We moved four cats from Texas to New York State. This is the story of these cats, and their new sister,
Midnight,
Smokey,
Patches,
Shadow and
Miss Kitty. We’re their owners and they’re our children, or, just maybe… is it the other way around?
The First Move
The trip took four days. Linda drove the cats in her Blazer. We had carefully made reservations at hotels that accepted pets and we were able to let them out for the three nights that we were on the road. They made it to New York State without mishap and then had to adapt to a new home.
The first problem for them were the hardwood floors. Used to carpet, they found that running on hardwood was very different. However, they loved to play with their toys because the balls just rolled and rolled. And ice cubes slid around to an amazing degree.
The next problem was that they had been outdoor kitties in Texas, and we did not have a fenced in back yard for them. A specially built window ledge helped, as did pads on the headboard of the bed, giving them a view outside.
What a view it was! There were these big animals that came through this white stuff to eat the bushes all winter. They had never seen deer and probably didn’t recall snow, and it was certainly an interesting view for them. We took them out in the snow once, when the complaining grew too loud, and they didn’t like it one bit.
The Second Move
Then, a year later came another move, to a carpeted house, but there are stairs, and windows in the basement at ground level, and ledges all the way around. It’s hard for them to understand, though, when they sit in one window and can see into the house through another window and see one of the other cats. They think one of them got outside.
The neighbors have two cats, and that causes quite a ruckus when they parade by our basement windows. The chipmunks and rabbits that come up on the patio deck also cause some terrible moaning and hissing. We lost Midnight at this house, but gained the lovely Miss Kitty.
The Latest Move
A third move in three years was tough on the older three and it took a while for them to adapt. Now we own the house, a split ranch, which is a kitty playground. We’ve been here nearly five years land the cats have become settled. The social dynamic is great. The fussing and fighting has disappeared. Each has developed a distinct personality and behaviors that they were hiding because of the stress of the moves.
A large front window with a huge kitty perch in it and a heated bed next to the perch allows the cats to engage in traffic control on our quiet street, as well as letting them inspect the various dogs that are walked by the house. A second large window in the dining area coupled with the dining room table allows the same view of the back yard, with birds, squirrels, rabbits, and occasional other kitties visiting.
The lower split has windows at ground level, and the cats have had some interesting encounters with the neighborhood cats there. We have a cat box in both bathrooms. The cats get wet food every morning, have water and dry food out all day. Lately, because Smokey is 14 and Patches 11, I’ve been giving them a treat, usually another can of wet food, in the evening.
Midnight was our senior cat. A black Siamese, he was the boss. Tolerant to a fault, he could still whip the young male’s butt if he had to. He passed away December 27, 1996 from inoperable kidney cancer at nearly eleven years of age. We miss him terribly.
He was a lap kitty. He was our most trusting kitty, too, and we could clip his nails, or feed him hair ball medicine without a fight.
Smokey is the prima donna of the group as well as it’s matriarch. Linda found her wild as a kitten, and she stayed wild to this day. She is a beautiful smoke colored Persian and she knows it. Most of the time she can be found lounging on the water bed.
She’s our problem child right now, prone to gulping her food to excess and them getting sick from it, and prone to using the carpet as a scratching post.
At one time there was just Midnight and Smokey, and they got along well. Then “mommy” brought home that other girl cat, and then that awful big footed male kitten… Smokey’s life has never been the same.
Since we’ve settled into this house, Smokey has become social. Linda tells all her Texas friends that they wouldn’t believe the change. For 14, she is amazingly spry, able to climb up the side of the 5 foot high perch like it was a tree. She sits on chair arms and comes looking to be petted. Not quite a lap kitty, and still pissy to Patches, she is definitely the matriarch and the boss.
Patches adopted Chuck. She sleeps as close to him as possible and waits at the door for him to get home from work. Every night she is in “daddy’s” lap, sometimes before he can finish supper. Patches is the only cat that likes hairball medicine and licks it eagerly off Chuck’s finger.
Patches is the cat that makes her point. When “mommy” used to work two jobs in Texas and get home late, Patches told “mommy” how she felt by peeing on “mommy’s” pillow. If the cat box is dirty or “daddy” is late coming home from work too much, she finds a corner and expresses her opinion. Sometimes she even bites…
Patches was all ears as a kitten, like a Gremlin. She is a tortoise, gray and orange and brown, short haired.
Patches now sleeps with daddy, laying in the crook of his arm at night and laying her head on his shoulder to purr him to sleep. She had surgery over the winter of 2001 for a cyst in her mouth, which didn’t work. It doesn’t bother her, though. Sadly, blood work at that time showed the start of kidney disease which means that we won’t have her much longer. We’re going to make her final year or so as nice as possible and when she gets too sick, we will be merciful. She did put on a bunch of weight as we got settled, and is now about 12 pounds. Not fat, but at age 11, she acts a little old and stogy.
Shadow is thirteen pounds of kitten, with a baby’s mew and all the energy in the world. He was all feet as a kitten, and grew in to them. The girls steer clear of him since he’s twice their size and plays way too rough. But, he just a big boy still growing up.
He is our hard food eater, unlike the girls, and is easily shoved aside at the food plate by either of the smaller girls.
Sometimes we wonder if Shadow is part dog. He behaves like the stereotypical dumb jock. He’ll chase one of the girls, she’ll hide right in front of him, and he cries because he can’t find her. He bumps in to things because he thinks he’s the size of the others, not huge like he is. He is also a black Siamese, and nearly three years old.
He’s settled down here, and become an awful lap kitty. Now at nearly 15 pounds, he’s big, but not nearly as aggressive as he was. He’s mommy’s big boy.
Miss Kitty is our newest cat.
Linda had been having dreams after Midnight passed away about a gray cat. In early March, we both were kinda blue, so one Saturday morning I went looking for a kitten. I stopped at several vets but they had no kittens. So, I went to the local Humane Society shelter. They did not have any gray kittens, but there was one gray ball of fur that looked like it needed a home. I asked and she was 14 months old. Her previous owner had gotten her as a kitten from the Humane Society and then returned her when she moved out of town. So, this little lost soul had been at the shelter twice. I immediately filled out the paperwork, left a sizable donation, and brought our new baby home.
When I walked into our house, Linda was in the laundry room. I called her out and her first words were “Oh, Chuck, what did you do?” She didn’t say much after that because she was hugging the cat and crying.
We named her Miss Kitty because her old name was Kitty and when we called her all the cats came. She was a little butterball when we got her, all baby fat and addicted to people food. She is about Shadow’s size and they have become fast friends. They wrestle for hours, and he almost never chases the little girls anymore. She has lost her fat and become quite trim and fit. Patches has had trouble accepting her and we had quite a time with her peeing on carpet and pillows. Now the two other girls tolerate her and occasionally even seem friendly.
Miss Kitty is our new lap kitty, not replacing Midnight but as gentle and sweet. She still has a people food addiction, ice cream. Linda has quite a time trying to eat a sundae. We love all our cats dearly, but Miss Kitty has filled a hole in our hearts.
Miss Kitty is over ten pounds, gray with a white blaze on her chest and belly. She has six toes on her front paws. She is our greatest bug killer, able to spot the tiniest gnat and track it down.
Miss Kitty sleeps with daddy, too, at the foot of the bed because Patches has the rest claimed. She also guards the upstairs from Smokey, who’d come up every morning to wake Chuck to get up and feed her. Miss Kitty plops at the top of the stairs and just keeps Smokey at the bottom. No violence, just intimidation.