For the love of cats (the animal not the musical)
I grew up in the country but we lived on the main highway into town. We always had cats as pets, well once we had bunnies and another time chickens, but mostly cats and they didn't tend to last very long (neither did the bunnies or chickens). It was the country so some of them got eaten by coyotes or sometimes large predatory birds (hawks and eagles), but most of them got hit by cars on the highway. We knew the likelihood that our cats weren't long for the world so we didn't tend to get too attached to them.
We had one cat that had a litter of kittens just before she got hit on the highway. By the time we found them most of the kittens had died, all but one in fact. Our cats were random mixed breeds (barn cats really though we didn't have a barn), but this one was definitely part seal point Siamese (she had dark grey spots though instead of brown and the darker spots were tabby striped). She was super cute. My brother fed her milk with an eye dropper and he named her Nikki (we were both a little obsessed with the movie Who's that Girl at the time and before the kitten got big and developed some dark spots on her tail and ears her fur was sort of peroxide blond colored, like Madonna in that movie). Nikki was most attached to my brother but she was really affectionate with all of us. She was way more of a people cat than most cats.
She lasted a lot longer than most of our pets, probably because she kept closer to the house. My dad got attached to her to so maybe he let her inside the house more than some of our other pets too. Longer for her though was only a couple of years and while the loss was a little harder than the others we'd still always known, in the back of our minds, that Nikki would come to the same kind of end as the others. My dad took it harder, he didn't want to have pets for a long time after that, he still fed all the random cats that were around, but they were no longer our pets just stray cats we fed.
We had a cat at my mom's house too and that was a much less dangerous neighborhood for pets to be outside, but when I was 12 we moved to the city and had to give the cat to a friend because we couldn't bring her with us. That separation was a little traumatic because we'd had that cat for a long time, 6 years I think, but she didn't die...I mean eventually she did but by that time she was someone else's cat.
Now I have two cats. I got them shortly after I moved out on my own and I was in the city so They've always been indoor cats because I'm afraid of letting cats out anywhere near busy streets. I've had them for 9 years and like all good pets they are like a part of my family. I realized recently, for the first time, that these cats are going to get old, and possibly sick and then die, of natural causes. That prospect has me a little worried. I've never had a pet that lived a normal lifespan and died of natural causes. I don't know how I'll handle it.
They're really cute cats, one orange and one black. The black one has a meow that sounds like she's saying "me, me, me". I think she strained her voice by meowing non-stop for the entire hour and half drive home when I picked her up. I think her voice just never developed after that. The orange on the other hand slept the whole time when I brought her home but she's very vocal now. She likes ice cream, she won't touch any other people food but every time I eat ice cream she hovers around hoping to get to lick the bowl. I've had them both since they were tiny little kittens. The first night I brought home the orange kitten she kept following me into the bathroom and it's become a habit for her, she always wants to be in the same room as I am in and that includes the bathroom. I used to have a console television and the black kitten ran immediately under it when I brought her home and wouldn't come out. She still likes to hide under things, mostly whenever new people are around. She's afraid of new people. They have personalities and I've gotten to know their personalities.
I've always been an animal lover. I'm pretty sure I bent the axle on my old car because I swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel and hit the curb instead. The mechanic that looked at it that first time said it wasn't bent but the CV boots kept cracking. When their was an animal in the street that I couldn't avoid hitting (an opossum) I cried. I used to volunteer at the Seattle Animal Shelter (walking dogs and matchmaking cats). So, I've always loved animals but I've never been quite so attached to any as I am to these two. In fact, my relationship with these cats is longer than any other I've ever had (with the exception of my family). I'm not sure how I'll handle losing them.
We had one cat that had a litter of kittens just before she got hit on the highway. By the time we found them most of the kittens had died, all but one in fact. Our cats were random mixed breeds (barn cats really though we didn't have a barn), but this one was definitely part seal point Siamese (she had dark grey spots though instead of brown and the darker spots were tabby striped). She was super cute. My brother fed her milk with an eye dropper and he named her Nikki (we were both a little obsessed with the movie Who's that Girl at the time and before the kitten got big and developed some dark spots on her tail and ears her fur was sort of peroxide blond colored, like Madonna in that movie). Nikki was most attached to my brother but she was really affectionate with all of us. She was way more of a people cat than most cats.
She lasted a lot longer than most of our pets, probably because she kept closer to the house. My dad got attached to her to so maybe he let her inside the house more than some of our other pets too. Longer for her though was only a couple of years and while the loss was a little harder than the others we'd still always known, in the back of our minds, that Nikki would come to the same kind of end as the others. My dad took it harder, he didn't want to have pets for a long time after that, he still fed all the random cats that were around, but they were no longer our pets just stray cats we fed.
We had a cat at my mom's house too and that was a much less dangerous neighborhood for pets to be outside, but when I was 12 we moved to the city and had to give the cat to a friend because we couldn't bring her with us. That separation was a little traumatic because we'd had that cat for a long time, 6 years I think, but she didn't die...I mean eventually she did but by that time she was someone else's cat.
Now I have two cats. I got them shortly after I moved out on my own and I was in the city so They've always been indoor cats because I'm afraid of letting cats out anywhere near busy streets. I've had them for 9 years and like all good pets they are like a part of my family. I realized recently, for the first time, that these cats are going to get old, and possibly sick and then die, of natural causes. That prospect has me a little worried. I've never had a pet that lived a normal lifespan and died of natural causes. I don't know how I'll handle it.
They're really cute cats, one orange and one black. The black one has a meow that sounds like she's saying "me, me, me". I think she strained her voice by meowing non-stop for the entire hour and half drive home when I picked her up. I think her voice just never developed after that. The orange on the other hand slept the whole time when I brought her home but she's very vocal now. She likes ice cream, she won't touch any other people food but every time I eat ice cream she hovers around hoping to get to lick the bowl. I've had them both since they were tiny little kittens. The first night I brought home the orange kitten she kept following me into the bathroom and it's become a habit for her, she always wants to be in the same room as I am in and that includes the bathroom. I used to have a console television and the black kitten ran immediately under it when I brought her home and wouldn't come out. She still likes to hide under things, mostly whenever new people are around. She's afraid of new people. They have personalities and I've gotten to know their personalities.
I've always been an animal lover. I'm pretty sure I bent the axle on my old car because I swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel and hit the curb instead. The mechanic that looked at it that first time said it wasn't bent but the CV boots kept cracking. When their was an animal in the street that I couldn't avoid hitting (an opossum) I cried. I used to volunteer at the Seattle Animal Shelter (walking dogs and matchmaking cats). So, I've always loved animals but I've never been quite so attached to any as I am to these two. In fact, my relationship with these cats is longer than any other I've ever had (with the exception of my family). I'm not sure how I'll handle losing them.
posted by Beth at
8:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home