A Kitty Tale

I've already mentioned that I do other writing besides my blog here at Blogger. One of the places that I write is at FaithWriters. I love participating in the Weekly Challenges because it's fun and really gives me a chance to grow and develop my writing skills. I thought it would be fun to publish one here. Recently, I particpated in a Challenge in which the topic was about 'The Family Pet'. Having 5 furry family members, I had to decide which to write about. I chose my eldest cat, Prissy. She is a beautiful, long-haired Calico, is 12 years old, quite large and still pretty timid. Here is her story.

"I Was Adopted at PetSmart"

I was adopted at PetSmart. It’s true. My 29th birthday gift to myself was a cat. But I thought I would be the one doing the choosing. How wrong I was.

I have always loved animals, especially cats. At this point in my life, I was living by myself for the first time in quite awhile and I couldn’t wait to get a cat. My apartment didn’t have any furniture, but I was going to have a cat – I had my priorities in order, after all, I didn’t mind sitting on the floor! So off I went, with my friend Julie in tow.

As far as I was concerned, there were really only two things that I was set against in the type of cat I would adopt. The first thing was a kitten. I didn’t want a kitten because as cute as they are, I knew from personal experience that they are excessively rambunctious and have a slight tendency toward terrorism! The second thing I knew I didn’t want was a longhaired cat. Now, there’s nothing wrong with longhaired cats, per se, but I have enough of my own hair to deal with!

Armed with those two requirements, I set about the task of choosing the lucky cat that was to go home with me. I say lucky because I know that I’m easily trained. The Adoption Center had many different cats of wonderful variety. There were some cats that I paid attention to and some that I didn’t even give a second glance at because they weren’t within the confines of my requirements.

It was Julie who noticed it. Noticed ‘her’ actually. She started watching one cat in particular, that oddly enough, was watching and responding to me! She drew my attention to a very beautiful longhaired calico cat that was quite pudgy. I patiently explained my requirements again to Julie, like one would to a child. She responded by telling me that this cat that doesn’t fit my requirements, was watching me and would walk back and forth in her cage, trying to follow me, and that in addition, she would put out her paw, as if trying to touch me. I hadn’t even noticed!

Naturally, this drew me to the cat, which immediately ran up to me to be attended to. I backed off and Julie approached and the cat quickly withdrew to the back of the cage. That was it, I couldn’t resist and I was now taking home this beautiful, fat, longhaired calico cat. I began the adoption process and while being interviewed was asked what would I do if I got a boyfriend (I had disclosed that I was single) that was allergic or didn’t like cats. My response to this was simply that it had been my experience that the cats tended to last longer than the boyfriends. I was immediately approved.

With a happy heart, I went home with my new cat all prepared for the hours of petting and cuddle time we’d share. I went into my apartment, let her out and set up her food, water and litter box areas and decided on a name. Prissy disappeared immediately and I knew it was normal for a cat to take a bit of time to get used to a new home, so I wasn’t worried about it. Where could a cat hide in an apartment without furniture, you ask. That’s easy. In the darkened spare room, at the back of the closet. Finally, after a couple of days she started to come out a bit.

I knew she’d been abused before I got her. I guess she knew I’d be patient with her. Ten years later, I still have Prissy and love her to pieces. Since then three other cats (two with longhair), one dog, a husband and now a baby have followed. She’s never gotten over her timidity, and has only recently started really trusting Jeff. I’ve never forgotten that day, when I was adopted by a cat, that was everything I never knew I always wanted – my Prissy.


(C) 2008 Tracy Keck