(Did you ever notice that while many people say they are dog “owners,” cat people do not say cat “owner” often. Makes you think about the independent nature of cats.)
This is a history of our family cats. We lost a cat recently and part of the mourning process was talking about all the other cats that have lived with us. Therefore a history of our cats: a cat-alogue so to speak.
We were a dog family when I was growing up. We had several over the years but I never really liked them all that much. Loved them but didn’t see them as part of the family. Perhaps it was the fact that the first one bit me as a child and was sent to “the farm”. Perhaps it was the last one who bit a girlfriend and took a piece out of her lip that required plastic surgery. He went to “the farm” too. Come to think of it, those two farm dogs looked a lot alike. I’m sure they did fine down on the farm.
When I had my own family I didn’t want a dog. We lived in the country and worried more about raccoons than security. But I also like the idea of a pet for the responsibility lessons and the circle of life issues. Thus we decided on a cat as soon as my daughter was old enough.
My daughter, MillieJupiter, was about two years old when we got our first kitten and she inadvertently tortured him as any two year old might. She could always be seen dragging him out from under some furniture by the tail or back leg, carrying him around the house with a stranglehold around his head. I guess she was not quite ready for him. But he was ready for her.
Henry was a great cat. He had a regal and educated look to him. We often played a game in our house trying to decide what kind of job our cat would have had if he was a person. Henry was a college professor. No doubt about it, smart, independent and mellow. Unfortunately, he died so young from some sort of heart defect. A little over a year old, we found him under a bed, unable to move his back legs. A vet trip produced some medication but he died that night. We buried him in the back of the vegetable garden and we all cried for a long time over the loss.
As anyone who has cats will tell you, when one is lost it seems like you need to take on another one soon. It’s not a mourning thing, it is an emptiness thing. You are used to the cat being there, and need to have a cat there. MillieJupiter was ready and so were we and we quickly found Mittens. She was a sweetheart, elegant and affectionate. Of course she needed to learn to be carried by her neck around the house but she didn’t seem to mind and was not the worse for wear. In the kitty job game, she was meant to be a mom, and so we let her.
As a female cat, outside cat, reproduction needs to be considered and we figured Mitty would teach MillieJupiter all about that. She gave us 6 kittens in all, first litter one cat, and second litter two. Third litter three and whoa, let’s get her fixed quickly.
Mitty lived for 17 years. She was in some pain at the end, so thin, and she needed to be picked up onto the bed but she spent her last night resting next to my wife and died in the kitchen near her food bowl. We buried her out in the back yard and we all cried for a long time over the loss.
Side note: Whenever I hear the word “fixed,” in this context I can't help but think of the Gary Larson comic of a dog, excited jumping around the back seat of a car, telling the neighbor’s dog, “I’m going to get tutored…” It gets me smiling every time.
To be continued…
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