I have always said animals choose their owners, not the owner choosing the animals. This is especially true of cats. The other myth I have found to be true is cats are not aloof as some people think – but are just as playful and loyal as a dog. All of my cats have been fixed and have received their shots. Animal owners need to be responsible and spay and neuter their animals.
All of my cats have been feral cats, which just showed up at my door – except Molly. When I found the litter of four kittens, none of them had even opened their eyes yet. Molly was one of them and I was the first person she saw. I took them home and bottle fed them and took care of them. Molly is a Russian blue and is now 17 years old and is very happy being an indoor cat. Molly has been by my side through thick and thin.
Last year I was talking to one of my outside cats, as I always do. My birthday was the next day. I had asked her if she was going to bring me a birthday present and that it had better not be a mouse like she had brought me as a Christmas present. Next thing I knew, I heard a kitten crying in my garage. Friendly was looking down from a file cabinet as if to say, “It is under there.” She had brought me a tiny tabby kitten. Because he had arrived on Oct. 4 (the feast of St. Francis), I named him Frankie. He is your typical laid back tabby and enjoys sitting and playing with his friends. The other kitten in the picture is Mitsy who arrived as a kitten the year before. Mitsy and Frankie wait by the door and greet me just like a dog would. They get so excited just like a dog would also. The funniest thing Mitsy does is jump so high when she is playing that she turns the light switch on in the hall.
One of my barn cats, named Truck Kitty, just showed up one day two years ago. He enjoys sleeping in the back of my truck in my carport on his bed. During the day when the grapes are ripe, he sits on the fence in between the vines waiting for the birds to land with that scowl on his face. Who needs a scarecrow when you have a cat like Truck Kitty?
– Barbara Taddeo
