From left to right: 1) Fred didn't want her picture taken in this one. 2) Ready for a workout! 3) Fred being shy.
Drop Dead Fred was rescued from the means streets of Hunstville, Texas, on an unseasonably cool October night in 1993. My friend Joe
and I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building and were met by a crying, bleeding, multi-colored kitten. She looked no more than
four or five months old. She looked up at me and cried as if she were asking for help. I took one look at that pitiful thing and couldn't just
turn her away. She let Joe and me carry her up to my apartment. In the bathroom, we examined her wounds. Her back feet were both badly injured-
some of the skin had been torn off. To this day, she still has two exposed claws. She also had a small gash on her head. Joe and I figured another
cat had beaten her up, since there were several others that roamed the neighborhood. Joe stayed with her while I walked to Texaco to get some peroxide.
Much to Fred's objections, Joe held her down in the bathtub while I cleaned her wounds. We fed her some meat and water and I said to Joe, "I'll keep her
in tonight and tomorrow I'll start looking for a home for her." Well, by the next morning, I had myself a cat. Due to the landlady's rules, I wasn't able
to keep Fred inside. I put food and water out on my porch the next day and put Fred back outside. Fred would wander off, but she would always come back.
It wasn't long before the other four tenants in my building had adopted her, too.
Fred got her name from the movie "Drop Dead Fred." In February 1994, I decided that since Fred was now my responsibility, I needed to get her spayed. The day
I made this decision, I came home from class and was met by my neighbor, Crystal. Seems Fred and a rather large orange cat from the pack that lived in the area
had been makin' sweet love down by the fire. Oh great, I thought...
I hoped against hope that Fred wasn't pregnant, but soon her belly began to bulge. During the last few days of her pregnancy I kept her indoors. I didn't want
her babies to be born outside. As I was getting ready for bed on April 11, Fred began rolling on the floor, moaning and crying periodically. I was scared--I
didn't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies. But I was excited--I was going to have kittens! The cries became more frequent and more intense. It was heartbreaking
because I knew Fred was in pain and I couldn't do anything about it. Close to midnight, my future mama began searching for a place in my apartment to deliver. I tried
to coax her into the box I had set up for her. She thought the closet was a better place, but I staunchly refused.:)
As she waddled around, wimpering, Fred crawled under my nightstand and out came a tiny, wet, orange kitten. It was amazing the way she instantly cleaned it up and
guarded it. About 20 minutes later, she delivered another baby, a grey and black striped one. By this time, it was nearing 2 a.m. and I was tired. I fell asleep,
and when I awoke a few hours later, I saw my mama Fred and her four babies in their box/bed. While I slept, Fred had given birth to a kitten who looked just like her
and one that was white with a few orange spots. I did some checking and discovered there were three girls and one boy. The orange one was the boy. He is the one I
kept. I named him Jimi. And now you can read his story.:)
As you might have guessed, Jimi is named after Jimi Hendrix, one of my favorite musical artists. In the beginning, Jimi was supposed to be adopted by Joe. Two other
friends had taken the grey-striped girl, Ernie, and the white and orange one, Cupid. My mom took Biskit, the Fred look-a-like. But as the kittens grew, I felt like
something wasn't quite right with Jimi. At first I thought he was blind because he was always running into walls and doors and such. Then I thought he was retarded because he
just didn't act like the other babies. It turned out that Jimi was just a late bloomer. He was actually the first kitten to learn how to use the litter box, without any training.
One morning he just crawled into it and pooped like he had done it a thousand times before. Ah, what a proud moment.:) Once Jimi smartened up a bit, he became the proverbial curious cat.
He was a little monster. He still is. He was then and is now always up to some devilment or other. My pal Abbie called him a hood and said one day I would come home to find that Jimi had
pawned all my things and headed to Mexico.
Despite his bouts of terrorism, Jimi is a very sweet, loving cat. He is huge, weighing in at about 18 pounds. He thinks he's a big tough guy. This "tough guy" is the same cat who took one look
at my friend Jennifer's kitten and ran under the bed. This brute of a cat also hid under the bed for the first five days in our new apartment because he was afraid of the ceiling fan. Even though
he can get on my last nerve, when he won't stop scratching the carpet, or aggravating his mama, or waking me up at 5 a.m. because the food dish is empty, I don't know what I would do without him. He is
one of the funniest cats I've ever known and he keeps me laughing all the time. He also has one of the most readable faces of any cat I've ever had. I can tell by looking at him when he is bored and
thinking "Hmmm, what can I tear up now?" I know when he has just gotten into something he wasn't supposed to because guilt will be all over his face. He looks embarrassed and ashamed when I scold him.
And Jimi's pleading, hurt look when I pull a suitcase out of the closet breaks my heart everytime.
We are moving to a new apartment soon, so they are probably going to be pretty pissed at me. Cats take these things so personally, but my cats
seem to resent me for these unwanted adjustment periods longer than the average cat. Despite that, I can tell my cats love me and I hate when people say cats aren't loyal. Mine are waiting at the door
for me when I get home everyday.:)
Fred's new favorite place to sleep is under my new bike. Jimi chased one too many toy mice and then fell over on the floor and went to sleep.
More animals I know
Learn more about Fred
Learn more about Jimi
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