Happy Eighth Gotcha Day, Brainball!

The Ballicus Mom, Thomma Lyn, here. It boggles my mind that eight years have gone by so quickly. It seems as though hubby and I have always had Brainball.

We adopted him in August 2001, after neighbors had moved away and heartlessly abandoned him. Their loss was our gain -- we adopted precious Brainball, and he became a member of our family. We had a cruddy little digital camera back in 2001, but I still took plenty of pictures, and here's one of the first pictures I ever took of our Lion Boy. At that time, 2001, his vet estimated him to be 3-4 years old.



From the start, Brainball has been my Kitty Assistant. He helps me while I cook and clean, and he loves to drape himself across my legs as I prop them on my desk. Brainball also loves rubs from his daddy. He's our steadfast and faithful friend. And oh my goodness, does he ever purr! He has the rumbliest, loudest purr I've ever heard. Fitting for a lion, of course.

I'm sure most of the Cat Blogosphere knows this by now *grin*, but when hubby and I adopted Brainball, he was misidentified by the vet as a female cat. And it was only a couple of years ago that a (new) vet, evidently more proficient at telling the sex of very floofy cats, correctly identified Brainball as a boy. Fortunately, Brainball does not seem to have suffered any gender confusion.

We have hundreds upon hundreds of pictures, but sadly, we don't have many from pre-2006. The reason? Thomma Lyn's Hard Drive Crash of 2006. I hadn't backed up all our pictures -- huge and very sad mistake, and we lost many precious pictures. Not all of them were lost, however -- thank goodness. Here are a couple of pictures of Brainball circa 2003-2004:





Brainball was an only cat until late 2004. Then came Dorydoo. And it was -- very nearly, anyhow! -- love at first sight. Brainball was the best big brother imaginable, and he also helped us raise little Dorydoo.



Here are some pictures of Brainball from 2005. What a floofy lion boy he is -- has always been!



And from 2006, in a kitty meatloaf (meaty kitloaf):



And here are some Lounging Lion pictures from 2007, the year the Ballicai started blogging:





Here's precious Brainball in 2008 -- last year!





And 2009 -- Brainball's Eighth Gotcha Year. Happy Gotcha Day, dear Brainball. You are our Alpha Mancat, our floofy lion boy, founder of the Ballicus Dynasty, my household helper, my cooking assistant, and deep friend of my heart. You make me laugh and comfort me when I'm down, and you remind me that joy is to be found in every moment of every day, if you know where to look for it. And you, Brainball, are pure joy.



Momma loves you. I'll love you forever.


And now it's time to party! I'll turn this post over to the Ballicai.

MaoMao: I'm happy not only cuz it's Brainball's Gotcha Day but also cuz my wife and sweetie Ariel is bloggin again! And lookies what we've got fur the party: we've got HAM and CHIKKEN! Efurrybody dig in!





Marilyn MonREOW: And I made my tuna puffs. Please all, help yourselves. Try the salmon, too. It's delicious!





Dorydoo: And check... out... the... NIP! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEAK! And Niptinis! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!





Brainball: Several kitties have asked how I got my name. Well, my actual name is Calamity Jake (it was Calamity Jane when the humans thought I was a girl, *sigh*). But very soon after I was adopted, Mom and Dad started calling me a "Fuzzball with Eyes." That morphed into "Brainball" and it stuck. They've been calling me "Brainball" ever since.

Thanks, friends, for coming to my eighth Gotcha Day party. Everyone get comfortable, help yourself to the buffet, and enjoy. We Ballicai love you, and we're happy to be part of the wonderful Cat Blogosphere!