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Another Cat Story
06/08/10 04:27 PM
In the mid 1980s John befriended a skinny black stray cat who frequented the parking lot at Anchor. It wasn’t long before she brought two young kittens to us. We found homes for those two and I took Mama-Kitty to the vet to get spayed. The vet informed me that Mama-Kitty had just had a new batch of kittens. Sure enough, Mama-Kitty proudly led four kittens to us. Knowing our recent kitten adaption campaign had been maxed-out, we took on the responsibility of daily feedings. And we got them all neutered.
Early each morning when I arrived at Anchor five black cats would quickly gather for their meal. One morning I soon realized that Andy was missing. When I called for him he answered from Anchor’s rooftop. Somehow he had managed to climb the ladder affixed to the building’s wall. Since he couldn’t get down by himself, I donned a zip-up jacket, climbed onto the roof, zipped Andy inside the jacket (his head poking out right under my chin) and we managed to get down.
Another morning Little Kitty was missing. By the sound of her meow I was afraid that she had gotten locked into one of the service trucks next-door. Since it was a Sunday no one would be around so I got a ladder, climbed over the eight-foot chain link fence, and discovered that her cries were coming from inside a huge dumpster. After having climbed the rungs to the top, I was amazed to see Little Kitty at the bottom of the gigantic empty container with no way out. What to do? Finally an idea formed and I went back over the fence. In our warehouse I borrowed a very long narrow carpet remnant and draped it over the dumpster’s wall. It just barely reached down to Little Kitty. Not much encouragement was needed to get her to claw her way up and out. Whew!
Eventually the neighbors got tired of the cats taking naps on the hoods of their cars. And, after several threats that were made, I made the painful decision to relocate them to a twenty acre cat rescue property about thirty miles away. Over the next year I visited twice and they seemed to have adjusted to living in the country.
Early each morning when I arrived at Anchor five black cats would quickly gather for their meal. One morning I soon realized that Andy was missing. When I called for him he answered from Anchor’s rooftop. Somehow he had managed to climb the ladder affixed to the building’s wall. Since he couldn’t get down by himself, I donned a zip-up jacket, climbed onto the roof, zipped Andy inside the jacket (his head poking out right under my chin) and we managed to get down.
Another morning Little Kitty was missing. By the sound of her meow I was afraid that she had gotten locked into one of the service trucks next-door. Since it was a Sunday no one would be around so I got a ladder, climbed over the eight-foot chain link fence, and discovered that her cries were coming from inside a huge dumpster. After having climbed the rungs to the top, I was amazed to see Little Kitty at the bottom of the gigantic empty container with no way out. What to do? Finally an idea formed and I went back over the fence. In our warehouse I borrowed a very long narrow carpet remnant and draped it over the dumpster’s wall. It just barely reached down to Little Kitty. Not much encouragement was needed to get her to claw her way up and out. Whew!
Eventually the neighbors got tired of the cats taking naps on the hoods of their cars. And, after several threats that were made, I made the painful decision to relocate them to a twenty acre cat rescue property about thirty miles away. Over the next year I visited twice and they seemed to have adjusted to living in the country.
Charlie the Office Cat
04/16/10 05:13 PM
Several months after our discovery, we had found homes for two of the three kittens. But try as we might, we could not find a home for the black-and-white, so we decided to keep him.
We called our newly-adopted friend Charlie, after his Chaplin-like mustache, and he carpooled to and from work with us. At home he slept in my bed with his head on his own pillow. One morning I found a baby tooth under his pillow–it was a complete revelation to me that cats, too, believed in the Tooth Fairy. Charlie woke up at five every morning and would awaken me by pouncing on my stomach, attacking my toes, or sauntering into the bathroom and deftly unspooling the toilet paper. When we moved to an apartment that didn’t allow pets, we decided to make the workplace (Anchor) Charlie’s full-time home.
Over the years Charlie had his share of kitty ailments. And once he had a serious injury. As best we could figure he cut his leg on the sharp underside of a metal shelf. The vet who performed the surgery for his severed Achilles’ tendon informed me that from then on Charlie would be called, "Tripod". Well, it took three different vets until we got the bandaging correct and then we were vigilant about not letting him walk on the leg (between re-bandaging he got to have an hour or so breather). Anyway, he healed well and after a bit even the limp disappeared.
For the last six years of his life Charlie would sleep most of the time. But several times a day he would wander up front to the customer area and enjoy greeting everyone and checking out the ‘aromas’. Usually once each day I would gather Charlie into my arms and we would stand outside so he could sniff the air and watch for birds.
Over the last 2-1/2 years of his life Charlie’s weight dropped steadily, from 13.4 lbs. to 6.8 lbs. No matter how much food he ate (his appetite was good) there was no weight gain. The only thing tests revealed was a slight kidney problem. Then on Nov. 21, 1997 Charlie suffered what seemed to be a stroke. With heavy hearts we decided it would be in Charlie’s best interest to help him into heaven. I said good-bye to him at noon on Nov. 25, 1997.
We love you, Charlie.