The Best Cat Ever
My friend Jane who lives in Pasadena has a cat named Lola. When they picked her out at the shelter, Lola rubbed up against the cage, purred and generally gave the impression of a really lovable cat who would sit on your lap and act like she likes you. It was all a performance. Jane says she is the grouchiest cat they have ever had. No matter, she is part of the household and gets all the attention from Jane and her husband that she can stand.
Our cat Bonita on the other hand was shy in the cage at the shelter and we almost didn’t pick her. She was lying way in the back not trying to be impressive. We were looking for an orange kitty, and she was pale orange (I say strawberry blonde) and small for the one-year age the label on the cage said she was. “This one doesn’t come out,” I said to Alfredo. Just then she got up and slowly walked toward the front of the cage, still hesitant. “How could someone give away a cat this cute?” I wondered, looking at the prettiest cat face in the whole place. We were sold even though we had little indication of her lap cat qualities.
Right now as I am writing this Bonita is sleeping right next to Alfredo. Sometimes she drapes herself over his head and purrs in his ear. When I watch the news in the evening she comes up and sits on my chest, purring and loving to be petted. I have heard other people complain that their cat is “too needy” because of behaviors like this, but Alfredo is flattered to have her “take care of him” every night and I look forward to our special tete- a-tete.
Meantime our calico, Gretchen, is helping me on the computer. She has assigned herself as computer assistant and whenever I sit on the sofa to use my laptop she stations herself on my left side, watches the keyboard (or sleeps) and stretches her left arm across my stomach and the trackpad. Sometimes when I’m not using the computer she sits on the rug in front of the sofa and laptop and meows loudly. Alfredo says she is telling me it’s time to go to work. It satisfies her immediately if I do come in and start using the computer.
These are the joys of living with cats, and they are a continual source of amusement, especially since Alfredo translates for them, speaking their minds, with comments from them like, “I see you got cat food. I hope it’s good this time, not the cheap stuff you usually get.” Or, when he asks them to do the dishes, their reply is, “Don’t you know we don’t do domestic work? Remember dogs have masters, cats have servants.”
We have protected them from being run over by cars or eaten by coyotes. Our cat care strategy has been a success and now they are 15 years old. But it is not such a joyful time because both have cancer.
Gretchen had the first diagnosis; osteosarcoma in her left leg. It was distressing, but I was grateful that cancer was not in her internal organs. Amputation has a high success/cure rate, so after agonizing for days, and being assured of cats’ ability to adapt to three-legged life we took her for surgery. Now recovered, she leaps and hops and carries on with life as before.
Bonita’s prognosis is not so favorable. We noticed that her breathing seemed faster than normal. We found out last week that there are tumors in her lungs and liver and other organs. The buildup of fluid in her lungs was extracted and so for the past couple of days her breathing has been back to normal. We will have only a few more days, maybe weeks, with her. It’s times like this that I look back at how extra cute and loving she has been all these years and wonder if I have appreciated her enough.
Grouchy, insistent, beautiful, charming, it doesn’t matter. The best cat ever is the one you are about to lose.
Landscape architect Ann Christoph is a former council member.
