The Rankin Cats
As you can tell from our domain name, we love cats. We'd have more than our current bunch if we had the space for them. We couldn't fit all their photos on this page. See the 5 other cats .
Tyler was the first of the felines. He was adopted by Allison from the Old Town Animal Shelter. He bonded with one of our other cats so she let him move here to Georgia with us. Ty was born in the spring of '95, so he celebrates his birthday on Valentine's Day.
Dylan and Bobbie soon followed Tyler into the household. They were born March 4, 1996. Bobbie was our first girl-kitty and bonded with Tyler, as you can see from the photo above. She passed away at age 9 in March of 2005. We miss our TuffGirl Kitty more than words can say.
Dylan
Samson was our fourth addition to the fur-family. He was rescued from the woods of Skowhegan, Maine, by Allison's friend Stacey. He was extremely sick, but good vet care and his determined attitude saw him through, though his eyes are permanently "funky" from the experience. He celebrates his birthday as May 10, 1996.
The fifth member of the family was Jordan, who was adopted from the Bangor Humane Society in Maine. Kenny spotted him and pointed him out to me. "He isn't very active" is an observation I have often regretted uttering. He's just the opposite! Jordan was born on April 5, 1997.
No sooner had we adopted Jordan than we found out that a family who had planned to adopt one of my sister's kittens changed their minds and he was headed to the Humane Society. So Pippen became Rankin Cat #6. He was born on May 3, 1997, and is our biggest cat now at nearly 20 pounds.
These six kitties relocated with us from Maine to Georgia in March of 1998 along with our dog Muffin who is now at Rainbow Bridge with our DixieDog.
Buddy & Holly were born in late December 1999 to a cat rescued by friends in Florida, and became lively additions to our family. Holly (RB) unexpectedly passed away on March 28, 2007 at age 7
We suspect that Buddy is part Tonkinese. He has many of the traits, including the amazing aqua-colored eyes, as did Holly.
Soon after we moved to Georgia, we noticed a feral black cat who made our back yard her frequent stop. In mid-May, 2000, she gave birth to a single kitten, and we trapped both, adopted them, and named them Lucy and Cassie. To this day, Lucy remains very shy but sweet. Cassie died in November of 2007.
Just when we thought we certainly would never add more cats to our 10-kitty family, another stray made our back yard her home. She was sweet, very friendly, and pregnant! Kenny brought her indoors in April 2001, and a few days later, on April 19, she gave birth to four boys. Being a huge Beatles fan, of course Kenny named them John, George, Paul and Ringo. Sadly, little Paul had a heart defect and in spite of everyone's best efforts, he passed away. His brothers all are permanent members of the family. Their Momma-CC passed away on November 16, 2002 at about the age of 3.
John
George
Ringo
Little Paul (Rainbow Bridge)