Katzenliebhaber

On Mother’s Day, we faced a pet owner’s hardest decision. We had to euthanize our sweet girl Reeses. She was 19 years old, had early stage kidney disease and thyroid issues, but both were being well managed. Seemingly out of the blue, she began having seizures. We visited the emergency vet who said she needed to see a neurologist. By the time I got her to the neurologist, she was pretty broken. Despite trying meds and some intensive care, it was time to let her go.

As part of the healing process, I’ve been thinking about all the cats I’ve known and loved throughout my life. I decided to write about my lifelong love affair with felines.

I have been a shameless cat lover all my life. They are truly magical creatures, in my opinion. The contrast of soft fur and sharp claws, the ruthless judgmental attitude absolved by affectionate cuddles, the way their fur can smell clean and fresh even though they’re cleaning themselves with that stinky fish breath.

Of course I would say that I love all animals, and I wish them no ill. But no else would I allow to sleep in my bed and climb on my pillow beside a cat.

The first cat in my life was a tabby named Tigger. I can’t say I really remember Tigger, but there is photographic evidence that I enjoyed her company.

My Nana had a handsome tuxedo cat named Oliver, who I also do not remember, other than via photograph.

When I was about 6, we got a kitten from a neighbor’s litter. 2-year-old Kris kept calling her “Bunny,” so that’s what we named her. I don’t think Bunny was around long, though. We would let her out during the day, and I would call her in at dinnertime. One evening she didn’t come. I marked the day on my calendar, and kept calling for her, night after night. After a few weeks we decided that someone else must have taken her in. Or something happened to her. We never knew. And I don’t have any pictures of her. RIP Bunny.

Not long after Bunny hit the road, mom took me to the ASPCA to pick out a new cat. My memory of the experience is somewhat vague, except that I chose the noisiest cat in the bunch. She was meowing to me to come home with us, obviously! Lacking confidence in my naming abilities, we called her Tigger. Tigger 2 or Tigger Too!

Tigger 2 was an independent lady and would happily spend time inside or out. She must have had better survival skills than Bunny because she always came home for dinner. Frustratingly she did NOT want to sleep in my bed with me, no matter how I tried.

After a few years of having Tigger, we learned that Kris was allergic to cats. Tigger 2 had to go live at Gram’s house. She was probably relieved to get away from the maniacal children at our house and go live with a calm elderly woman.

It was nice to see Tigger every time we visited Gram. She wasn’t shy, and would happily come out to see us and let me get some cuddles. I still have one of her black whiskers taped inside my little pink diary from 1992.

After Tigger moved to Gram’s house, we had quite a few years of no kitties. To fill the void, my aunt Evelyn got me a subscription to Cat Fancy. It was like Playboy for cat lovers, right down to the pull-out centerfold poster that I proudly tore out and hung on my bedroom wall. Some quick googlin’ got me to this hilarious review of the December 1988 Cat Fancy. I am sure I read the original copy cover-to-cover while stuffing my face with potato chips after school.

It wasn’t until we moved to the Tebbs’ house in Vermont in 1996 that I got to live with a cat again. They had a pale orange tabby named Buffy. Buffy was the cuddliest cat ever. He had been the runt of the litter and had to be bottle-fed, so he grew to be very affectionate to humans. He wanted to be carried around all the time, and particularly enjoyed sitting on shoulders. He was also happy to sleep in bed with me at night, although he did have a habit of stealing my pillow.

After we moved into our new house, Kris was driving on our *extremely* rural road and found a cardboard box. Inside were 4 kittens. We kept 2 and gave 2 to the neighbors. That’s how we ended up with Merlin, a handsome tuxedo, and Mona, a lovely tortoiseshell. They were later joined by a little calico who was called Kitten because she had little stumpy legs and looked like a kitten, even though she was fully grown.

Autumn was the first cat that Dave and I had as a couple, and that I had as an adult. I wrote about her back in 2018: Meet the Queen

Autumn lived with us for 15 years and we estimate that she was over 20 years old at the time of her death. We had to euthanize her in the summer of 2020, about a week after we moved into our house in Ashford. Neither of us wanted to make the decision, and in hindsight, we probably waited too long to do it. She was basically on death’s door by the time we took her in to be euthanized. It was hard to get used to her being gone, although in a way it helped that she hadn’t been in this house much at all, so I didn’t really have memories of her here.

If you read the Meet the Queen post, you’ll know that after Gram died, we adopted her cat who we renamed Sophie. Sophie was one of the sweetest cats I have ever known. She was my little shadow. I laugh when I look back at pictures of myself during those years because Sophie is in the background of so many of them. Sadly, she had kidney disease and rapidly declined, and we had to euthanize her in 2021.

You’d think after the two of them I would have wanted to take a break from kitties for a while, but god, the house felt so empty. Cats really make a house feel lived-in. I loved coming home from a walk and seeing a little face peeking out the window as I approached. I also love sitting on the couch with a cat in my lap or pressed against my leg– especially on a chilly winter day. After Sophie died, it felt like the house was so sad and empty.

Enter Reeses! All the time we had Autumn, Kris had Reeses. At some point, he was going on vacation and needed someone to look after Reeses, so she came to stay with us for a week. What an absolute delight it was. She was thrilled to be in a house with no dogs, and I was thrilled to have a soft, warm, playful kitty in the house! After Kris returned from his trip and took Reeses back, I missed her so much. Since he works outside the house and wasn’t there with her most of the time anyway, we decided she’d come live with us. Also, she had a terrible habit of waking him up 3,000 times a night, so he was ready to kick her out. And I thought – how bad could it be? (It was bad… but she was cute and elderly so we put up with it.

Anyway – long story just a little longer- one day about a year after Reeses moved in with us, we noticed what looked like her twin on our wildlife cam. This stray kitty was very skittish but we eventually won her over with food, water and a cat bed on the porch. Eventually I was able to catch her and bring her to the vet for a checkup, and move her into the house with us. Her name is Biscuits, because… she likes to make biscuits. She is a young one so I am hoping we’ll have lots of time with her.

In the time since I began writing this post, we have discussed whether we should get another fuzzball. We felt like Biscuits was lonely with Reeses gone, even though Reeses basically ignored her anyway. But Biscuits is young and playful, and what could be better than to give her playmate?

Dave and I agreed it was time, and that we should try to find a kitten, or at least a very young cat who would not be threatening to Biscuits and would be young enough to transition to our home without major emotional upheaval. I looked on the local cat sanctuary’s website and found a few potentials, but nothing I was ready to leap on. I quietly whispered to the Universe, “we’re ready for another kitty!”

As with almost every cat I’ve known and loved, serendipity struck again. I got a text from a friend – “Hey, I don’t know if you guys are ready yet, but I know someone with a tuxedo kitten.” I dropped what I was doing and texted back – YESSSS – where is he and when can I get him?

So, my friends, here is our latest purrfect creature: Oreo!

Oreo is a literal baby kitty. He’s the son of a stray cat and was born and raised on a local dairy farm. I don’t think he’s really a tuxedo because he has too much white, but that is okay – we are a casual family anyway.

In conclusion – I freakin’ love cats. I always have and I always will! Here’s a few more pics I gathered for this post: