Peppe Goes To That Big Litterbox In The Sky...

Longtime readers of this blog will remember when I randomly adopted a large orange Persian back in 2007. I never knew exactly how old Peppe was, but when I saw him on Petfinder, I knew he was too gorgeous to stay in a shelter. And so, like Eddie Murphy in Coming To America, I went to Queens. Queens!

Peppe has been out in Pennsylvania for the last few months with Tom's parent. Two days ago he curled up to sleep, and never woke up. It's good to know that a scruffy shelter cat from Queens, by way of Italy, spent his last days in a big suburban home and eating proscuitto with his sidekick, Val.

Peppe On Hind Legs

, originally uploaded by La Pauline.

Ever since he got his lion's cut Peppe has been full of energy and vim. Now it seems he's trying to hold himself up on two legs. What's next, developing opposable thumbs?

It's Peppe In A Box!

It's Peppe In A Box!, originally uploaded by La Pauline.

Pep, who spends most nights literally sleeping on my head, was curled up in a little box this morning. He took up every square inch of it.

It reminds me of another orange and white Persian who likes boxes. Mozart!

Peppe: The Ultimate Napping Machine

Think you're going to nap peacefully on your couch? Not if Peppe's around!

It's Friday, so I'm posting some cat pics.

Signs Of Summer

Peppe got a lion's cut! He's ready for the beach...

The multiplexes are full of summer blockbusters.

Chums: Peppe And Valentino

The furballs enjoyed a quiet Saturday afternoon together.

Happy Sunday! It's Peppe In A Tub!

Peppe in a Tub!, originally uploaded by La Pauline.

We've had Mozart in a Box before. Here's Peppe in a tub.

A Little Peppe For Your Wednesday

Peppe Tries To Uphold The Food Chain -- And Fails

If there was ever an arguement not declaw your cat, this would be it. I didn't declaw Peppe, it's just the way he came from the shelter.

I came home from work today around 6:00 p.m., and Peppe, as usual, was at the door, eager to greet me. I then turned the corner and saw this guy cowering in a corner.


Let's rewind: last night when I was reading I heard a clanging in the kitchen. Peppe was swatting a mouse by the oven, but since he doesn't have any claws the mouse got away. For the rest of the night and through most of the morning Peppe sat in front of the oven, waiting for the mouse to come out again.

Apparently the mouse did come out and it seemed like Peppe killed it, since this was the scene when I got home.


Since I thought the mouse was dead, I went to get a bag to put it in so I could toss it in the trash room. Little did I know Stuart Little was just playing dead, because no sooner did I I go looking for a bag did Round Two between Peppe and the mouse break out.


The mouse was smaller and spryer than Pep, and quickly dashed back under the dishwasher. For the past two hours Peppe has been sititng like this, waiting for it to come out again.


Now, if Peppe had just had some claws, he could have killed the mouse and had a little trophy, just like a normal cat.

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Vote for Peppe!

Peppe In A Box!

We all loved Mozart in a box last year, and now it seems that Peppe is keeping the traditional of orange cats in a box alive. I think that he needs a box that he actually fits in.

Peppe And The Cat Grass

One of Peppe's many fans got him a pot of at grass yesterday, and it was a big hit with the orange guy. I don't know what cat grass is supposed to do, but Pep sure likes to chew on it.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

Amazing Photos of Peppe

If you haven't seen these shots on Flickr or Facebook already, here is the story: This past weekend I was busy officiating a wedding, snow shoeing and basically being out and about. I didn't want to leave Peppe alone in a dark apartment for so long, so I sent him over to TR's apartment, which is high in the sky and drenched in sunlight. TR, an art guy, took these wonderful shots of Pep during his visit. Oddly, if Pep were any other color other than orange, I don't think these photos would work as well as they do.

Forget for a moment that these are photos of Peppe, who is awesome in his own right. Instead, try to appreciate these shots for their artistic qualities: the use of natural light, composition and color. TR nailed it each time.

These are a few of my favorites.

On the prowl




Plotting his escape


Bird watching

I left Peppe with a friend who is an art director this weekend while I was away and busy. He took many a shot of Pep in his sun-drenched apartment, the best of which I will post in the next day or so. Peppe has enough personality on his own, but TR really brought it out full throttle. I am in awe.

Peppe Went To The Vet Today!

PeppeVet, originally uploaded by La Pauline.

There's a vet right across the street from me, but my friend Dr. Kim practices on the Upper East Side and I brought Peppe to her this morning. He's in great shape except for a few things:

1. Peppe has a heart murmur! Apparently this isn't that big of a deal in cats, but it's something to look out for.

2. He needs some serious dental work. I don't know what the people who had Peppe before me fed him, but Peppe's got the teeth of an old cat. He might even need some pulled.

3. Peppe hates travel, which is odd for an animal that is originally from Italy. He was very polite throughout the whole exam, even when they stuck a thermometer up his butt. He didn't even make a peep. I don't think I would have been so quiet had I been in his position.

4. He is a healthy 9.5 pounds.

Shelter cats are kind of like used cars. You're pretty much just inheriting someone else's problems. But they're cute, furry problems!

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Since it's a rainy Friday...

Peppe Has Almost 3,000 Diggs!

He's on his way to internet stardom.

Seriously, I think this cat needs an agent.

Peppe Is Officially ICanHasCheezburger-Approved

Last night I got a note from one of the people at Icanhascheezburger because they were linking Peppe's photo back to my Flickr gallery of him. They also want more shots of Peps for future LOLCat adventures. I am such a proud cat parent.

Here's the nice note:
***

I'm Emily from the lolcats site I Can Has Cheezburger? We had a submission of one of your pictures of Peppe that was captioned today. It was originally not attributed, but we found out that it was actually your picture.

I changed the credit and linked to your Flickr orignal photo after seeing pictures of Peppe (what a face!) and I wanted to let you know that it was on our site.

Your pictures of Peppe are fantastic and we would love to have your permission to keep this picture up and upload other pictures of Peppe onto our site so more people can caption him.

He definitely is quite photogenic and has quite a look about him!

And with any of your photos that are used, we would always credit you and link to your flickr page.

We get quite a bit of traffic (hundreds of thousands of people a day) and there's less than 1/2 of 1% chance of a picture making it to the homepage.

Thanks!
Emily

Peppe Really Is A LOLCat!!!

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This morning I logged onto Icanhascheezburger and look who I saw! Peppe!

It seems that after I made a LOLCat of him a few weeks ago they kept the picture on file and someone else put up a different caption on it. People have even made all sorts of comments about him.

I am a proud cat parent!