Kitty Cat was wonderful! She was gentle and loving and was a wonderful pet. But from time to time she found herself in trouble.
We lived in a two-story house, and at the back of the house was a persimmon tree. Kitty Cat learned early that she could get up on the roof from the tree. She also learned that she could come into the house if a window was open.
In warm weather we would let her outside at night. But in the morning she would get on the roof, walk along the edge by the dormer, go in through a front window and "meow" at our daughter to feed her. She would jump up on the bed and "meow" right in her face, sometimes waking her up from a sound sleep.
One morning, as she was walking along the dormer, she fell off the roof, landing on top of the neighbor's cat, Whiskers. The fall didn't seem to hurt her, but Whiskers was all shook up. (He was a funny one... if he knew you were watching him he would limp. But if he didn't know you were watching, he walked normally.)
On another occasion Kitty Cat disappeared and we couldn't find her. It was hot weather, so we were really concerned. After three and one-half days a neighbor saw her in the window of another neighbor's garage. Apparently she slipped in there when he wasn't looking and then got locked in. When we brought her home she was dehydrated and somewhat disoriented. We gave her water and let her rest (the vet said not to give her food right away), and by the next morning she began to eat again. This time her curiosity had gotten her in trouble.
Kitty Cat wasn't very tall, but she was the undisputed queen of cats on our street. She never would back down when confronted by other cats... she won most battles. One battle, in particular, got her in trouble with the neighbors. She and another cat got into a battle in the middle of the night on the roof of a house two doors away. It was hot weather, and everyone had their windows open. The two cats made so much noise that all the neighbors were awakened and were out there watching... except me. Somehow I slept through the noise, which proved to be embarrassing the next morning. Finally the man who lived there, not knowing what else to do, got out his hose and squirted the cats to chase them away. Kitty Cat's reputation was in jeopardy with the neighbors for awhile.
Probably Kitty Cat had other close calls, but we didn't know about them. For the most part she was a wonderful cat, and our family truly enjoyed having her.
© 2007 Arlene Schwartzkopf