Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my loyal cat readers.   I will submit another story on the weekend of January 4^th through the 6^th.  Again, Happy Holidays from your friend, Teresa

Before The Labeling

There’s a label placed on people who have large numbers of cats.  I never knew this until much, much later in life.  It took a television show and society in general to tell me of this.

 Yes, animal hoarding involves keeping a high number of domestic pets (cats) without having the ability to properly house or care for them.  The lack of sufficient food and water is a common feature of hoarding situations.  If you are handling it all fine, though, then you’re not a crazy person-you’re just crazy about cats.  And there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Before learning of hoarding, had I met a hoarder many, many years ago?  I think maybe.

Here now the tale.  My Mother had three sisters.  Of the four girls, Aunt Bessie was the only one never to marry.  She was the youngest and continued living at home.  It was well into her adulthood that both parents died.  Before that, when growing up and visiting her and grandparents, I never once saw a cat.  What changed her about cats?  Perhaps I can lend a possibility to my story.

 Aunt Bessie was someone that the rest of the family had little to do with.  She had no appealing personality.  She took hours of teasing from siblings, nieces and nephews.  She was a family outcast.

 The miles separated me from this aunt of whom I was never really close.  I did hear the old family house she got in the Will burned to the ground.  Aunt Bessie moved a mobile home on the property.  A forty mile ride on a Sunday afternoon had me pulling into her driveway.  I knocked on the door and an aging woman opened the door.

            “Come in my child.”  She said.

After all those years, she knew who I was.  I walked in and found instantly no place to sit. There was a cat everywhere.  I do recall smelling a strong odor.  It was obvious that Aunt Bessie had an extremely large number of cats.  But it was not my place to put myself in her business and say anything.  I merely suggested we go outside to look at her flowers.                    

When outside, I thought it would be a conversation about flowers.  I started it with,  “I remember the roses always around the old house.  They were so beautiful and smelled so good.”

But Aunt Bessie had something else on her mind.  The discussion led to her asking for money. “My sisters won’t help me.” She said.  She led me to believe she really needed money.

Before leaving, I handed her a fifty dollar bill.  It wasn’t a lot as I myself was going through a divorce.  Aunt Bessie would call my house afterwards asking for money.  I had given her my number in case of emergency.  I told my Mother eventually about it.

 “You’re giving her money to feed all those cats,” Mother said in disgust.   

It was not long afterwards, I heard Aunt Bessie passed away.  She was the first of the four sisters to pass away.  I really believe Aunt Bessie took comfort in her cats.  When people did not have time for her, her cats always did.  They listened and did not give unwelcomed feed-back.  She gave them love.  It is no doubt they gave it to her.  How many cats are too many?  Aunt Bessie gave and got from them.  They gave and got from her.  It may not have been too many at all.

I never knew whatever happened to the cats after Aunt Bessie passed away.  It was quite obvious to me that no family member took them.  To many, those cats were seen as abused.  But I don’t see it.  There are so many cats out there that never know any love at all.  Aunt Bessie’s cats were not among them.  Was Aunt Bessie a crazy cat woman-or just crazy about cats?  I like to think that she was just crazy about cats.