Kitten O’ Mine
During Wedding Tech Week, I unexpectedly acquired a cat.
Here’s the backstory:
Back in August, a cat showed up in Claudia & David’s complex. No one knew from whence he came, and he just ended up at their place, hanging with the other three cats. He had a collar on, so he belonged to someone. They fed him and let him sleep there, until they could find his owner, but they never had the chance to put up flyers. He was a young cat, maybe less than a year, definitely a juvenile. A beautiful boy tabby with green eyes, soft fur, and a lovely, calm, affectionate temperament, who liked being held. Yet playful, too, like a kitten. Not rambunctious and into everything, but healthily curious. I totally fell in love. I thought of potential names. I said that if none of the neighbors wanted him and if no one claimed him, I wanted to take him. They said they wanted to put flyers up, just to give the owners a chance to claim him, in case he ran away. But if they heard nothing, then I could keep him. It was a done deal.
Until he blew that popstand.
A few days later, he didn’t come back to their house with the other cats. Days, then weeks, went by and he didn’t return. I was quite disappointed. But at least I knew I would be willing to have a cat when the right one came along. An opportunity had come up a few months ago to adopt two older cats from a family who was moving away, and I met them, and they were nice, but I didn’t feel a bond with them. I had thought I didn’t want to have cats, period—turns out I didn’t want those particular cats. So I took the knowledge with me that a presently-unknown cat might be in my future someday, and was fine with that.
So the wedding plans continued and we threw ourselves into them whole-heartedly.
On the Thursday before the wedding I went over to Claudia & David’s to bring tables for the ceremony over, and, by god, the cat was there! I was shocked, and psyched!! Claudia said they were going to call me and tell me but they had gotten sidetracked. Then it was mentioned that they thought he came from an abusive home across the street, because they heard that they would light firecrackers around the cats there. There was no fucking way I was letting him go back to that kind of environment.
I figured he came back for a reason, that he was meant to be with me, so I made plans—we were going to kidnap the cat (kit-nap?). Lulu was staying with me, so she assisted me (she’s a cat owner, herself, so she was the perfect accomplice). I knew I didn’t want him going outside, with a chance of him running away again, and getting more fleas, so I asked everyone to keep him in as much as possible the following day (while I was at work). I knew I didn’t want him to be in the house during the wedding, because I could never keep track of him with so many people there, so I’d have to bring him home on Friday, the night before the wedding.
I borrowed a cat carrier. After the rehearsal, I got a “cat starter kit” from the pet store: food, dishes, litterbox and litter, scoop, flea medicine, cat bed, scratcher, toys, a collar...went back to C & D’s to set up the tent and altar for the ceremony. I put Advantage on the back of his neck so it would start killing fleas while we worked. When Lulu and I were ready to leave, we put him in the cat carrier—he went in without protest. Soon as we started the car, different story—he was me-owling like someone was killing him. Leah, another of my wise cat guidance sources (who has kindly helped me with sooooo many questions that I’ve had), told me they don’t like rides in the car. Once we got him in my apartment and opened the cat carrier door, he walked out gingerly, sniffing and observing everything curiously. He seemed calm. We fed him and played with him, set up the litter box, showed him where it was. He seemed content! I was thrilled! He likes me, he really likes me! I named him Bix, after Bix Beiderbecke. I’ve gotten him a collar with his name and my phone number on a tag.
And with the exception of not leaving a light on for him when we left for the wedding (gah!), I’ve been taking very good care of him. We are in synch. We like each other’s energies. I am in awe of this little creature. He is very curious, but not reckless. He tests things first, with his paw, or observes or sniffs it. He likes to lay down and sleep, likes to be pet, likes to cuddle next to you. But he also likes to run around and play with his toys like any normal kid. He likes to stalk and hunt. If I don’t want him to go into the closet or refrigerator, I’ll gently move him as I’m closing the door and he doesn’t fight me. He lets me pick him up whenever I want to. He doesn’t hide from people. He’s awkward because he doesn’t know his own body and physics yet, so he loses his balance and falls or flops around with his back feet over by his head, and it cracks me up!! He’s fascinated with the toilet—he’ll come in and watch, and when I flush, he puts his paws up on the bowl and watches the water go down, transfixed. He’s so goddamned funny to watch!
I’m so enjoying taking care of him. I’m enjoying keeping my place cleaner, so he’ll have space and clean area to play in. I’m enjoying being an adult and being responsible, while also having fun playing with him and watching his antics. This is so unexpected...and so welcome!
Thank you, Lulu and Leah, my twin ‘L’ goddesses of feline wisdom!!
Here’s the backstory:
Back in August, a cat showed up in Claudia & David’s complex. No one knew from whence he came, and he just ended up at their place, hanging with the other three cats. He had a collar on, so he belonged to someone. They fed him and let him sleep there, until they could find his owner, but they never had the chance to put up flyers. He was a young cat, maybe less than a year, definitely a juvenile. A beautiful boy tabby with green eyes, soft fur, and a lovely, calm, affectionate temperament, who liked being held. Yet playful, too, like a kitten. Not rambunctious and into everything, but healthily curious. I totally fell in love. I thought of potential names. I said that if none of the neighbors wanted him and if no one claimed him, I wanted to take him. They said they wanted to put flyers up, just to give the owners a chance to claim him, in case he ran away. But if they heard nothing, then I could keep him. It was a done deal.
Until he blew that popstand.
A few days later, he didn’t come back to their house with the other cats. Days, then weeks, went by and he didn’t return. I was quite disappointed. But at least I knew I would be willing to have a cat when the right one came along. An opportunity had come up a few months ago to adopt two older cats from a family who was moving away, and I met them, and they were nice, but I didn’t feel a bond with them. I had thought I didn’t want to have cats, period—turns out I didn’t want those particular cats. So I took the knowledge with me that a presently-unknown cat might be in my future someday, and was fine with that.
So the wedding plans continued and we threw ourselves into them whole-heartedly.
On the Thursday before the wedding I went over to Claudia & David’s to bring tables for the ceremony over, and, by god, the cat was there! I was shocked, and psyched!! Claudia said they were going to call me and tell me but they had gotten sidetracked. Then it was mentioned that they thought he came from an abusive home across the street, because they heard that they would light firecrackers around the cats there. There was no fucking way I was letting him go back to that kind of environment.
I figured he came back for a reason, that he was meant to be with me, so I made plans—we were going to kidnap the cat (kit-nap?). Lulu was staying with me, so she assisted me (she’s a cat owner, herself, so she was the perfect accomplice). I knew I didn’t want him going outside, with a chance of him running away again, and getting more fleas, so I asked everyone to keep him in as much as possible the following day (while I was at work). I knew I didn’t want him to be in the house during the wedding, because I could never keep track of him with so many people there, so I’d have to bring him home on Friday, the night before the wedding.
I borrowed a cat carrier. After the rehearsal, I got a “cat starter kit” from the pet store: food, dishes, litterbox and litter, scoop, flea medicine, cat bed, scratcher, toys, a collar...went back to C & D’s to set up the tent and altar for the ceremony. I put Advantage on the back of his neck so it would start killing fleas while we worked. When Lulu and I were ready to leave, we put him in the cat carrier—he went in without protest. Soon as we started the car, different story—he was me-owling like someone was killing him. Leah, another of my wise cat guidance sources (who has kindly helped me with sooooo many questions that I’ve had), told me they don’t like rides in the car. Once we got him in my apartment and opened the cat carrier door, he walked out gingerly, sniffing and observing everything curiously. He seemed calm. We fed him and played with him, set up the litter box, showed him where it was. He seemed content! I was thrilled! He likes me, he really likes me! I named him Bix, after Bix Beiderbecke. I’ve gotten him a collar with his name and my phone number on a tag.
And with the exception of not leaving a light on for him when we left for the wedding (gah!), I’ve been taking very good care of him. We are in synch. We like each other’s energies. I am in awe of this little creature. He is very curious, but not reckless. He tests things first, with his paw, or observes or sniffs it. He likes to lay down and sleep, likes to be pet, likes to cuddle next to you. But he also likes to run around and play with his toys like any normal kid. He likes to stalk and hunt. If I don’t want him to go into the closet or refrigerator, I’ll gently move him as I’m closing the door and he doesn’t fight me. He lets me pick him up whenever I want to. He doesn’t hide from people. He’s awkward because he doesn’t know his own body and physics yet, so he loses his balance and falls or flops around with his back feet over by his head, and it cracks me up!! He’s fascinated with the toilet—he’ll come in and watch, and when I flush, he puts his paws up on the bowl and watches the water go down, transfixed. He’s so goddamned funny to watch!
I’m so enjoying taking care of him. I’m enjoying keeping my place cleaner, so he’ll have space and clean area to play in. I’m enjoying being an adult and being responsible, while also having fun playing with him and watching his antics. This is so unexpected...and so welcome!
Thank you, Lulu and Leah, my twin ‘L’ goddesses of feline wisdom!!
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