This is the story of The Cat Who Came In - And Decided To Stay.
It goes like this:
In the fall of 96-97, there was a scratching noise at the front door of my sister's house. A beautiful male Siamese cat walked in the house when my sister opened the door. He looked around the house and my sister game him a meal. He ate, slept in like he owned the place, then asked to be let outside. This went on for a week. She attached a note to his collar stating what has been happening. There was a an answered note the next time the cat showed up. It read "I thought he belonged to you guys. He has been showing up here also". My sister was in a quandary at this point. I advised her to take the cat in, since it already regarded her as an owner, if not as a food source. My sister was hesitant about it, since she believed no owner would let a cat like him in the wild. She settled for feeding him outside in the inside yard, but not letting him inside. this went on for a month or three, until the cat dragged himself to the house with an infected wound in the butt. The size of the wound indicated a dog bit him. My sister took him to the vet and finally decided to take the cat into the family.
My sister's family led a discussion on what to name him. They finally settled on the name "Ming", because if his bright yellow coat. I thought of it as apt, because I thought it was short for "Ming the Merciless."
I'll explain further. Ming has the characteristics and disposition of what would you expect of a Siamese. He is smart and he gets bored easy. Unfortunately, when you dangles a piece of string for him or toy for him to go after, it's your hands he goes for with claws and teeth. I decided to arm myself with a pair of thick leather gloves. Ming upped the ante and really let the claws out. The furry Utahraptor ripped open the gloves trying to get at the flesh!.
He got along better with my sister though. I'ved seen them chasing each other in a game of hide and seek. But even she had call Ming "The Cat From Hell". It took 2 years for Ming to adjust to no more going out, but he accepted his fate in the end. Then fate took a cruel turn for Ming. My siser took him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned. The vet decided to place Ming under anesthesia, but something went wrong and Ming went into a coma. The managed to resuscitate him, but Ming lost his hearing!
This had a profound effect on him. He started to caterwaul in the middle of the night. He has a loud voice for a slender cat. The cries echoed throughout the house in the dead of night. My brother-in-law ended up throwing shoes at him to get him to shut up.
Ming had one endearing characteristic, despite his quirks. He was absolutely loyal to my sister. He did not leave her side when my sister was ill and was bed-ridden. My brother-in-law finally had to bring him to the kitchen after 3 days of not leaving my sister's side. There was also the time when they first tried boarding him when they went on vacation. They got a call from the boarding cattery that Ming refused to eat. They hurried back home and when they came to get him, he was so happy to see them that he started crying and purring at the same time. The family either left someone at the house with Ming or left plenty of food and water in the house for those short weekend strips after that. Or I would sit the house.
The vet figured that Ming was about 7 years old when he came in from the cold, though she warned that he could be much older than that. The kids where still in grade school when he came in and decided to stay.
Time went by quickly...too quickly at times. The kids now had either finished college or are in college. I had moved away. My sister called me to express here worry over Ming last year. His health had started to deteriorate. He was turning skinny and he started smelling bad. My sister wanted to put him down, but his appetite was still healthy. She felt that she was being selfish for wanting to keep him by her side for as long as possible. I pointed out to her that we don't put down members of the family just because they had become a burden.
Unfortunately, the time had come. My sister texted me this afternoon to tell me that she finally had to put Ming down. He couldn't stand anymore. She had been crying since last night. The funny thing is that Ming was trying to comfort her, even as his health was failing. She texted me later to say that the deed was done. And she had wept as bitterly as if she had lost a child at the vet.
I'ved been fighting tears all afternoon and wrestling whether it was all right to cry over the loss of a cat. I decided that if one of my literary heroes can cry over the loss of his cat, so can I!
Ming is being cremated and his ashes buried in the garden. I just hope that my sister remembers to tell him to go into the light when he did pass over. He might decide to come back as a ghost, though I think my sister wouldn't mind.
So ends the story of The Cat Who Came In - And Decided To Stay. Unfortunately, he decided to leave again to wander off, but that's okay. We will see him again, one of these days.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell
It goes like this:
In the fall of 96-97, there was a scratching noise at the front door of my sister's house. A beautiful male Siamese cat walked in the house when my sister opened the door. He looked around the house and my sister game him a meal. He ate, slept in like he owned the place, then asked to be let outside. This went on for a week. She attached a note to his collar stating what has been happening. There was a an answered note the next time the cat showed up. It read "I thought he belonged to you guys. He has been showing up here also". My sister was in a quandary at this point. I advised her to take the cat in, since it already regarded her as an owner, if not as a food source. My sister was hesitant about it, since she believed no owner would let a cat like him in the wild. She settled for feeding him outside in the inside yard, but not letting him inside. this went on for a month or three, until the cat dragged himself to the house with an infected wound in the butt. The size of the wound indicated a dog bit him. My sister took him to the vet and finally decided to take the cat into the family.
My sister's family led a discussion on what to name him. They finally settled on the name "Ming", because if his bright yellow coat. I thought of it as apt, because I thought it was short for "Ming the Merciless."
I'll explain further. Ming has the characteristics and disposition of what would you expect of a Siamese. He is smart and he gets bored easy. Unfortunately, when you dangles a piece of string for him or toy for him to go after, it's your hands he goes for with claws and teeth. I decided to arm myself with a pair of thick leather gloves. Ming upped the ante and really let the claws out. The furry Utahraptor ripped open the gloves trying to get at the flesh!.
He got along better with my sister though. I'ved seen them chasing each other in a game of hide and seek. But even she had call Ming "The Cat From Hell". It took 2 years for Ming to adjust to no more going out, but he accepted his fate in the end. Then fate took a cruel turn for Ming. My siser took him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned. The vet decided to place Ming under anesthesia, but something went wrong and Ming went into a coma. The managed to resuscitate him, but Ming lost his hearing!
This had a profound effect on him. He started to caterwaul in the middle of the night. He has a loud voice for a slender cat. The cries echoed throughout the house in the dead of night. My brother-in-law ended up throwing shoes at him to get him to shut up.
Ming had one endearing characteristic, despite his quirks. He was absolutely loyal to my sister. He did not leave her side when my sister was ill and was bed-ridden. My brother-in-law finally had to bring him to the kitchen after 3 days of not leaving my sister's side. There was also the time when they first tried boarding him when they went on vacation. They got a call from the boarding cattery that Ming refused to eat. They hurried back home and when they came to get him, he was so happy to see them that he started crying and purring at the same time. The family either left someone at the house with Ming or left plenty of food and water in the house for those short weekend strips after that. Or I would sit the house.
The vet figured that Ming was about 7 years old when he came in from the cold, though she warned that he could be much older than that. The kids where still in grade school when he came in and decided to stay.
Time went by quickly...too quickly at times. The kids now had either finished college or are in college. I had moved away. My sister called me to express here worry over Ming last year. His health had started to deteriorate. He was turning skinny and he started smelling bad. My sister wanted to put him down, but his appetite was still healthy. She felt that she was being selfish for wanting to keep him by her side for as long as possible. I pointed out to her that we don't put down members of the family just because they had become a burden.
Unfortunately, the time had come. My sister texted me this afternoon to tell me that she finally had to put Ming down. He couldn't stand anymore. She had been crying since last night. The funny thing is that Ming was trying to comfort her, even as his health was failing. She texted me later to say that the deed was done. And she had wept as bitterly as if she had lost a child at the vet.
I'ved been fighting tears all afternoon and wrestling whether it was all right to cry over the loss of a cat. I decided that if one of my literary heroes can cry over the loss of his cat, so can I!
Ming is being cremated and his ashes buried in the garden. I just hope that my sister remembers to tell him to go into the light when he did pass over. He might decide to come back as a ghost, though I think my sister wouldn't mind.
So ends the story of The Cat Who Came In - And Decided To Stay. Unfortunately, he decided to leave again to wander off, but that's okay. We will see him again, one of these days.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell
