Adopted by a Cat Now Named King…

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS 

Hug for King’s brother

ADOPTED BY A CAT NOW NAMED KING…

 A message to the persons who abandoned two gray cats on the streets of my community in July 2013: we want you to know that both adopted loving homes.

It was a risky act to abandon these wonderful cats. They could have gone the way of feral cats, cats without owners to boss around. But these were lucky cats.

I just wanted you to know…

In 2013, just before my husband Monte and I left for a one-month trip traveling up the New England coast a large regal, all gray, cat showed up on our doorstep.

“It’s been hanging around our house for a while,” said my daughter Sandy. “We can’t keep him—we already have three cats and a dog.”

“Feed him on our patio while we are gone,” I suggested. “When we come back we’ll see what his situation is.”

We returned. The cat was still at our house. It was still truly skinny, like it hadn’t eaten well for a while. Although Sandy called him Bob, my friend Lois named him King (or Queen—we couldn’t decide if it was a boy or a girl) Bony Maroni.

There was still a sign posted on the stone pillar at the back entrance to our community: Gray cat found. The cat looked like the cat that was being fed on our patio. I jotted down the phone number down and dialed it.

“I’m calling about the gray cat,” I said.

“Well,” the man said, “no one answered the ad and we decided to keep him. We took him to the vet last night.”

“Oh,” I said. “He’s down here now.”

“No, he’s right beside me.”

Oops. What was going on?

We decided there must be two stray gray cats and we each had one.

The next day I walked to the neighbors—I’ll call them Roseanne and Mark—on the next road over from us and told them I was the one who called them about the cat. Could I see theirs? I was curious.

It was amazing. The cat was the spitting image of the gray cat at my house.

Inset picture is King’s bro

I’d forgotten to take the photograph I had of the cat at our house, so I returned several days later. Roseanne—answered the door.

“I want to show you a photograph I took of your cat,” I said.

She was amazed, believing it was her cat.

“I snuck into your house to take it.” I don’t think this statement registered, but I hadn’t had a camera with me when I visited previously. Somehow, I had to explain how I’d taken a photograph of her cat.

I quickly amended my statement, not wanting to risk jail time.

“That’s the gray cat at our house.”

We affirmed our decision that someone must have dropped off a pair of cats from the same litter.

Monte and I took King Bony Maroni to the vet’s office. While waiting for the results of a feline leukemia test the vet and her assistant reentered the room.

“Do you know Roseanne and Mark?” they inquired.

“Yes. They are the ones we told you about, the ones with the other gray cat.”

“We just wanted to make sure we weren’t treating the same cat twice.”

Monte and I laughed.

I returned to Roseanne’s and told her the story. We compared vet reports—healthy, between 3-5 years old, neutered, well cared for. Yes, they certainly were brothers, both dropped off in our community at the same time.

I often wonder about King’s background. He is a large, loving, cat who runs when strangers enter the house, but makes up to them very quickly on his terms. Whoever had him before had to have loved him. They took good care of him. And his brother. Both were spayed and were in good health.

When King arrived I told Little Dog and him that if any other cat arrived and wanted to stay that they should say the inn is full. One night another stray was outside, and King chased it away.

When King first arrived the only way he would come was if I stood outside and said Come Meeoow, Come Meeoow. That morphed into Comeeow, comeeow, and then into Kingmeeow, King Meeow. Now he comes when I call King… He is a people cat, but only to those he chooses to know. He curls up beside me each night, his body flexible and warm.

King is strong and powerful, and I wouldn’t like to be caught by his jaws. When he races across the yard he looks like a greyhound dog, long and sleek. His face always has a mournful look, even when you know he’s happy.

Why were he and his brother abandoned? Did his owner become ill and have to leave the home, or did the owner die, and no one knew what to do with the cats? Someone brought them to Laurel Mountain Borough.

Perhaps we will never know. What we do know is that King and Little Dog have become good companions and seem happy with each other.

That is all we can ask.

To read how King’s sister came to us: Little Dog (a cat) Adopts Us

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ADDITIONAL READING:

The Cat with the Calico Tail

WP Daily Prompt: Through the Window, What Do I See?

Should your cat be kept indoors or outdoors?