A Good Imagination - Part II

 

            Some time went by before they returned.  They came back empty-handed. “They have to amputate her tail, don’t they?” I asked my husband as he stepped out of the car.

            “Yes,” he said.  “Dr. White asked me if we would be keeping the kitten. I told her that we would.”

            “But we’re supposed to go on vacation tomorrow. What will we do? We can’t pick up the kitten in the next day or so.  We will be gone,” I said. 

            “It’s ok,” he said.  “I told her about that.  She simply said that she was glad that we would be giving the kitten a good home. She said they will keep her the whole week, no charge.  We can pick her up when we get back.”

            “Really?” I asked.  Our vet was always good to us, but this was very kind.  But something else caught my attention. “So the kitten is a girl? I didn’t even check to see.”
            “Yes, it is a girl.” He said, “And her name is Goldie.”

            Goldie?? What in the world?  I prided myself in choosing fitting names for our pets. Goldie? I was taken aback.  No one had asked my opinion.  She was a gray striped tabby, for goodness sake.  Why on earth would we choose to name her Goldie? “Goldie? Why is her name Goldie?” I asked in disdain.

            “Well, Dr. White asked Adam what his kitten’s name is and he told her ‘Goldie.’ So, Goldie it is. He named her.”

            Adam had already scurried off to play.  A name is not something to take lightly.  A name is important.  It requires a lot of thought.  I couldn’t believe they allowed a three year old to name this kitten.

            I approached Adam later and asked him why he named the kitten Goldie.  He looked at me like I was crazy and replied, “Well I couldn’t name her ‘Gray-ee.’”

            I chuckled. I had to admit his argument was logical.  She was a gray tabby, but she had a slight gold-ish tint to her fur.  Goldie did sound a whole lot better than gray-ee.  I was impressed that apparently he had this all thought out in his three year old mind.  He certainly did have a good imagination!

            (To be continued the weekend of April 12-14)

A Good Imagination - Part I

Written by Karen Gillespie.
 

           This true story takes place on a Saturday in June, 2007. Our family of five was getting ready to go on vacation the next day. When I say that, what I really mean is that my husband and I were doing all the work getting ready.  We had a seven year old, a three year old, and a two year old at the time. They were not much help!  We had all the windows and doors open to the house. We were packing inside and cleaning out the car outside. We were very busy doing everything else under the sun.  Accomplishing everything that needed to be done seemed more hurried due to the fact that we had small children under foot.  So when three year old Adam began tugging on my leg and saying, “Mama…there’s a kitten outside under the hedge,” I paid him no attention.  “Okay son…” was my absent-minded reply.

            To make matters more hectic, our dog Abby kept barking out front.  She was barking nonstop.  I figured the kids had her all riled up.  Really, I assumed my husband was rough housing her, and I was annoyed that he obviously had strayed from his car-cleaning duties. My middle child came to me again.  “Mama…there’s a little bitty kitten under the hedge.”

           I thought, “How cute.  He has one of his stuffed animal cats outside playing with it.”  Because, you see….we didn’t have a kitten. “Okay, Adam,” was all I said. He had such a good imagination! He could entertain himself so well! We had two big adult cats, and the kids always thought having a kitten would be such fun. I smiled and began washing some leftover breakfast dishes at this point.

            I don’t know why I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying, but about five minutes or so later, my husband came in and said to me, “Hey! There’s a tiny kitten under the hedge and Abby keeps barking at it! Come look!” He was shaking his head in wonder. “Adam came and told me about it.”

            “Really?” I asked in surprise, “Adam has also been telling me there is a kitten out there, but I didn’t believe him.” I dried my hands and hurried outside. I’ve been a cat lover all my life and I wanted to see this kitten!

            I walked out front and Abby was barking like crazy.  I moved her out of the way and sure enough, under the hedge was a tiny gray, black, and white tabby kitten peering up at us.  I, my husband, Adam, and our other two children stared down at the tiny creature.  The kitten stared back up at us with huge frightened eyes.  I think it was just afraid of Abby and her incessant barking.  I looked at my husband and said, “Pick it up.” 

            He reached down and picked the kitten up and noticed right away that her tail was completely stripped of fur.  It was a little bit bloody and the bone was sticking out at the end. He handed the kitten to me and I held it close.  I looked at the kitten’s tail and I knew right away that it needed medical treatment.  My husband asked, “What do we do?”

            I replied, “The vet stays open until noon on Saturdays. We might be able to make it up there.  What time is it?” It was eleven-fifteen. My husband went and got his cell phone and called up there.  Our vet is located only a mile and a half from our house.  They told my husband to bring the kitten in right away and they would be glad to help us. 

            Our hectic preparations for our vacation came to a standstill.  My husband got his car keys and we looked at each other.  I asked, “Do you want ME to take the kitten up there?” 

            “No,” he said. “I will.” And then he did something I didn’t expect.  He looked over at little Adam and said, “Adam, do you want to go with me?  It’s your kitten.  You found it.” Adam was overjoyed.  I was concerned.  I was sure that taking a three year old up to the vet was a bad idea. Since this was a spur of the moment visit, there would surely be a long wait. He would probably get bored and act up.  Nevertheless, he was going.  The two of them got into the car and headed up the road.  I and the other two children were left to wonder how this would all turn out.

            (To be continued on the weekend of March 29-31)

Memory

          She was trapped under a house for almost two weeks.  Or so, this the story told by the neighbor.  Skillet, the outside cat that allowed us to touch her, came up missing.  With a stray, you may feed them one day and the next, never see them again.  We were convinced Skillet was gone.  But sitting on the front porch was my son.  Here came Skillet running.

          "Mama, come outside," said my son after opening the front door.

          Immediately I got up from my chair and went outside.  There Skillet was and as slender as any cat could be.  My son brought out food and water.  Unknowing to him a neighbor came to the edge of the yard and called out to him.

          "That your cat?"  He asked.

          And then; my son learned the story.  It seemed Skillet had been stuck in his air-conditioning for two weeks.  Finally another neighbor helped him get her out.  When released, she ran right to our house.  Her memory of where she was safe brought her running straight to our door.  Skillet had held on until a neighbor across the street rescued her.  The neighbor who had her stuck in his air-conditioning merely let her stay.  But he came to tell the story.

          Stray cats have an excellent memory.  They all seem to know when it is time to eat.  I feed in the morning.  I put out again in the afternoon.  When dark arrives, I go put up the pans to avoid raccoons eating at night.  But I cap it off with a spread out bag of treats.  Many cats are there.  But once inside and my door close, others come out of hiding.

          Can cats tell time?  It sure seems like that.  They gather around when feeding time arrives.

          It's amazing as I write stories about cats just how much more I want to learn.  As someone reading these stories, you too may want to learn more.  I now find from research that cats do have excellent memories.  Cats adapt to the environment that they are in easily because they can recall what they have learned in the past and adapt these memories to the current situation to protect themselves throughout their lives.  However, relationship with humans is the difference of intelligence and age may affect their memory.

          The cat's brain is almost 5 centimeters (2 inches) long and weighs 25-30 grams (0.9 to 1.1 ounces).  The cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog.

          In all reality, the cat has a human's routine down.  They recognize our car before it pulls in the driveway.  You ever wondered how they knew to meet you at the door.

          The day Skillet came running to our house was definitely memory.  Two weeks under a house in an air-conditioning vent did not cloud her memory.