Cat Person

Episode #713

October 1, 2022

My first pet was a kitty named Tippi.
His name was short for tipsy because as a kitten he stumbled around the house in a drunken walk.

 

 

 

Tippi soon asserted his personality. He dashed around the house taking corners 2 feet up the wall. When his water dish was empty Tippi drank from the toilet.

If he got outside Tippi would bolt over the fence and hang out in the neighbor’s yard. My father fashioned a rope and collar with a screw-in boat anchor attached to the end. He did not screw the anchor into the ground but left it loose for the cat to drag around. This did not stop Tippi from jumping the fence. The first time he jumped he nearly hung himself since the length of the rope was just shy of the distance to the other side. He stood there on the other side until I rescued him. My father’s solution was to make the rope a little longer. Tippi was often seen sitting two feet from the fence in the neighbor’s yard, rope draped over the fence.

The neighbor’s solution was to get a dog. Tippi stayed in our yard after that.

My next pet was a dog named Pasta. She was a Golden Retriever / Pure Bred Collie mix. Pasta stood about two foot tall and nearly three feet long. She had a beautiful medium length wavy coat which drew the best from the Retriever and Collie. Pasta had one eye. Because of a Pure Bred Collie syndrome, her right eye never developed and the eyelid covered it in a perpetual wink.

When Pasta made a hard right turn in the house she would inevitably run into a wall. She turned to find me, smiled, winked and ran up to me. “What was that?” she seemed to ask. Like all dogs Pasta was needy. Always wanting to eat, go outside and play or just be with me, she required a lot of attention. Like Tippi, Pasta liked to run. One day she ran down the street and never came back. I have always hoped that she found someone else to care for her.

Cats require very little care. They use the litter box, feed when they want to (and don’t eat the whole bowl) and sit in our laps when they want to be petted.

My wife and I have owned dozens of cats over the years. They have been a source of unending entertainment. Even the naming of them has been fun.

There were the grey cats, most of which were eaten by a neighbor dog. The dog only ate the grey ones. The other colored cats were safe from him.
One of the grey cats to survive the dog was Greyfax Grimwald. I believe he survived because he was named after a mighty wizard.

There were the “F” named cats: Frolic, Frenzy, Friendly, Frankly, Fray and Fancy. They all named themselves.

Heidi and Zeek were named for how they played. Heidi would hide and Zeek would seek. Zeek was also fond of beer.

We had three cats one year. One was all black. Another was black and white spotted. The third was all white. We named them Black, And, White.

Friends always laughed when we called, “Here And, come here And.” The other cats looked at us as if to say, “And what?”

There was our cat Morris, who looked exactly like Morris the Cat, the 9Lives cat food mascot. Years later another Morris look-alike came into our lives. We named him Re-Morris (remorse). There were also Pete and Re-Pete.

Today we have two cats. Springrr was named for the spring in her step. She has a feisty side and so the “grr.”

Like many cats Springrr likes to get inside boxes. When thrown an empty Kleenex box she will crawl inside with her head sticking out one end and her hind quarters sticking out the other. “I’m hiding,” she says. You can’t buy that kind of entertainment.

Our other cat is Bandit, a white spotted cat with a black bandit’s face mask. She also earned her name by stealing all the cat toys out of the box and hiding them all over the house.

Bandit is unique among cats. She is obedient. She stops fighting on a “OUCH” command. Bandit comes when we call her and follows us around the house like a lap dog.

I guess you could call me a cat person. Who else would devote a blog entry to singing the praises of cats? 
Oh yea… much of YouTube does.

 

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2 Comments

  1. Dan'l Leviton September 29, 2022
  2. Vic Spindler September 30, 2022

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