Monday Mustings: Who in Charge? #pets #cats

As a small girl I grew up with cats and dogs. They were all outside pets and some of the cats were Ferrell in their need to not be touched. After all, they were barn cats.

Time moved on and so did I. When I became a mother and my daughter decided she wanted a cat, of course the little darling spent most of her time inside. Daughter wasn’t happy when HER cat decided the two years old brother was a better companion. Cat followed him everywhere, even after he tried to flush her down the toilet. That episode ended with me swatting his butt and sending him to his room, which led to the cat biting me and going to comfort her tormentor.

When that cat passed over the rainbow bridge, life was cat free for a lot of hears. My second marriage was to a dog man who raised Labradors and had the motto, “the only good cat is a dead cat,” until one day that changed. By that point we were dog-less and when a black and white cat started hanging around it ended up staying. Having dinner on the deck one night this skinny creature crept up the stairs and husband tossed it the leftover steak bone. The poor cat started devouring what meat was left. Husband was impressed and said the cat could stay, but NOT in the house.

We fed him through the rest of the summer and fall and he reached the point he’d let us touch him. Then came winter…a very cold winter. I came home one day and there is cat sleeping on a chair by husband. “It’s so cold I couldn’t let him freeze, but he can’t stay in tonight.”

Yes, the cat stayed in that night, but once again the man said, “He’s not sleeping on the bed.” Guess you know what happened next. Cat slept on the bed and continued to do so. When he didn’t come in by bedtime, husband would go out and call him.

Then husband died, cat disappeared when the house filled with people and pretty much stayed hidden until they left. The first night I was alone he came back in and at bedtime spent an hour going through the house calling my husband. His cries broke my heart, especially when he jumped on the bed, curled up in my armpit and laid his head over my heart and we grieved together. Yes, animals can grieve!

When I moved, Tommy as he became to be known, moved with me and became a house cat who still didn’t like people. Getting back into the dating world a couple of years later, I invited a first date in for coffee. While I was making the coffee, Tommy jumped up on my dates lap and settled in. I knew I was in trouble!

When Tommy developed mouth cancer and had to be put to sleep, my now husband and I couldn’t deal with another pet. Yes, you grieve for loved ones and he was a loved one.

A couple of years later we decided the time to come to get another and that is how Beast came to live with us. The granddaughters named him, and even with their cat allergies they always have to hold the cat when they are here. He and the youngest have become ‘buddies’ and when she leaves he wanders around looking for her.

The Beast sulking after being told no.

 

 

He knows who is in charge, too. We are allowed to stay here, pay the mortgage and buy him food. When he wants to play we are expected to drop whatever we are doing and play. Our laps are his, and no matter if you are working on the computer, if snuggles are needed push back the chair, hunch over to get to the keyboard and type across him. Sometimes he may try to help.

 

 

 

 

 

Deciding what trouble to get into next.

 

Yes, our life is run by the Beast but we wouldn’t have it any other way. There are days he drives us, especially me, crazy, but we life would be so boring without the entertainment of him racing through the house for fun, fetching toys to bring for us to toss, not to mention all the purrs when he snuggles. Heck, I even forgive the hair pulling when he does that.

Do you have a pet? Who is in charge at your house?