Cat Lady No. 217...Birthday Girl

There are 8GR8CATS that would like to wish a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to a very special Crazy Cat Lady, the vivacious and charming Carm. Quite apropos, Carm is a Leo, and takes great pride in her pride of beautiful cats.


Until fairly recently, believe it or not, Carm had been a dog person. Then one fateful night a dark, mysterious stranger entered her life. Puff-Kitty Silhouette appeared as if by magic as a stray and started making nightly appearances at Carm's and her husband Randy's back door. "Being a solid black colored cat, only her peridot-colored eyes would shine in the night as she made plaintive pleas to let her come in so that we could become her PURRsons...Puffy worked her black feline magic and opened our hearts and the door to our home! "

The next summer "when we found out that a family friend's momma barn cat had kittens, we thought it would be delightful to add a kitten... or perhaps two! The fabulous kitty boys Sunshine-Kitty and Moonlight-Kitty were next to join our cat family. Puffy took over as an adoptive mother cat as they were only 6 weeks old."

At the suggestion of a friend, Carm and Randy went to a Cat Fanciers Association cat show and fell in love with the Maine Coon Breed... "The next spring momma barn cat had her spring litter and there among a litter of short-haired barn kittens was this little fluffy cream and white kitten that looked just like the Maine Coon kittens I had been drooling over... Furbert Leo Cappuccino joined his brothers Sunny and Moony, and of course Puff-Kitty. Furby was the most adorable little guy and looks as much like a Maine Coon today as he did then. "

That's probably where our story should stop... but Carm happened to find a Maine Coon Breeder online that next summer: Chadwickoon Maine Coon Cats in Fredonia, NY. "You don't just go see Maine Coon kittens!!! The lovely Lady Godiva Candy was our first girl, followed by Lord Thomas Milton who was a surprise birthday gift for Randy that winter."

When Carm and Randy returned to the Cat Fanciers' show, they were carrying their Maine Coons Candy and Tommy into the show ring to be judged! Then Carm and Eileen, their breeder, "hatched a plot to breed a couple silver patched girls. Rainbow Joy was born to be their queen and she became the mother of All-American Pride-the Octopussy- about a year and a half later. Joy also had 3 other kittens- Happiness, Love, & Peace- who found lovely forever homes with other Maine Coon lovers. That is the story of the 8GR8CATS... Puffy the oldest will be 13 and Pride the baby will be 8 this year."

When not sharing her love for felines on her blog Crazy Cat Lady Carm, retired schoolteacher Carm is a hobbyist photographer and a docent at the Buffalo Zoo. She has won many contests for her cat photography and has had her photos included in several publications, CFA's "The Maine Coon Seminar", "Cats 24/7", and most recently I Can Has Cheezburger's first hard copy publication that came out last October. Her cats have appeared on many websites all over the world, including this one, featuring beautiful photos and poetry about each cat: My Cats' Poems. To find out more about Carm's pride, visit Pride's Catster Page!

Last spring Carm saw a YouTube video about Crazy Cat Ladies by comedian Chris Leavins and thought it was the most hilarious, ingenious representation of this subculture known as CCLs. She started sending Chris pictures of her cats. This took on a life of its own on his website "Cute with Chris" and "Carm the Crazy Cat Lady from Buffalo" was born.

Best wishes for a PURR-fect Birthday Extravaganza!