Cat Stories-The Cat That Started it All

This is the cat that started it all.  I don't know what her name was, or anything about her.  If I remember correctly, I was about 4-5 at the time, and had already been in several foster homes.  This picture has a note on the back that it was taken at a San Joaquin County facility. I remember this cat.  I remember really liking her, (she slept on my bed for a while, and that was nice because there was competition with the other kids) and then having her taken away because she supposedly had fleas.  I was heartbroken at the time.  Funny, the things you remember.  Anyway, she was the cat that started my lifelong love affair with cats and with rescuing cats.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Cat Story- Bunny

BUNNY- THE SOFTEST CAT IN THE WORLD

After Pistachio died, my parents didn't let me have another cat for years. One night when I was 15, I went to my high-school football game, and as I was standing near the snack stand, I heard a little 'mew'. It was coming from a garbage can. I dug through all the garbage and wrappers and found several dead kittens. Then I came across Bunny. She was so little, and young- her eyes were barely open.

I was only a teenager, and didn't know the first thing about kitten-care, so I just tucked her into my jacket while I watched the game. When I got home I got a pie-pan out of the kitchen and put some dirt in it, and was very surprised when Bunny crawled over to it and peed. Just then, my mother came into the kitchen and said.. oh, no, no. But then she saw that Bunny had used the pie tin and said 'That's the smartest kitten I've ever seen'. Not too sure what to think of that, since it's doubtful she'd seen very many kittens before.

Didn't matter. What mattered is that she let me keep her. I don't know how she survived, since I didn't bottle feed her. I fed her what my mother told me to- raw eggs and milk. She didn't like that I chose 'Bunny' for a name, and insisted on calling her 'Casey Tibbs' for some reason. Oh, this is horrible- I just got the idea to Google 'Casey Tibbs', and found out he was some famous Rodeo guy that was born in the '20s. That makes no sense that she wanted to call my fluffy, grey, sweet girl kitten after a rodeo guy. Whatever. She really liked being petted, and she slept in my bed with her head on my pillow.

I had Bunny for about a year and a half. One day she started acting really weird, trying to crawl under my furniture and not wanting to be petted. I got my mom to take her to the vet, and in the car she peed on my fake suede skirt. Don't ask how I remember all these details, I just do. I remember she looked really sorry for having peed on me, and I felt bad for her. The vet couldn't figure out what was wrong. Over the years, my experience with vets has been that they can rarely figure out what is wrong with cats.

He gave her some shots, and some re-hydration and sent us home. The next day she seemed ok, but the day after she was acting weird again. I thought maybe giving her some Tylenol would help. This was before the internet. She died the next day. If the internet had existed, I could have looked it up and found out that Tylenol is toxic to cats. I've felt bad ever since, because I'll never know if she died because she was sick, or if it was because I gave her Tylenol.

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