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| Neighbor’s cat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Our seven-year-old son came around the corner of the house we had left for a year.
A stray cat was draped around his shoulders.
“Can we keep him?”
“No. He probably is trying to find his owners, who must have lived here while we were gone. Cats can travel miles to find the house they used to live in. I’m sure his owners will look here first.”
“But, he’s hungry.”
That is an argument that works. Even knowing that when you feed a cat you are likely to end up owning it, we could hardly let it starve.
“We’ll put food out for him, but we won’t take him to our new house. Then, if the owners come back, they’ll find him. If they haven’t found him in the next three days, we’ll take him home.”
“I’m going to name him Purr, because he purrs all the time.”
Watch Cats
Purr was the one that taught me cats could be watch cats.
After our second son was born, I left him, at six weeks, at a neighbor’s house, while my husband and I went out for our first night alone after the new baby.
Purr went over to the neighbor’s house to keep an eye on the new baby.
He must not have seen us come home, though, because he was still on guard at the neighbor’s the next morning.
Purr died of old age under our younger son’s crib.
Training Cats
I’ve learned over the years, that people who like cats tend to keep getting cats.
After Purr died, we got another one from a home that had 17 cats.
This cat had learned to guard her food and startled easily.
Though I’ve never believed an animal could be mean without having been mistreated, we found her once hiding around a corner, waiting for our then two-year-old son to toddle around the corner.
She leapt out and scratched his face before I snatched her away.
But, it was that toddler who decided to retrain her out of such a bad habit.
A few days later, I found him about to drop her from the top of the stairs.
As the word, “No!” escaped my mouth, he’d dropped her to the foot of the stairs.
And, the cat never attacked him again.
We let her have one litter, and kept one of her kittens.
She was an indifferent mother, but her kitten grew up to be a delightful cat.
After three cats, my husband developed an allergy to cats and we didn’t get any more.
That grown-up seven-year-old now fosters cats.
How did you name your cats?
How many cats have you had at one time?
Have you had cats and dogs at the same time? Who ruled?
To you and sharing the warmth of pets with your grandchildren.
Carol Covin, Granny-Guru, WbtR Member
Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”
This post previously appeared here. Thank you, Carol, for sharing your splendid thoughts with us!
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