Cat
Tales
Wow,
where do I begin...
I used
to be a cat hater until...
Midnight
After
I retired from the US Navy I moved to Louisiana. My son wanted a new pet.
He finally talked us into getting a cat. I was against this but I would
try it for him.
Little
did we know, he had already picked out a kitten. It seems that our neighbor's
cat had just had a litter and our son picked his (before he asked us if
he could have one). The first day the kitten was with us was just fine.
Some how that little thing knew that I was the one it had to win over in
order to stay. So it cuddled up with me. The kitten won! Since the cat
was all black, blacker than any cat I've ever seen, our son named him Midnight.
After
a few days we all got used to each other and that's when it hit me that
cats were ok. Actually, more than OK. Midnight started earning his keep
almost instantly. You see, we lived in the woods in Louisiana and there
were lots of mice, chipmunks, moles and other small things that kept breaking
into the house. Well, Midnight really loved these new friends. He would
catch and play with them until he 'broke' them and then leave them for
us on the door mat.
He's traveled a lot with our son. Midnight is no longer with us. He had a great life and we enjoyed having him around.
Misty
& Critter
One
afternoon while in my back yard in Louisiana I noticed a tiny kitten coming
through the grass from the area of my pond. It was so small, it could curl
up in my hand. He came right to me and let me pet him. Then he started
to run back to the pond. I thought he was leaving, but he turned and saw
we were not following. So, he came back and meowed and meowed and headed
for the pond again. After a while I told my wife that I think he wants
us to follow him. (I know, sounds a little strange now.) Well, we followed
him back to the pond and there floating on a log in the pond was another
kitten. I couldn't believe that this little thing brought us to save the
other kitten. I retrieved the other kitten from the log. Guess what? We
now have Midnight, Critter and Misty living with us.
While
Midnight, lives with my son, Misty and Critter still live with my wife
and I. But now we are in Pennsylvania. Misty is a shy thing that just loves
to cuddle up with me or my wife. She doesn't take to strangers very well.
She'll hide under the bed until the guests have left. BUT, Critter is another
story. He is as outgoing as Misty is shy. He greets everyone and makes
a pest of himself. If you pet him, you have a friend for life.
Lucky
One
day my daughter came home from work with a cat. An ugly looking dirty cat
with tangled long hair. She told us someone had hit the cat in the K-Mart
parking lot and she just couldn't leave him there. So...after a trip to
the vet for a check-up and a bath we became the owners of Lucky.
Lucky
turned out to be a very street savvy cat. He took to the country life very
well. He was an outstanding hunter. Now this will be hard to believe, but,
when I would go out in my woods and shoot squirrels, Lucky would go get
them and bring them back to me. Wow, I had a retriever cat.
Lucky
also took over the job as Boss Cat. He kept the other three in place. He
also kept the area dogs away. I actually saw him riding a dog down the
street one day. That dog never came back.
Lucky
was our protector cat too. One night while Midnight was out we heard some
really wild screaming coming from the woods out back. I opened the door
to look out. As I did that, Lucky ran out and headed down the trail to
the woods. Midnight was limping back up the trail to the house. Midnight
was hurt bad. Lucky charged into the woods. What we heard next was unreal.
The noise of rustling leaves and branches and wild animal screams was terrible.
Then it got quiet. Real quiet. I was sure I'd never see Lucky again. We
turned our attention to our hurt Midnight. While we were attending to Midnight
I saw something coming out of the dark of the woods heading towards the
house. I couldn't believe it. It was Lucky and did he look bad. Blood and
mud and leaves tangled in his fur. He was walking slow. He came to me and
I thought he was hurt bad, but when I checked him.....he wasn't hurt at
all. The blood wasn't his. All he needed was a little cleaning up. The
vet said Midnight would be OK, but he would need some time to heal. Some
thing with very big long teeth had tried to take Midnight home for supper.
Vet figures maybe a possum or bobcat (we had lots of each living out there).
We were glad that Midnight would be ok, but all of us, even the vet, were
amazed that Lucky had attacked whatever it was and ran it off without getting
hurt himself.
Here's
Lucky in one of his favorite resting spots in the house. That is my Grandmother's
favorite crystal punch bowl. I'm not sure she would like to see it with
that big cat in it.
Well,
Critter, not to be out-done, found time to relax in the bowl too.
Lucky
is no longer with us. He passed away Before we left Louisiana. I miss that
cat. He stuck to me like glue.
Pepper
One
day I decided that we needed a new roof on our house, so I had a roofing
company come out to install the roof. During the roof installation another
cat came out of the woods. This one a gray Tabby. Kind of big too. Well
he went right up the ladder against the house and walked around while the
men were installing the roof. We called him our inspector. He just moved
around like he owned everything. He was a very friendly cat too.
Guess
what? Yup we now added Pepper to our collection of cats. Pepper was a loner.
He tolerated the other cats but acted like he didn't need them. He and
Lucky had some arguments about who was the boss. They finally settled on
being co-bosses. After that, they got along great.
Pepper
was and still is a very demanding cat. When he wants to be held or petted,
he gets it. He has my wife and myself very well trained. He is mouthy too.
Always has something to say.
He found out what skunks
are (the hard way) and has learned to stay clear of them. Pepper is no longer with us. He has joined Dusty, Lucky, Midnight and Augie.
Dusty
Can
you see where this is going? I'm now beginning to think I'm running a real
Cat-house.
One
day another very ugly and sick looking cat came wandering down our driveway.
This one looked so bad that I ran it off. I didn't want anything to do
with this nasty looking one. It really looked bad. Missing hunks of hair
and almost no hair on it's tail.
Several
weeks later, it was back. This time it didn't look quite as bad, or maybe
I was feeling sorry for it. I sat on my porch and it came right to me.
Brushing against my leg and wanting me to pet her.
Now,
I'm going to tell you right now that all cats know what they are doing.
I think it's in their genes. They know how to get on your soft side and
get you feeling sorry for them.
That
said, I couldn't take it anymore. I picked her up and took her to the vet
for a check-up. (I'm hooked now.) The vet said she was in good shape but
needed some TLC. (I now am convinced that the cat is on the vet's payroll)
By now the vet doesn't charge me for the bath and dip that the cats I bring
in need, but he does get me for the office call, shots and the neutering
(after all the vet isn't dumb).
After
months of TLC, Dusty became a very good looking cat. Yup Dusty was the
name we gave her. She just looked dusty. She was black sprinkled with brown
and white 'dust' through her fur. She was a long haired cat with a long
fluffy tail. She was a small cat though. She was fast. She could outrun
any of the other cats and get places where none of them could. You see
the others were like me..I think we called it "Big Boned". That's better
than saying overweight.
Dusty
had an attitude too. She didn't take any crap of anything. She soon put
the other cats in their places. She let Pepper and Lucky be the bosses
to a point then she did what she wanted. And if either didn't like what
she was doing she would really let them have it. It was funny watching
these "big" male cats getting slapped around by this little female.
Dusty
decided she liked me. And would sit with me for hours at a time. We watched
TV together. She always wanted to be combed. She hated having her fur messed
up.
Dusty
is no longer with us either. I'm sure her and Lucky are having a great
time together.
Augie
I'll
tell you , this is getting habit forming. I must have a sign somewhere
on my property welcoming ALL stray cats. During the next several months
we had a few pairs of cats show up on our porch. We couldn't handle any
more at the time so I just took them to our vet (I think I make his house
payment every month.) and had him clean them up and find homes for them.
Then
one day, a pair of Siamese looking cats showed up. One was male and one
female. Once again I had been had. These cats knew exactly what they were
doing. Yes, I took them in too. But this time I did find a good home for
one of them. I kept the male and let the female go to one of our neighbors.
Now
we have Augie living with us. Now that he had won us over, he showed his
other side. We nicknamed him "The Cat from Hell". Boy could he find
things to get into. Never a dull moment with Augie around. He had more
energy than the rest of the cats together. There was a little friction
between the 2 boss males and Augie at first, but I think they decided Augie
was a lost cause and left him alone. They all managed to live together
in piece and sometimes quiet.
Augie
is no longer with us either. He Has joined Dusty and Lucky and I'm sure
he's driving them crazy.
Cajun
While
out in the woods working in my tool shed I saw another strange cat wandering
around. He would not come near me at all. He was a rough looking short
haired yellow tabby. At first I thought it was Critter, but when I got
a better look I knew it wasn't. This one was built low to the ground and
very stocky.
He
didn't trust me at all. I figured he was living under the shed. Well, being
what I am, I wanted to make sure he was OK. But he wanted nothing to do
with me. Sometimes I think I should have left it that way, but then I would
have missed the company of Cajun.
I
left food for him on my work bench. It was several weeks before he would
touch any of it. He was wild from the swamps of Louisiana and I knew this
would be a hard one to get close to. So I took my time (or maybe he was
just reeling me in). When he started taking the food on the work bench,
I started leaving it on the patio out back. Soon he was coming up the path
out of the woods to let me feed him. Cajun was a fairly good looking cat.
When he finally let me pet him (that took months), I found he was built
very solid. No fat at all. This cat was all muscle. I guess he had
to be that way in order to survive is the swamps. soon he let me hold him
and then off to the vet (for another house payment) to get a check-up.
Cajun had many battle scares but he was in very good health. To pet him
was like petting a brick. That's how tough he was.
He
was an easy going cat and just didn't care what the 2 'boss cats' thought.
He became very friendly too. Finally turned into a real people cat. He
got to where he loved people. He became the official greeter when anyone
came to the house.
After
a few years Cajun's battle scares smoothed out and he grew enough hair
to cover them. He became a very good looking short haired yellow tabby.
Cajun
did make the trip to Pennsylvania with us, but is no longer with us now.
I'm sure he's helping Dusty and Lucky try to understand Augie.
Tigger
First
let me state for the record that this cat was NOT mine. My daughter came
home with a cat (again). This time she kept it as hers. But since she lived
with us, so did Tigger. Tigger had a rough life before us and was afraid
of almost everything. I took a long time for him to adjust to our 'Cat
House'.
I
have to admit that I didn't care much for Tigger, but we put up with each
other. My daughter took care of him very well. When she moved Tigger went
with her. :-)
Well,
I have finally reached the end of my Cat Tales.
It
came out a little longer than I expected, but I
enjoyed
sharing it with you.
I hope
you enjoyed it too.
