Kat's Cat

This story was written by my daughter, Teresa Bartock.

            I’ve always been a cat lover.  It was no surprise when I got a place of my own that I soon had two kittens.  They were both domestic short hair.  One was a gray eight week old female that I named Shadow.  The other was a black six week old female that I named Midnight.  For a little over a year, it was just the three of us.  I treated Shadow and Midnight like they were my children.  They were very spoiled. 

            Two years later I got married.  My husband and I didn’t really have a desire to have any children.  But since we were both pet lovers, it didn’t take long for our two cats to turn into four cats and two dogs.  The additional two cats were also domestic short hair:  a white male named Tobias (Tobi for short) and a black and white female named Zena.  Shadow and Midnight have always been “my” cats.  So it worked out quite well that Tobi and Zena were closer to my husband than they were to me.   

            After five years of marriage, we found out that we were having a baby.  We had the same worries that most first time parents have.  Are we ready?  Will we be good parents?  Can we afford a baby?  But we also had another thing to worry about:  How will our spoiled cats react?  I was especially concerned about how Shadow and Midnight would react since I had given them so much of my time and attention for almost eight years. 

            It didn’t take long for nine months to pass by and before we knew it, we were bringing home our little bundle of joy.  We were the proud parents of a beautiful, healthy eight pound baby girl.  I had always loved the name Katherine.  Since my husband and I didn’t agree on any boy names, I was thrilled that he immediately agreed with the name Katherine if we had a girl.  We thought about what her nickname would be.  Would we call her Kathy, Kate, Katie, or Kat.  My husband and I thought it would be cute to call her Kat.

            When we brought Kat home, my cats didn’t know what to think.  They hid for a few days.  After that they would come around and sniff her.  But Tobi acted a little different than the rest of the cats did.  This cat that didn’t really hang around me often before Kat was born was now suddenly everywhere I was…as long as Kat was with me.  There were many times that I sat on the couch feeding Kat or just holding her and Tobi would come cuddle up next to us.  You can tell that he likes her.

            It’s been two months now and the cats all seem to be adjusting well to their new “little sister.”  They all love her now, but it is still obvious whose cat is whose.  I still have Shadow and Midnight and my husband still has Zena.  But it’s obvious that Tobi is now Kat’s cat.                  

A Good Imagination - Part III

After our vacation was over, we brought Goldie home where she adjusted quite well. The vet had completely removed her tail and it healed quickly. People would, and still do, come to our house and simply assume she is a bob tailed cat. We will never know how she came to be under the hedge in our front yard. We wondered for the longest time if someone had simply dropped her off in our yard, knowing that we are animal lovers and would take her in. We asked the vet what could have happened to her tail and she didn’t know.  She said maybe she got it caught in a fence or something.  Years later, it occurred to me that perhaps Little Goldie had hitched a ride under the hood of my husband’s car from his workplace; that could better explain the damage to her tail. It’s pretty commonplace for kittens to climb under cars out of curiosity or a desire to get warm.

The kitten, who was once frightened by our big dog Abby, became friends with the dog. Every time she sees her, she rubs up against her in greeting. Sometimes they will lie together.  Goldie truly became Adam’s cat and still sleeps on the end of his bed every night. The name Goldie really does seem to fit her.  We love to tell the story of how she came to us, but when Adam was still just three, he added something to the story. I overheard him telling my sister-in-law how Goldie used to be a boy.  “Really,” she asked? She used to be a boy?”

 “Yes,” Adam replied.  She used to be a boy, but then they cut her tail off at the vet and now she is a girl.”

Adam is older now and would probably be a little embarrassed by this part of the story! In fact, I just read this to him and his face turned bright red! I thought it was so funny at the time he said it, though.  I did not correct him.  I was just proud to be the mother of a boy who thought things through.  A good imagination can go a long way.

 

THE END