Briar is a guest in our home‏

From Patty:

"I guess you could say I have a story about Briar. He is in my guest room. I was shopping at Save Mart and everyone was trying to catch the "poor, lost, hungry, cold kitty" who was in the store. A nice man helped me catch him and put him in my car where he was quite comfortable. I left you a message and brought him home thinking you'd be frantic looking for him. What to do, what to? He's adorable!"

Thanks for the call and the email. He made it home safe. However he was lured by kindness into a car less than a block from home and transported to a mansion in PG about 30 minutes after you called. She delivered him to the gate and he was happy to be back and more happy to be fed.

I saw briar today

From anonymous student:

"Hello, today while in class hearing a lecture from my English teacher. Everyone suddently looked outside screaming like wild animals. Then a boy with a Briar brought him in and set a commosion about. Later after 1 minute wandering around the classroom he left and walked about the school. Other than the craziness he cause it was a fun experience. :D"

School Visit

From Emily:

"Today, Briar came to visit us at Pacific Grove High School! I was standing in line to grab some lunch, and Briar just came wandering into the multi. Later in the day, he came to visit us in the gym, playing some volleyball with us. He's such an adorable little cat!"

Sounds like he was making his rounds.

Cool Cat

From Wes:

"Today I was at baseball practice when I saw a cat walking on the field. When I went to check his collar I saw it was Briar. My friends had been talking about him today at school and he is as cool as they all said he was."

Hey Wes, thanks for your email. Every day I'm amazed as to how many people notice him. :) Good to know there are nice people keeping an eye out for him.

Briar's Followers

From Sage,

"Today during lunch at my High School, we saw Briar walk by. Since this was such an odd thing we started to follow him. Many people converged and followed the cat. He walked into Mr. Morgan's, a cat hating football coach/ history teacher, classroom. We all stood in the doorway and stared as Briar waltzed into the room and disappeared into a file box. He ran out through the throng of legs and mosied on down the hall with his followers. We petted him and discovered this website, and then he went on his way. This was COOOOLLL!!!!!"

When I read this one I couldn't stop laughing. Haha, apparently he is having a ball with you guys. Thanks for your email! :)

Briar goes to School

From Jenn:

"Today Briar Kitty decided to pay a visit to the Elementary School campus. We found him standing guard over one of the many gopher holes we have on our main lawn. Smart kitty!"

From: Deborah

"Today Briar came to visit us at the Elementary School! He is just adorable! He sat outside the office and waited patiently for a gopher to come out from one of the many mounds in the lawn. One did emerge and Briar caught it!! He took it into the nearby garden and played with it for quite a while! Not sure if the gopher escaped or not but Briar was wonderful entertainment for us today! He wandered down the pathway to the Kindergarten center and into the woods! I hope he comes back to visit soon!! I also hope he travels safely!!!"

Thanks for your messages! He seems to patrol this whole area within a 1/2 square mile or so and has good success on his hunts.

Wandering

From Dillon:

"Last night my friend and I were walking and we see briar walking along and my friend completely freaks out and is like telling me about the cat. Briar starts following us so I pick him up. We chilled with the cat for like an hour and "hung out" with him, then he wandered off into the woods. About 30 minutes later we were sitting and he must have followed us because he comes up and jumps onto my friend.

The next day at school we are all finishing up P.E. when one of the TA's walks in with briar in his arms. "dude i just found him wandering around the parking lot."

Thanks for your message Dillon. Sometimes I think he is lost, but if he was lost, he wouldn't keep going back to the same places. He seems to be entertained by youth. :)

Workout

From Sophia:

"Today Briar felt like he needed a work out... So he decided to come into my highschool during P.E. He played some volley ball with us and made a riot. Lol. I love Briar <3"

Thanks for your message Sophia. There's nothing I can or can't make him do. It's great knowing his whereabouts and that he is meeting some nice people. I appreciate the tabs. :)

Shopping at Save Mart

Message Transcription:
"Hi there I am here in Save Mart in Pacific Grove and your cat Briar is running around the grocery store shopping looking for some tuna and some chicken, so I'm not sure you're going to come by or let him go out, but he is at the grocery store shopping. Thank you! Bye."

Kidnapping is not a solution

I received a concerned email from an acquaintance of Briar's. I always appreciate everyone's concern for my cute little kitty. And, after reading this guys email, I completely understand how he felt. Having been there and worried about Briar myself, I don't think kidnapping would be the best solution. Please feel free to express your opinion on the matter. Our concerned city residence writes:
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"He followed 2 of my friends and myself home from the PG forest. We figured he was lost, as one would assume if there is a housecat walking the streets, because it's been generally agreed upon by the pet community that having outdoor cats is a hazard to their health and threatens their general safety. Anyway, we thought we would bring the cat to their house, so we could contact it's owner and return it to a safe home. We almost made it to the house when the cat decided to turn into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, I had to attempt to get in the way of the car to save this wandering cat's life. It did successfully run away from me and out of the line of the car, but it was a very nerve racking situation. I got ahold of the cat, and checked it's tags, finding Briarkitty.com While my friends went inside to visit the website, I tried to apprehend the cat again, to no avail. The cat cut my arm when I tried to pick it up again. Halfway back to the original place we found the cat, I got a call saying that this was someone's idea of a cute website for a cat to wander around and gather stories for. This is not cute or clever, I spent nearly an hour trying to save this animal, was very mildly injured in the process and couldn't even get the cat in the end. I would call the humane society about such reckless endangerment of a pet, but sadly I don't think there are laws for this kind of neglect. Judging from the behavior I witnessed today, it would not surprise me if your cat ends up dead due to a car accident or eating some poisonous plant. You know who's fault it's going to be if/when that happens? Yours. You clearly do not respect the dangers of our modern world to a small animal like Briar. Had we gotten him, and seen this, I don't know that we would have returned him to you."
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In response to the reprimand, I respond:
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"Thanks for your opinion and for taking so much of your time to try to save Briar. He has touched so many lives for the better and I'm sorry you were so stressed about his life and that he couldn't touch yours for the better also. What I'd like you to know is, I love him, and raising Briar, if I was to keep him indoors his whole live and deprive him of his natural instincts, yea, he would probably live a long life, but he would also be depressed, overweight, and probably on kitty prozac.

I'm also sorry you were mildly injured, he probably knew you were going to kidnap him, that's probably why he scratched and ran from you. Animals are very intuitive about these things, as I'm sure you know. And if you know cats, better to let them be than to force them into doing something they don't want to do. As far as the poisonous plants, thanks for your concern, but I'm not too worried (unless someone decided to put tuna on some hemlock, then we would probably have bigger problems to worry about like human safety). And I think if Briar's was stupid enough to eat a poisonous plant, he would have already done it and wouldn't be alive right now.

Sorry for all the torment he's put you through. And I do appreciate your care for his life.

Thanks."
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Oh, and Briar's two cents "Whew, I dodged a big one there, I could have had HIM as my person."

PG Juice and Java

Briar disappeared one morning. I received a call:

"Hi, this is PG Juice & Java, you're little kitty seems to have wandered in here and is making himself comfortable on the floor. You might want to come get him."

Out of all the places to visit in downtown PG, Briar gives PG Juice & Java 5 stars for their hospitality, fresh pastries, and free wi-fi.

From the East Coast

"So i visited monterrey and carmel in late july, and had no idea there was such an amazing little kitty running around greeting the world. I sure wish i could have met him, hes a special cat as im sure you and everyone on this site, and everyone whos encountered him know. I found out about him on youtube because i randomly searched beach cats as i was wondering how many people take their cats to the beach, seeing as i plan on doing that when i adopt a kitty myself one day. One of the videos i stumbled upon was that of Briars and i even left a comment. I coudlnt believe my eyes when seeing how at home Briar seemed to be on those rocks, looking and pawing at crevices, it was great. You seem like a great person aswell and so im sending you and Briar much good vibes from all the way on the east coast, new jersey.

Have a great day and Briar; keep on keepin' on. Heres hoping you shed your major enlightment and fun loving ways on many more people for a very long time.

Much love, Alana"

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Thanks Alana, he's awsome! Maybe one day you two will cross paths. :-)

Briar goes to jail

I received a phone call from Animal Control. Briar was convicted on four accounts 1. Unannounced repeat visits 2. Wandering in and out of classrooms 3. Distracting children during lessons and 4. Crashing the school award ceremonies.

A facebook friend commented:

"Yea he came waltzing in with the second graders for the award ceremony. I thought he was the school cat because he acted like he owns the place and everybody seemed to know him! LOL"

I guess you can only visit the school so many times without enrollment before they have you arrested for loitering.

When I picked him up from the shelter, he looked confused, "I don't understand?!?! I thought I was hired to be the school mascot!!! How else am I going to get paid in love and treats?!?!"

Thank you to Animal Control for getting Briar home safe. :)

Crumpton

Message Transcription:
"Hi! This is JC Crumpton School we have your kitty. She or he is just walking around enjoying and all of us. If you could just call the school back, 392, again that number is 392, this is JC Crumpton School.



"Hi this is Christa, I'm just calling to let you know your little kitty Briar, he's floatin' in and out of the classrooms over here at JC Crumpton. He's currently camped out on the grass. Hopefully you're a neighbor and that he'll find his way home. But he's just hanging out in the classrooms today. So, give me a call back..384"

Youth Center

Message Transcription:
"Hello, this is Andrew with the Marina Youth Center. We have Briar sitting here...uh, I'm calling... I'm sorry, he's sitting here and we called the number on his collar. I don't know if he is allowed to be outside or if he is lost or anything, but he is here for now. My number is, my cell phone number is 909-56XX but if it's cool that he's out, it's all gravy. Alright! I'm just letting you know he's here safe and sound. He's really relaxed enjoying all the little children. Ok bye bye."

Beach Cats

Seems Briar has been telling Felix about all his fun trips to the beach.

"Psss! Hey Felix, if you sneak in and sit right there, my person will NEVER know you're even there until we get to the beach!"

Built in GPS "Part Deux"

These play dates are starting to be a regular thing. So regular it seems I don't even need to drive him over there anymore.

We did our routine bike ride, only this time, I was the mule for the kids. I'm estimating a total of 50 lbs with Briar, the three year old, and the trailer. We probably cover a total of 10 miles with wheels and feet.

After the ride, less than two hours later, I receive a text message from my friend;

"Briar is in my atrium."

"What?" I text back

Apparently Briar trekked his way back to her house again to visit his three year old friend.

"Briar came to visit us!" his playdate screams in excitement.

There was some confusion with the adults that went something like this... "Briar's here", "No he's not, he was here earlier", "then who's cat is that?", "it's Briar!".

I had to pick him up and transport him home (as usual). Keep in mind, my friends house is about 3/4 of a mile away.

Read more about Briar on www.areyoubreathing.com!

Built in GPS

Everytime Briar wanders, decides to take a walk, explore... whatever it is he does, we always think he's lost. But, this proves he knows exactly where he's going.

Yesterday, I rode my bike to my friends house with Briar stashed in his Pet Pack. She lives about 3/4 mile away. I let him hang out in their atrium while I drank my coffee. We then rode another four miles to the beach. We let him run around with us on the sand dunes. On our way back at our usual meeting spot, I went my way home, and my friend went her way home.

A couple hours later, I receive a phone call from my friends' husband.

"I have Briar!" he says.

"What?" I question.

"I saw this orange cat chasing another cat, and then this little cat came running up to me like he wanted me to pet him, then I realized it was Briar!" He says very excitedly!

So I rush to their house to pick him up. I knock on the door and I hear my friends husband say, "Look, he knows! He's running to the door!".

As he cracks the door open, little Briar is there looking at me with his tail up as if he says "Ah hah, now I know how to get to your friends house, so the next time you disappear on me, I'm coming here to look for you!"

It's just crazy because we were there in the morning and there is NO way he would know how to get there. He was stashed in the Pet Pack, unless... he knows direction by sight. I have no idea.

Good Hunting

After my trip, Briar was so eager to hang out with me, I decided to take him to the beach with me. As I waited for my friend, I let him out of the car to run around the dunes.

While I was on the phone, I heard a high pitched screeching noise. I looked over and Briar comes running out of the bushes with a rabbit in his mouth. He walks out to the center of the street with his tail and head up, drops it in front of me, sits down next to it and looks around, "Look what I caught everyone! That's right, ya'll got nothin' on me! Me, one, everyone, nothin'!"

Stuck in a cup

While I was on vacation I received a text message from my brother:

"Briar stuck his head in a cup and it got stuck and he was runnin around trying to take it off. lol!"

7 Eleven

Briar once again was missing all day long. Around 9:00PM, I got a call from these three kids. Apparently Briar ended up at 7 Eleven. He probably decided to get a Big Gulp because he was thirsty from his day long adventure.

PetPack

Whenever I would get ready to go for a bike ride, Briar would run up to me and look at me like, "Nooooooo, are you leaving without me AGAIN?!??!?! Arrg... meanie!", and then he would end up miles away (I think just to spite me) which would require vehicle transportation services back home.

So, I looked online for a portable cat carrier and found the PetPak. The moment I unpacked it, he claimed it. Now he can ride along!

Delightful Cat

Message from Colleen:
Just had the pleasure of meeting Briar. My husband and I were taking a walk in Marina and saw a pretty cat. I bent down and pet it and said what a beautiful kitty it was. Well, we were lucky enough to have Briar take a walk with us. What a delightful cat.
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Thanks for your message Colleen. Now, only if I knew where he was?

Jack in the Crack

My brother has been sick so Briar has been keeping him company the last couple days. Yesterday, he took Briar for a trip in the car to the Jack in the Box drive through.

I know Marina is nothing like Carmel, but seriously... cocktails and now fast food, all in the same week?

Bay Area Adventure

Today I received a distress call from my mom:

"Your crazy cat, we are in San Jose....he's here with us somehow, I don't know how he got in the van! Can you believe it?!? That crazy cat. What should I do with him?!?"

She sounded really upset and flattered at the same time. Honestly, Briar Kitty is good company in the car on long trips. He sits right next to you and just enjoys being next to you. He makes me a much better driver. He doesn't have a seatbelt so I have to take my turns a little slower, my lane changes less abrupt, and use more caution when slowing to my stops. I can't have my sweet Briar flying around the inside of the car.

"He's ok, just leave him in the car and crack the window, he'll be fine." I reassure her. "I leave him in the car all the time when I do my errands."

My mom had a couple of errands to run in San Jose. I went for a morning surf and my brothers were off to work. Briar never likes to be left home alone. He gets bored...or maybe feels neglected. Whatever it is... he doesn't like to hang out when no one is around.

Around 6:00PM, Briar arrives home, but my mom is still in San Jose. Apparently, she met up with some of her friends up there and had them courier him back to the house. When my mom came home, she said before she left that morning, she had to put him in back in the house because he snuck in the van. Little did she know about the second (successful) attempt.

When I arrived home around 6:30PM, he came running to greet me with his tail up.

Sometimes I wonder (if he could talk) if he wants to tell me about all of his adventures... like... "OMG, you'll never guess where I went today!?! I got to go to San Jose with your mom, listen to Korean pop music the whole way up on the stereo... AND I got to ride back with these strangers who thought I might poop in their car, who dropped me off at home an hour later! It was awsome!".

Happy Hour

I received a call from a man...

"Do you have a cat named Briar?" He asks.

"Yes, I do." I reply.

"Well we have him here, he wandered in our garage." He stated.

"Ok, I'll come get him, where do you live?" I asked.

He kindly explained directions on how to get to his house. I walked up the street a ways and got lost. So I called him back to get more directions. He restated the directions and then followed up with...

"We're at the house 3rd from the end. You'll see a pickup truck out front and two guys sittin' in the garage having a cocktail". He says.

I made my way over there and Briar's sitting there hangin' out with these two older men, their two cats and a dog. We exchanged greetings, I thanked them for calling, and gave them a little history about Briar.

"Would you like to stay and have a cocktail?" One of the guys asks.

I kindly declined and walked Briar home.

Briar's back and he's well fed, rested, and smells like cigars.

Felix the Cat

A couple days ago, I looked outside and saw a siamese-like kitty tailing Briar.His name is Felix and he's also a adolescent male like Briar. Apparently, Briar had entered into their house, made friends with the dog and the cat, and visits regularly now.

Animal Companions

I just realized, Briar has been the most consistent thing in my life this last year. Yeah, I know he's just a cat, and some of my friends tell me I'm so attached because I don't have kids... but whatever the reason may be, I think he's awsome and I love him. As I was buying 5 pounds of Aunt Jeni's raw food, Fishin' Chips, Cat Man Doo dried bonito flakes, I was admiring the selection of food on the counter and exchanged a few words with the cashier about how much I must love my cat. She related with me and said she doesn't think she would be where she is now without her dogs. And I guess however we may feel about our pets, our animal companions are sometimes the only things that have actually seen and been where we have. Not just physically but they experience all of the emotions and feelings in those moments with us. For Briar to endure the good and the bad with me... we'll YEAH he deserves every one of those treats and goodies. He's moved all over the place with me in the past year and stays loyal because he likes me (or maybe his treats, or the walks, or the car rides). Either way, he's awsome. I'd love to hear about your animal companion stories.

I promise, I won't go another month before the next post.

Briar hikes to Eagle Point

See! The Golden Gate bridge in the background!

Briar's Site

Message from C.C.
" I don't have a Briar story, but i love reading his blog. When i am at work and feeling stressed i just look to see what Briar has been up to. On more that one occasion i have busted out laughing in the middle of work after reading one of his little adventures. Everyone wishes their cats had as much personality as Briar. Maybe on day Briar can hang out with my cat Mirage (despite that fact that i think she has cat OCD, a little kitty cat Monk)."
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Hehe, thanks for your message C.C. It's nice knowing that he can makes someones day just a little bit easier. :) Maybe Mirage and Briar can meet one day!

The 1st Annual Briar Kitty Creative Writing & Illustration Contest

DO YOU HAVE A STORY ABOUT BRIAR KITTY?

Whether it be true or fiction, submit your story to be featured on briarkitty.com and for a chance to win a pair of new totojoy fuzzy limb warmers. The ten best stories will win! Winners will be notified by mail or email. For those authors under 18 years old, you will need to get your parent signature.

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:

• STEP 1. Download the contest form. CLICK HERE.
• STEP 2. Print out the contest form.
• STEP 3. Write your story and draw your illustration.
• STEP 4. Stuff it in an envelope and mail it!
• STEP 5. Tell all your friends about it!

Open to all ages. All stories must be accompanied with an illustration. Contest ends march 31, 2009. Stories will be posted here as they come in!

Briar Goes North

We took Briar and his buddy Kona on our winter vacation to Northern California. He seems to be most happy when we're cruising at highway speeds.

Up til' now, the farthest Briar has ever been away from home is 370 miles.

Trotting Over

Message from Leslie:
"Briar has been coming by fairly regularly. Is he walking over from your house or is living across the street from us? We love having him visit and our cat doesn't mind him hanging out. Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I see his little brown body slip past and go through the house, its fine, but I wonder if he is coming to us from a long way away or just trotting over from the neighborhood. Could you let me know so I don't worry. Thanks."
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Hey Leslie, he's fine. We've been in the neighborhood the last couple weeks. When I'm not home giving him attention, he gets bored and makes friends with whoever is near by. Is he friends with your cat? Anyhoo, thanks for letting me know. :) It's always nice to know what he's up to.

Life takes over

I apologize for the lack of posts on Briar's Blog. Sometimes life takes over and you have to deal with the more important things in the moment. Briar is happy and safe, (and gaining weight) and is still enjoying all of the neighbors. Sometimes when I feel bad, I rub my face all over his furry belly and it makes life seem just a little bit better. I can't help but to smile and say... "mmmm little Briar". I'll get back on it soon and let you guys know!