A Tribute to my Cat
Her name was Popsicle. She appeared one day in my yard as most cats do. The thing is…….she was the first to do so. In 26 years no cats had stumbled upon our doorstop looking for a place to hang out so this was unusual. I told my daughter that there was a stray cat outside and she immediately went to see about it. My Emily LOVES animals beyond all things created! She followed it out behind the barn and said a simple “hello” knowing it was going to run off somewhere and that would be it.
The cat came back……….and never left! My daughter went back to College and I now had a cat. My son-in-law to be was living with us at the time. After a few weeks with this cat on the front porch (during the end of winter) I stated “I think we should name the cat if it’s going to be hanging around here.” The comment from the pre-son-in-law was “you should name it Popsicle ’cause it’s probably going to freeze to death.” I liked it – great name – and so it was!
It wasn’t long before we noticed Popsicle’s width was growing. Ahhhh – she’s a female – who soon had 5 kittens to share with us. The family was taken out to the barn to be raised and I had my first experiences of learning all about momma cats and kittens and territory and whatever else goes with cats.
Momma and kittens were very close – for several weeks. I’d never seen such care – that is until she got herself knocked up again! I swear that I was going to have her fixed the second she was done nursing! But she became “with-kitten” again and pushed her first litter away. Thus began the separation of church and state otherwise known as house-cat and barn cats.
Popsicle had 8 with the 2nd litter! Wow – within 6 months I had a ridiculous amount of cats! I found homes for all 8 and 1 from the first litter. I kept the rest. It was during the 2nd litter that Popsicle was crossing our road and was hit by a car. If you saw the road in front of my house you would know that surviving a car hit is truly a miracle – it rarely happens. But she survived it and from that moment on became my cat-dog. She never went down to the road again.
For the next 5 years I had the animal of my dreams. I never worried about her going outside – she was too afraid of the road. But she followed me everywhere. When I went to get the mail she would follow me halfway down the driveway and then sit and wait for me while I crossed the street for the mail. She came when she was called. She always looked like she was pissed at you – but was very loving despite the “if looks could kill” expression on her face. She didn’t hop all over the place in the house like most cats, and she said “ow” instead of meow. And get this – she loved the game of Yahtzee. Roudy shaking of dice always brought her into the room from where ever she was in the house. She’d wait patiently for me to pick her up and place her in my lap for the game. For whatever reason she seemed to love the loud rattle of the dice!
I had only 1 other cat in my life (again a fervant request from my daughter). I was a dog-only person. “Muffin”, the first cat had lived 18 years. My heart broke when she had to be put down – but now I did have Popsicle, the cat-dog, who was only 5 or 6 and I thought I had a good 7 to 10 more years with the perfect house animal.
We had one last game of Yahtzee. Just a couple of months ago. Rattled the dice and down she came from upstairs. As usual, she got into my lap and enjoyed the game. Game over, I went to the computer. Popsicle went outside……..and died on the porch. Just like that – no warning. One minute playing Yahtzee – 30 minutes later – dead. My heart still aches. I miss her so much. I am thankful I still have 4 of her cat-dog children in the barn for company. But there will never be another Popsicle – she was the best cat-dog of all. Thank you, God, for dropping this animal on my doorstep, if but for a moment in my life.
Sometimes you just have to get these things off your heart!
Blessings,
Anne
Leave a Reply