Anyone who has ever been owned by a cat--(YOU know who you are)-- know that cats DO choose who they are going to allow to be their human companions. Sure--people decide they want a cat and maybe go to the Humane Society to adopt, or look in the paper for free kittens and get one that way. However, we all know that in the end, it is the cat who decides if this is the adoption that THEY want!
I have known and been owned by a number of animals in my 50+ years; from dogs to horses--pigs and goats--squirrels and jaybirds, and many others, but I think my favorite is the cat. You CAN NOT CONTROL A CAT! My husband and I have both been blessed throughout ourlives with being adopted by cats. I have read and heard alot of strange tales about animal adoptions in my life, but this is a first hand account of one of the most bizzarre adoptions by a cat I've ever heard--and I know it's true--it happened to us!
We live in the city with 5 cats and 2 nervous parakeets. One summer, we had just finished having one cat a week visit our Veterinarian to be neutered or spayed. After everyone had healed and were all feeling "kittenish" again, we decided to get away for a weekend. We arranged for a kittysitter and off we went to our favorite coastal town of Newport, on the Oregon Coast.
Since we were going down as "tourists" on the first weekend of August, (a "charge the tourists double" weekend), we checked into the cheapest motel in town, also the most run down, SLEEZZZEEEST one in town, but all we could afford. When we went to bed that night, my husband jokingly said, "but we can't go to bed--there arn't any cats to cuddle"! At about 1:30A.M., we were both awaken by the sound of a cat's "rrreeeowww"? After hearing it for several minutes, my husband got up and opened the door and saw a cat turning the corner of the building. We went back to sleep. At 4:30A.M., we again heard a distict "Rrrroowwww"???? Then a very insistant "Rrrrowww"!!! It sounded like it was right outside our door--I opened the door and in SAUNTERED a long haired, looked like a Himilayan Blue Siamese, smokey colored with a black mask, siamese markings, but white, WHITE, chin and feet. He had a big PLUME of a black tail, and, for those of you who know some of Oregon, CRATER LAKE blue eyes--for those of you who don't know Crater Lake--ELIZABETH TAYLOR blue eyes, only deeper in color!
He proceeded to jump on the bed and "love us up" as though he'd known us all his life! It appeared as though he had been well taken care of and not too long ago. He was starting to go on the skinny side, but still had the glossy fur and manners of a cat that had known a loving family and home. He wore no ccollar and was obviously hungry, so I dressed and went across to the store which was open 24 hours and bought some cat food. He ate, then "RRrroowwwed" me again until I realized I hadn't set out any water--(SHAME ON ME)! I gave him water and he curled up and went to sleep with us.
My only guess was that he had come to Newport with his family on vacation and had somehow gotten separated and lost. The motel we were staying at was locally known as the biggest "pet haters" in town and did have a very strict "No Pets" policy so we knew he didn't belong to anyone here. This was Sunday morning though, in a small town, where there is no Humane Society hot line. We wanted to stay another day anyway, so decided we would contact them and the local newspaper on Monday morning before we left for home.
When we got up in the morning, I went to the office, paid for another night, and assured them that we didn't need any "service" that day. We left Smokey, (as we had already began to call him), well fed, watered, with a kitty litter box, (bought new at the store across the street), and happy. We went out for breakfast, returning about an hour and a half later.
This cat had the "Siamese Voice", and apparently a housekeeper, when passing by, heard him. When we drove up the the room, the door was open, the bed was stripped, and the Manager was YELLING at us in broken English about "CAT IN ROOM, YOU OUT"!! There was nothing we could argue or complain about and there was no sign of Smokey. They had probably scared him pretty badly so he must have run. We packed our bags, loaded the car and started the drive inland to home.
It was cool and foggy on the Coast that morning,
typical for that time of the year, but as we crossed the Coastal Mountain Range and entered the Valley, it grew hot quickly and we stopped for a rest stop and lowered the windows in the car.
We had been back on the road for about half an hour, when my Husband, a look of astonishment on his face as he was looking in the rear view mirror proclaimed, "HONEY,LOOK"! I turned, and there on the back seat, in the middle, was last night's visitor, sitting calmly and obviously enjoying the ride!
That's how Smokey came home with us. When we arrived home, he jumped out of the car and sauntered into the house with us as though he "owned the joint". He gets along with the rest of the family just fine and has been totally uninterested in the car since then.
He is "house polite", knows the word "No" and doesn't even think about jumping on the kitchen counters. He was Someone's young pal, (he's still a kitten, maybe about 8 or 9 months old),---Somebody LOVED this cat before he found and adopted us and we only wish we could let that family know that he is still VERY MUCH LOVED!
I guess that besides wanting to share this strange story, I would like it to be a lesson/warning to ALL PET OWNERS who take their friends on vacation with them; please, PLEASE, put ID on them. Smokey was very well cared for before he adopted us, he'd only been out there on his own for about a week. Contrary to the popular belief that cats can "take care of themselves", a domestic cat that has been cared for will start to loose weight in the first three days of becoming ferel. Our cats wear collars with tags, but they are "safety" collars and come off easily if the wearer becomes caught on anything. That could have been why Smokey wore no collar. The best way is to take your pet(s) to your Veteranarian and have an ID microchip embedded in the ear.
Now, we have ANOTHER cat to take in to see our wonderful Veterinarian. Here are two pictures of him:
She made it through all of our wild kids--NONE of them happy with being handled by strangers. This time when we pick him up afterwards, I will take the Staff a Kitty Litter Cake.
I hope you enjoy the following recipe--This is REAL FUN to serve at parties!
Prepare the cakes and pudding to package directions. Crumble the baked cake in the kitty litter pan, then add the pudding and mix. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs and set aside, mix the rest into the pan. Soften the Tootsie Rolls by placing in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds on high and shape to resemble cat droppings. Arrange the Tootsie Rolls on top of the cookie-pudding cake mixture; sprinkle all with green cookie crumbs. Decorate with plastic flies and serve with pooper scooper.
