My Life with Cats

Feline Stories

After reading the various entries I've written here it might seem like I have no interest in any kind of pet but dogs. Not true. As a professional pet sitter I care for many cats throughout the year. From the time I was very young there were always cats in our home.

The first one we had was probably my most memorable pet. His name was Patches. He was a black and white male of medium size, never had much weight on him. We got him while my family lived in Panama. Patches would patrol the tropical greenery around our Naval family quarters, always on the hunt for some unfortunate rodent or bird. This was something he would do until the end of his life at thirteen years old. While we lived in Rhode Island he was on his best hunting form, even bringing back the occasional squirrel! Patches also "protected" our yard from stray dogs. He would nap in the bushes, and when an unwary pooch would wander onto the property that cat would streak out from under the brush and attack the dog, one time actually riding on a German Shepard's back all the way to the curb. The cat knew no fear.



When I moved out to California I knew no one, and I found myself in a pet store one day looking at the cutest caramel and white kitten I had ever seen. I bought him on the spot and named him Gandalf. Not long after that I adopted another cat off the street, naming him Faramir. Yes, I was a total Lord of the Rings geek at the time. Unfortunately, the one thing I did not know about was that failing to immunize my cats would lead to their early deaths. Faramir got Feline panleukopenia, a disease that affects the digestive tract and is usually fatal. Gandalf contracted Feline viral rhinotracheitis , a type of pneumonia. I was young and stupid, but those nice kitties should not have had to pay the price for it.

Later in life, after my divorce I was renting a room from a very evil young lady who had these two cats. One was a female that lived in the girl's room and the other was this big, friendly, black and white fellow named Mervyn, after the department store. Mervyn kept trying to tell the girl (and me) that he was an outdoor cat. He would figure ingenious ways to get out of the house, if only to lie on the front walk and soak up some sun. The girl would fly into a rage when she caught him and drag him back in, scrubbing him in the tub and beating him. I moved out after being there only a few months and I took Mervyn with me. The girl never knew where I lived or that I had done it for sure, but he had happy life with me before passing at the age of eleven.



Our current feline residents are Macy and Maia. Macy adopted us one morning after trying out some other homes in the neighborhood and finding them lacking. I was on my way to work and she jumped into my car, sitting in the driver's seat and begging to be pet. I put her on the sidewalk and went to work, thinking the matter closed. My wife called me shortly thereafter, telling me the story about this cute kitten that had jumped into the car when she was taking our daughter to school. "I hope you didn't feed it", I said.

"Just a little bit of chopped-up baloney."

And as we all know, that means the cat is now yours. She is still going strong at the age of 14, climbing fences and spending nice days out in the sun. She is the undisputed Queen of the House, and all show her deference, including my dog, Bill.



We adopted Maia in 2001 from Tony LaRussa's Animal Rescue Foundation, known 'round these parts as ARF. Her original name was Bethany, but we found that too normal, so we named her for the eldest of the Pleiades, the goddess of Spring. She is strictly indoors, preferring to watch TV, chase laser lights (and anything else that reflects and moves), and sleep. She is quite large, having gotten to over twenty pounds since we brought her home. I swear she only eats diet kibble and is not a counter surfer. Any weight loss advice is welcome. (She is not over-fed either!)


Those are the cats from my life. I have many favorites out there on my route, too, from the playful duo of Nan and Tucket to the evil Queen Seven. I love them all like my own.