Tigger - Part 1

I guess I will begin at the beginning…. Although, I’m not really sure where the beginning actually is….

Lets see…. How about starting with Boo..

I had a long and fairly tumultuous relationship with a man that I thought I was going to marry. When we broke up, it was the single most devastating thing ever to happen to me. I slunk downhill emotionally to a place where I never want to be again. It was pitch black there…..

The apartment building I lived in did not actually ‘allow’ pets – however, since the super had a dog, they tended to turn a blind eye to resident animals. I’m not really sure when I decided that I wanted a cat, but I remember taking my mom with me to pick one out. My aunt happened to be friendly with one of the founders of SAFE. SAFE was a group of people that took in stray animals and eventually adoped them out for a very small donation, or kept them for the remainder of their natural lives. SAFE worked on word of mouth, and would not have allowed me to adopt had my aunt not vouched for me.

Mom and I went to see LaVonne first. Sadly, LaVonne did not have a kitten at the age I was looking for. She recommended us to another woman – Shirley – whom we went to see. Shirley had just rescued a litter of kittens. They were just 8 weeks old and ready to be adopted. After playing with these little fellows for quite awhile, Boo picked me.

Since I was so devastated (and quite the drama queen), I initially named him ‘Ashes’. “From the ashes of my life, I will return” was the dramatic statement accompanying his name. Well, ‘Ashes’ doesn’t work very well with an Orange tabby…

As a new pet owner, I was nervous…. After all, this little ball of orange fluff – well – he was LITTLE! So, the first few days, I closed him in the bedroom, fearing that I would lose him if I allowed him to wander freely in my HUGE (LOL) 3 room apartment!  I also put him down on the floor because I was afraid he would fall off the bed which was a whole 2 ½ feet off the ground!! Well… I mean – geez – he is soooooooooo LITTLE!

Well, after a few months, I began to date a fellow that I had dated a few years before. We quite hit it off together and he was also a cat lover!  He had a cat he called ‘Grey’. Grey was………. Well, grey. J Grey had a thing for water – yes, a cat that likes water! Grey also had 6 toes. On all 4 paws!  Grey and I became great friends…… he accompanied me to the bathroom every morning to watch the water in the toilet… While waiting for that exciting moment, he would sit patiently on top of the washing machine (placed directly across from toilet) and we would play  ‘Beaver Slap”. This is a delightful game for cats and humans alike – as long as the cat remembers to keep his claws retracted. If he gets out of hand, however, the humans hands can end up looking rather like shaved steaks!

As bad luck would have it, Grey was hit by a car…. L

A few short weeks later, the then beau came home with another kitten…. The kitten looked amazingly like Grey except that he was much darker – a great deal of black fur…. But, the same 6 toes on every paw!  According to the beau, Grey had a predecessor – Tiger. Since the new kitten looked rather like Tiger, the name my gentleman friend settled on was Tigger.

Well, Tigger and I also became great friends. I introduced him to my little orange tabby – who, by that time, had earned his semi-permanent name of Cuddles. The two – Tigger and Cuddles also became great friends. I sort of took over Tigger’s care…. Vet visits and shots and the like…  The two cats went back and forth between my apartment and the beau’s trailer.

Eventually, our relationship came to an end. The day we broke up, my gentleman friend came to retrieve Tigger – and as he was sitting in my living room preparing to take Tigger back home with him, I believe he had a revelation… He got up to leave – without Tigger – saying, ‘Tigger is much happier here with you. I think he should stay with you if you wouldn’t mind having him.”

Wouldn’t MIND???????? Are you serious???????

And so, Tigger came to stay.

I must digress here for a moment and tell you how Cuddles got his name…. well, THIS name. This little orange heart-breaker preferred to sleep with humans… as a matter of fact, he preferred to sleep LIKE humans. Every night, he would get into bed with me.  He would tuck himself underneath the covers – with his head facing mine on the pillow next to me. He would then take one front paw and place it on either side of my neck….. cuddling me.  He would gently purr and purr and purr and purr and purr until he fell asleep – and then he SNORED!

Oh – yes, one more Cuddles story…..

My dad was a GREAT fisherman. He LOVES to fish – fresh water and salt water. So, he would catch fish, clean them, and send me home with a bag of heads and tails for my little Cuddle-kins for treats…..

Well, I must tell you – my little boy had to ‘kill’ his meal before he could eat it. So, when I awarded him with one of these fish parts, he would pounce – and the next hour (at least) was spent in absolute rapture chasing, stalking, tossing, batting, beating, and throwing this already-deceased ‘prey’  prior to dining upon it. Of course, by the time the dining event took place, it had been in many places –including one of the most feared places in the kitchen – the dreaded ‘UNDERNEATH THE REFRIGERATOR’…. The place where many things (including dust and dirt) go but very few things ever return from…..

Well, this was a source of great amusement for my little feline friend and I saw no harm in it …………………

UNTIL

ONE NIGHT

When the ‘prey’ had been particularly exhausting to ‘hunt’ and ‘kill’ and my lovely furry child disappeared to dine… After a few moments, it occurred to me to wonder why everything was so quiet all of a sudden… Anyone who has children knows that when you hear nothing – no sounds – WORRY!!!!!

So… I called.. “Cuddles’ “Where is Mommy’s baby Cuddle-kins?!”

Nothing

So I looked…

In the kitchen

In the hall

In the closets

In the bathroom

Under the couch…..

And finally

The bedroom

Where my PRECIOUS FUR-BABY was sprawled upon the pillow upon which we BOTH lay our weary heads at night – dining on the ‘prey’ which he had so skillfully ‘hunted’……