Cat stories

[Mrs Kane]

Catslave16 brought up an emotional story for me.

I thought perhaps that I would share it and others would enjoy the space to share their own stories. Whether they be good, bad, heartfelt or just depressing.

I started this story of Catslave16's thread and then felt it wasn't appropriate.

Aww man your stories have got me thinking about Fritz. (My Grannie's old cat) He was a vicious horrible thing. Wouldn't give you the time of day. I was incredulous that my Gran was still nursing him in his old age when she had scars down her arms of him "fighting" her.

On visits he would scratch us to hell and back. My sister still has a scar under her lip from her trying to pet him and him lashing out. We dreaded going to my Granny's place. Not only because it was cramped, dull and without a TV, but because of Fritz.

But she always managed to get him to eat his tablets. Come hell or high water those things would be gone before bedtime! Whether hidden in a nice piece of tuna or shoved down his gullet when he would spit it out. (He had an uncanny knack of doing that, just like dogs do.)
I remember at one Sunday dinner he leapt up on the table and smooshed his paw into the mashed potato and my dad managed to grab him while he was spitting out that darn pill he'd been put in his food right over ours! (We got KFC that night! My sister and I loved it! My dad got a migraine over the ordeal.(Not exaggerating, my dad is prone to them. He has to take injections))

My Granny is not my favourite relative because she was rather cruel to my dad and his siblings and didn't think of my sister and I fondly either until recently. But 2 weeks ago (she finally got skype!) I asked her whilst we got to know each other again: "Why DID you keep Fritz?"
She answered "Because I knew that if I put him on the street no one else would take him. He was so angry and mean."
I suppose that shows a little heart in my Granny. She was never there for us, but she was there for this big cat that couldn't control his anger.

PS: Before my Gran owned Fritz, she also owned Willow. A lovely disabled Sheep dog cross. I never met her. but I am told she was the most loving dog to grace the earth.

I know many of you have good stories to tell. I hope you'll tell a few here

[catslave16]

Mrs Kane, maybe your granny saw a kindred spirit in Fritz, being 'so angry and mean'! Still, I find it rather touching that she stuck with him especially for such a reason.

[Mrs Kane]

She's not the nicest person. I could tell you some stories...

But she's trying to reach out to me now. I guess she realises how much damage she's caused over the years.

Still, she raised Fritz.

[Ruth B]

I guess one of my best stories comes from when I was a kid.

My Father was a dentist and we had moved to a new house that had a couple of rooms set aside for a surgery. The previous owners had had a cat and there was a hole cut in the back door for the cat to get in and out, no flap, just a hole with a wooden door to put a cross it to fasten it shut. We soon got our first ginger tom due to a bit of a misunderstanding between my Father and a patient so the hole was left open.

About 4 years later we got our second cat, or rather he got us. An old gentleman over the road had been feeding him, but when he went into care the cat was left to fend for himself. It was a really bad winter and he soon realised that there was a hole in the door and food in the kitchen. He would run when ever he saw us, and we used to chase him out when we caught him in, until one time my Father went into the kitchen, this cat ran for the door and dropped the mouth full of food he had grabbed, hunger overcame fear and he went back to pick it up. At that point it was decided that he could stay.

He was a big black unneutered tom cat, scarred from fights, and suffering from abscesses. I'm just going to call him Sam as the full version of his name is really not acceptable anymore for a black cat. He was neutered, his wounds treated and nursed through a bout of cat flu. He survived what ever life through at him stoically. He was however the daftest cat you can imagine around people, almost as if he thought it was the best way to repay us for the care given.

The best bit though, my Father had several very young patients who always wanted to see him and he would let them cuddle and maul him without complaint. He even sat on one young girl's lap while she had her dental inspections. Its ironic that I am scared of having any dental work done, so I always feel if Sam helped her associate a visit to a dentist as something not to be frightened of, then everything was well worth while.

He lived well into his late teens and finally had to be pts as something went wrong with his jaw and he could no longer eat. I always remember him as a beautiful big black cat, although I know physically he was not beautiful, scarred face, tatty ears and teeth lost in fights, I guess it was his attitude and his spirit that have left that impression.