It was only a matter of time before I wrote about her.

I have a very large, old, obnoxious cat. Her name is Tika.

I adopted Tika in the fall of 2000. The agency thought she was about 2 then. I was living with a guy I was engaged to, and we broke up nine months later. He got the car, I got the cat. Believe me, I got the better end of that deal.

This isn’t Chyna, but it kinda looks like her.

Tika and I moved into my parents’ house for the summer, and I had to leave her there when I went back to college because my new apartment building wouldn’t take cats. It was all good, though. My parents had a goofy Shar-Pei named Chyna. Chyna was an idiot. My dad lovingly called her Skillet Head because she always ran it into things. Anyway, Chyna and Tika loved each other.They would nap together, play together, sit together, and give each other baths.

Tika’s tongue on Chyna’s ears: lap lap lap.

Chyna’s tongue on Tika’s whole body: SLURP!

Sadly, Chyna was a victim of excessive inbreeding and died at the age of 4. This was about six months after Tika arrived.

This isn’t Abbey, but it’s a fair representation.

So Tika was now without her buddy. My mom adored Chyna and really took it hard when she died, but she eventually decided to get a new puppy. What they got was a beagle puppy they would name Abbey. They named her that because of Young Frankenstein – Abbey Normal. Abbey was…energetic.

Let’s just say Tika was not a fan of Abbey. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that Tika took Abbey’s presence personally. Not only was Chyna gone, but now she had this little psycho to deal with. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to for long, because she went to live with my new fiance and his tuxedo tabby later the next year. His cat’s name was Taz.

This is what Taz looked like. I really do have pictures of these animals, I’m just too lazy to find them.

Taz was a ginormous pansy. We could hear Tika chase him at night, and then we’d hear a squeak come from Taz. This was because Tika had him pinned to the floor. Poor guy.

Taz and Tika tolerated each other for about 5 years, and then Taz died. He was 16. Tika was alone again. This time she only had the new babies to play with for a few years.

In the summer of 2010, we took in two young cats named Lily and Daisy. These cats belonged to a former student of mine who was moving out of state and couldn’t take the cats. By this time, Tika had become quite crotchety in her old age and wasn’t really open to new family members.

This one really is Daisy.

Tika and Daisy avoid each other, while Tika and Lily hiss and make all sorts of drama. So they tend to keep to different rooms too.

I haven’t said it yet, but all through this time, Tika has been overweight. In fact, I don’t like bringing her to the vet because they always scold me about her weight. I give her low-fat cat food and everything they say, but it doesn’t help. Maybe she has a thyroid problem. I told you that mostly so I could post the picture at the bottom of this post. That’s totally what would happen if she tried to use a cat door.