More web presence for Smokey!

Click here for The Smokey Portal. It was made by "The Two-Leg Kit."

We predict a cold winter.

If you happen to be a neighbor of ours, you may notice that the Smoke Monster hasn't been hanging around in your yard or the middle of the street lately. This is because the cranky cat who wants our food and soft pillow but not us has been spending nearly all of him time indoors. He even tolerated our other cat, Pepper, licking his head this morning. Also, he has been exhibiting the unusual behavior of playing with us. (BTW, his face when he captures a toy reminds me of the "Here's Johnny!" moment in The Shining. He likes to play, but be careful.)

All of this indoor time can only mean one thing: winter is going to be cold. So bundle up. Apparently Smokey has. If you see him out and about, admire his thick luxurious mane. He has never been so fluffy.

Smokey is now on Twitter

Smokey mistakenly thought there would be some birds there. Follow him at

https://twitter.com/WhereSmokey

Who is Smokey?

Smokey is trouble.
Smokey is our deadbeat boyfriend.
Smokey is a muse.
Smokey is a monster.
Smokey is a misunderstood kitten.
Smokey is an enigma.
Smokey is a family cat.
Smokey is a neighborhood cat.

Smokey is loved. He is not lost until this blog says so. He lived in various neighbor's backyards for possibly two to three years before we "adopted" him off the street around four to five years ago. We believe he may have been a cat belonging to a student that abandoned him. He was neutered when we met him, but with no collar or microchip. When we were able to put a collar on him, we did not hear any feedback from an owner. He is now microchipped and wears a collar with a name and phone number on a tag that matches his black-hearted personality.

Various neighbors over the years have called him Charlie, Gray Matter, Stubs, Grumpy Cat (before the famous Grumpy Cat) and countless others. We have nicknamed him The Gray Cat, Smoke Monster (after the one in the show Lost) and Fuzzybutt. He'll probably continue to inspire new names as time goes by such as Deadbeat Boyfriend.

His known roaming area in the SE Portland Reed neighborhood is roughly between Steele and Holgate and between 30th and 34th Ave. He can be either affectionate or skittish upon meeting people, but is almost always hissy to other people's cats. He has been seen attending neighborhood meetings, touring the insides of some people's houses and frequently makes the news on NextDoor.

Although he gets regular flea treatments, he will sometimes scratch himself raw from allergies causing panicked calls to us from bystanders about how he looks like he got in a fight. We believe he also has allergies to chicken and grain. He gets a regular diet of fish and grain free food. Please don't feed him. We understand that he may get into outdoor cat food, but we provide plenty of fancy food at home. He also needs to come home on a daily basis in order for us to monitor his health.

Besides his allergies, he has had a heart murmur for several years. The benefit of keeping him stress free from dosing him with medication outweighs any possible benefits of those heart murmur medications. Thus he is not going through any kind of treatment for the murmur at this time. However, we do observe his breathing pattern for signs of progression in the disease.

If you should find him in distress, please call the number on his tag. His veterinarian clinics are either of the Powell Blvd Vets on Milwaukee in Westmoreland or the one on Powell around 36th. If it is an emergency and you feel he is in a life threatening emergency, it is okay to take him to a vet. We will take care of it from there.

Thanks,
Smokey's Family

10/6/17-Edited to add that he lost the tags with our phone numbers. We have a contact form on the side of this blog that you can use for contacting us.

12/11/17-Forgot to update that he currently sports a red collar with a written label with our numbers.