I had two cats that both lived good long lives.
They were great buds and amazing pets.
I never imagined they would one day be gone.
It just never crossed my mind.
They were first mine with a boyfriend I was living with (back in 1992), then mine and my husband’s alone for three years, then living with us and our two children until the kids were preteens.
They had great lives and saw a lot of the Eastern seaboard!
They started out in North Carolina where I adopted them both — two weeks apart. They later lived in NYC and Maine occupying numerous apartments and houses.
They behaved like sisters, though were not of the same bloodline.
I adored them, as did the rest of us.
Bearcat could be a bit floppy and whiney, but she made up for it with her loving devotion and playfulness.
She was like a dog — with all the good cat stuff.
If you are a cat lover then you know what I mean.
She was cuddly and social like a dog but did things only cats do
- Lie on your chest when sleeping and then early dawn put her nailed paw on your face to wake you while pretending that wasn’t what she was doing.
- Sit on top of any papers we were ever reading, sprawled out, or just in our lap.
- Bat carrots around the house as if they were orange mice.
- Let our kids have their way with her, whatever it was.
- Sit facing a wall. I figured she thought we couldn’t see her if she couldn’t see us. Fool!
- Kill mice and chipmunks and leave them at the bottom of the stairs — in our house.
- Chase mice outside and torture them for fun — without killing them.
- Poop in a litter box and bury her deed using the sand and her cute little paws.
- Lick and clean her sister-kitty, not only her genitalia — like a dog.
- Clean her whole body with one paw and a tongue.
- Meow incessantly until she got her way, even if we never figured out what she wanted.
- Hang off the side of a table until she would flop off.
My other cat, Nisha, was not like a dog. She was kitty through and through, and sweet as sugar. She was not cuddly or social like her sister, but we loved her just the same.
Here were some of her traits
- She would wait until the crowd left, come out of hiding, and plant herself smack in the middle of the room.
- Lick her sister clean with love.
- Meow pretty much only when she was wondering why her food bowl was empty.
- Pretend she didn’t like human attention except she did.
- Never let you pick her up except when she was tired of saying no.
- Wriggle out of your arms pretty much as soon as you managed to get her in there.
- Was kind to our children, even at the earliest of ages. She would allow them to sit near her, squeal in her face, and chase her down the apartment hallway.
- Sleep at the bottom of our bed just to let us know she loved us.
- Aloof but present — always maintaining the upper hand, and a bit of a snob.
- Queeny and preserved. Special in her poised manner.
Somehow we all went on without them, though memories of their specialness never leave our hearts.
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