is not related to my Rags – but he is the reason I have Trigg – Trigg is related to my Rags and was born about 1 month after Charlie.  Or maybe Trigg is the reason I have Charlie as I wouldn’t have been on Soulmates’ website without Trigg’s mother (related to Rags).

Now on to my Charlie.  The day I picked him up.  My mom and I flew out to North Carolina and then drove about 45 minutes to get him.  I took this photo in our rental car on the way back to the airport.  He DID NOT want to be in that carrier and wasn’t scared from day 1.

I remember that day and looking at him and not really KNOWING him, like I knew my Rags.  But now, I can look at that photo and I see Charlie – I know that little bugger so well now.

Charlie has been a blessing for me in so many ways, and I have to admit that I favored him over Trigg for many years.  I think it was because he was the color pattern I had always dreamed of, and also had a personality that I understood – whereas Trigg was more of a cat personality (that I don’t always understand, but Trigg has helped me gained insight and awareness with that).

Charlie has always had a great coat – it’s a different coat though than I’ve ever known a Ragdoll to have, and it wasn’t until a veterinarian in Scandinavia that watches our YouTube channel told me that his coat was a crepe coat that I understood his coat.  I really just thought he was neurotic.

Charlie is a proud cat.  He is an independent cat.  Fears only the vacuum cleaner.  No dog, cat, raccoon, possum, etc. will stop him – just the vacuum cleaner.

He’s never been scared of dogs, even though he has never lived with one (well, he did for 2 weeks when he was a kitten because he lived at my parents’ house while I was trying to find a home for a kitty that I found on the side of a CVS Pharmacy – but not really other than that). I introduced him to my parents’ Tucker (RIP) the second day he was home.  But even with my parents’ new, German Shepherd, Parker, he just puts Parker in his place immediately, as if he has known dogs his whole life.  Chiggy, on the other hand…

Charlie fits the Ragdoll description of a “puppy cat” – he is very much like a dog – follows me, meows at me and wants my attention (often more than I want to give it).  Yet, he is patient, sweet and kind too.  He responds well to what I ask of him too…or even when I don’t like these coming at you videos.

Charlie has been a dream for me when it comes to product reviews – he is engaging for our videos and also makes great eye contact with me when I am trying to get photos of the cat with the products.  I think he knows his job and it’s importance.

Charlie makes many people instantly smile and that’s true for my Dad too.  I have always admired Charlie for his ability to always make my Dad smile.  Many people are also inclined to play rough with him when they meet him – there is something about him that gets you all riled up.  I didn’t discover it until later, but Charlie responds very well to sweetness.

He likes to sleep in the sink – almost year around now.

And his appetite is usually all about “cheats” (Whole Life Pet Treats) and dry food.  He is a dry food addict – I had him off of dry food for several years, but a few summers ago he lost a lot of weight from the heat and never gained it back in the winter, and I couldn’t get him to eat.  So I reintroduced the dreaded dry food again – he gets 2 tablespoons a day – one in the morning and one at night.  He has wet food the remainder of the time.

After he eats wet food in the evening, he LOVES to knead on me.

Charlie has many names…including, but not limited to:

• Charliemansers
• Wubbie
• Bubbie
• Sers-zzzz (the end of “mansers” with a Z added)
• Wub
• Boo

Charlie loves to go outside every day…and I supervise them while they stay in our fenced yard.  He really gets cabin fever if he is not let out.

On Sunday nights, after I have taken out the trash, Charlie and I sit on my front stoop.  He sits in my lap and smells and smells and smells.  Somehow he knows he is not allowed to leave my lap.  He loves trash night.  (Chiggy doesn’t show interest in doing the same, otherwise I would take him too.)

Charlie without a doubt sees ghosts, and he closes his eyes and opens them again as if he is having a conversation with them.  I appreciate his awareness as it heightens mine.

I feel very blessed to have had 9 years with Charlie, and I pray that I have many, many more.

Happy 9th Birthday to my Wub Boo.