Whimsical Cats

I was in my favourite art shop yesterday and admired a picture of a cat lounging on a library shelf where the books had titles like “Holy Cats”, and “Tale of Two Kittens”.  It was by Charles Wysocki and the title was Frederick the Literate.  The picture just captures the whimsy of the lazy cat dozing away and has the charm of the classic books turned into feline literature. 

As I write this Thumper is lounging on my desk and occasionally he puts his paw down on the keyboard, not to type but to get my attention.  Cats are independent creatures who generally don’t listen to their mistress preferring that we are at their beck and call not the other way around.  However all of my cats, past and present have been very clingy cats.  They have all vied for my attention as I have almost always had more than one cat at a time.  Which is a story in itself.

The spring after I bought my home I decided to have a barbeque and invited all my family over to enjoy my new place.  Three little kittens came cautiously up to the house and my nephews, aged 2 and 4 were feeding them bits of hamburger at the instigation of my mother, no less.  The next day the three kittens were back again.  What could I do? I left them a bowl of milk.  They were back the next day and before I knew it I had been adopted by Patchy, Silky and Blackie (named by said nephews).  In the beginning I was quite firm about them staying only outside but one day in the fall my father came to visit and discovered the kittens shivering in a cardboard box on the back porch.

            “Sanne, you can’t let them freeze out there.”

Right, in they came, along with their little cousin Tigger who had been born in the next litter.  You can see where this is going.  My neighbour had a female cat that dropped kittens like rabbits.  For a long time I limited myself to the 4 cats but then one day a mini Patchy arrived on my doorstep looking so pathetic we had to let her in.  We called her LP (Little Patchy of course).  LP unfortunately was pregnant and low and behold I suddenly had little grey twins, Arrow and PomPom (the boys were still naming the cats with participation by their sister Kathleen).  By this time poor Blackie had passed away due to a urinary tract infection but I was now up to 5 cats.  Then along came Teddy, another grey male.  And lastly came Trouble, grey as well.  I am happy to say that I maxed out at 7 and most of the time they were outdoor cats.

The winter after Trouble arrived Teddy ran away, never to be seen again.  Then tragedy struck one terrible summer when first PomPom and then Arrow were attacked by cougars.  That same summer Patchy lay dead in the backyard, feet up in the air and her eyes wide opened in fright.   I’m convinced the neighbour’s dog terrified her and she ran away only to die of a heart attack (she was quite fat by this time).  That same day Silky went missing.  Then Trouble disappeared.  I was down to only Tigger from my original four.  Tigger passed away at the age of 20.

            The tale of Jericho mother of Thumper and Cherie will wait for another day.