My Three Cats

As everyone knows, cats are unique critters. Their independent, aloof, and have minds of their own. I’ve known cats for many years since I was a child and there were several running wild around our home. None ever come inside the house, except by accident then they were chased out by a broom by my mother. These cats ate what ever they could get or catch, which wasn’t much. Scraps from the table were very meager, so they relied mostly on what they caught. Through out the years and after I married and had children of my own, there were many cats that we either adopted or they adopted us. When you have children animals seem to miraculously appear on your door step, or a dirty face looks up at you and says.

” It followed me home, Mom, can I keep it?”

My oldest son, Tom was very talented at this particular art. Cats or dogs always seemed to follow him home a lot and even after he was grown and had served in the military a few years, he didn’t seem to be able to resist an animal and was always bringing one home. When he was a child though, he loved to tease them, but I hope that he’s finally grown out of this habit by now. Now that I’m retired from my job of twenty plus years, and all my kiddos have homes of their own, I have three engaging, energetic felines that depend on their livelihood from me. All three are indoor, outdoor cats and the oldest is at least fifteen years in human years. I call my three cats, my girls.

                                                                      KIKI

Kiki is my oldest. This old girl come to us one day years ago, was fully grown at that time and my younger son, Jason was still at home. He adopted her at once and named her, Kiki, which means, demon cat in some foreign language. She was all white, except a few black spots on her head, body. tail and her hair is very coarse. Kiki is a pretty cat, but has very sharp claws that didn’t seem to retract as normal cats claws did. I thought that she may have been part Siamese, since I’ve heard their claws are that way. But don’t start me lying since I don’t know that for sure. However, Kiki took right up to us and stayed. Throughout the years she never had kittens, but I could have sworn that there were kittens with her when she first showed up. But now that I think about it, maybe they’d lost track of their own mother were probably just following her and later left when they found their own mother.

Anyway, I never had her spayed until about five years ago because I never thought she’d hang around that long. The vet told me that she’d already been spayed, or she was born that way and he had no way of verifying it. Kiki was never a lap kitty and was very independent. She’d always come and go as she pleased and sometimes would be gone for weeks. Then suddenly she’d show up as though she’d always been here. Kiki has been a good kitty and her personality hasn’t changed. She’s still aloof and likes to claw your leg, but never asks for much except for an occasional bowl of milk along with her food. She loves moist cat food and will gobble it down before the other two cats has a chance to smell it. She stays close to the house now that she’s getting so old, but still likes to outside and roam a little. She still has most of her teeth and you’d never guess she’s so old, since I witnessed her catching a bird in flight by leaping several feet in the air. Evidently, cats don’t show their age like people do.

                                                                   FUZZ

Fuzz, or as I sometimes call her, Fuzzy butt, followed Kiki home one winter day a little more than five years ago and snow had covered the ground. I happened to look out the kitchen door and saw Kiki running across the yard with a little fluffy grey kitten following close behind her. The kitten was meowing loudly and followed her to the door. Kiki came in and the little kitten put it’s paws on the door begging to come in. I sat a saucer of food under the porch and it ate a little but still insisted on coming inside. I called Jason to come look at it and he teasingly said, kill it. But when he came to look at the kitten, he immediately fell in love with it.

The kitten was very cute, very fluffy and had enormous green eyes. Of course he opened the door and the little fuzzy grey critter ran in. She stayed and has been here since. That’s been over five years ago and when Fuzz reached the proper age, I had her spayed. Fuzz is mostly a loner and often watches everything with those enormous green eyes. I think she’s probably part Persian, but when she sheds in the summer, she looks very gawky and lanky. She is also not a lap kitty, and only occasionally will climb up in my lap. She likes her privacy and often wants to stay outside. I worry about her safety, but she loves being outside. Once she stayed out nearly all winter and acquired such a beautiful fur coat that she looked like a little grey lion. There was snow and ice everywhere, but she seemed content and would only come in once in a while.

The last couple of years she has stayed close to home, and although she still likes being outside, she will faithfully stay close to the house, especially the back porch. I suppose she remembers it from the first time she came. In the summer the back porch gets so hot, it’s impossible for the cats to stay on it, so they hunker under the porch, capturing as much shade as possible until the sun goes down. I often wonder why they chose this particular location when there’s cooler, shadier areas around the house. It used to be cooler though before a large metal building was set up, blocking my view of the town’s main street. Since then the heat has gotten much worse, sometimes over a hundred degrees, so I keep fresh cool water for them all the time.

Fuzz is close to Kiki and I suppose she considers her a mother figure, but doesn’t care too much for Bobby, my third cat whom I suspect she considers an interloper and often hisses at her. I’ll get to Bobby soon. Although Kiki’s hair is coarse, Fuzz’s is very soft, almost like cashmere. Kiki also sheds badly and I’m always cleaning her hair off the furniture. Kiki and Fuzz have enjoyed each others company for over five years now, but one day that all changed when Bobby showed up.

                                                                BOBBY

About two years ago, I heard a soft mew coming from the big tree in our back yard. I thought it was Fuzz because she has a soft little voice like a kitten. So, I called, come on baby, and here come running

toward me was a little tail-less grey kitten yelling it’s head off. She leaped into my arms immediately and began purring. As I examined her I noticed her whiskers had been cut and she had no tail at all, not even a nub. When I told my older son, Tom about it, he said some one probably cut her whiskers with scissors and as for her tail, he didn’t know. I thought that was cruel for someone to cut her whiskers. Maybe that was the reason the little thing left it’s original home seeking another place and someone who would treat her right. When Bobby got a little older I had her spayed as I did the other two cats. It’s been two years since Bobby showed up and she is quite a character. She’s very friendly and easily trained. I can whistle at her like I would a dog and she’ll come running and if I call her by name, she’ll come. Bobby is grey, short haired and sheds very little. She is definitely a lap kitty and loves sleeping at the foot of my bed. Although she’s been spayed too, she also loves to roam and loves to visit my neighbor, Ella.

Ella thinks she’s really cute and makes comments on how funny she runs. She hops or leaps across the yard like a rabbit instead of the way a normal cat runs. I worry about dogs hurting or killing her since I’ve heard there’s been several cats killed in my town by stray dogs. There’s been quite an uproar over it too. If she’s outside when I go to check the mail, she’ll follow me and wait until I return to the house. If she decides to be stubborn, she’ll sit and watch me go to the house, then I’ll call her. ‘Come on Bobby.’ Then, she’ll come running.

I really enjoy the cats company and don’t know what will happen when they are gone. I think Kiki’s years are now numbered, but Fuzz and Bobby could live another ten years or so. Unless one gets sick, run over or God forbid killed by a dog, they should keep me entertained for years, probably until I’m so old I’ll need to be entertained.