I realize that some of you reading my blog may wonder at my attachment to my cat Willy. Those of you who are cat people know.
We (my ex and I) went to the Animal Rescue a few weeks prior to getting Willy because the cat ex's father gave us had disappeared due to a series of unfortunate events. We were so sad that Woody was gone. Woody was solid gray, a beautiful indoor/outdoor cat.
At the Animal Rescue, we found a solid gray female cat who I fell in love with. We'd gone to get one cat, but ex saw a Manx named Max that he just had to have. So, we left with two cats. Max had been a resident of the AR for 5 months. The female cat who we named Milly had just arrived and had been spayed the day before.
One week after bringing Max and Milly home, Max got sick. Off to the vet we go. One week later, he is sick again. Three weeks to the day we brought him home, he is very sick. He was diagnosed with feline leukemia. He had been tested at AR and tested negative, but he must have been tested in the window between being infected and it showing up in his blood work. We had to have him put to sleep on the 3rd trip to the vet, and several hundred dollars spent.
Of course, the fact that he tested positive for feline leukemia put the AR into a panic, because every cat who'd been there for the 5 months he was a resident had been exposed - including Milly obviously. They assumed the stress of changing environments was what cause Max to come out of remission (not sure remission is the right word, but you get the idea). We waited anxiously, but Milly never got sick.
AR felt bad that we'd lost our cat and not only paid the adoption fee for Max, but had spent those several (read $300) dollars at the vet, they told us we could have our pick of kittens at no cost to us. These kittens were in the overflow shelter and had never been exposed to Max. So, ex went out to choose his kitten, since Max was really his cat.
He brought home an adorable solid gray cat (see the theme here?) who could fit in the palms of our hands. He was adorable. He had an elongated face and big ears, he looked like a cross between an alien and Yoda. I fell in love the minute I saw him. He grew up to be a very handsome boy.
For whatever reason, Milly and our new kitten named Willy to rhyme (cheesy I know), chose their "person". Quite contrary to what we had decided, Milly chose ex, and Willy chose me.
Right from the start, he started sleeping on top of me, and 12 years later, he still does it. He was always social, LOVED playing and would leap 3 feet in the air and do a flip at the same time while trying to capture that feather on the end of a stick. Milly, well, she was affectionate too, but only on her terms. She wanted to be near you more often than not, but if she decided she wanted in your lap - she was insistent until you accommodated her.
Two years after bringing Willy and Milly into our home, I happened to be looking at the AR website. I don't know why I was, but I saw the cutest kittens named Ping and Pong. They were black and white, brother and sister. I called ex to look at them. For me, the looking was just the "awww" factor. Ex must have had a different read. The next day, he called me from AR and wanted me to come see Ping and Pong. I protested, but he was adamant that I come down. So, I did. Guess who we made arrangements to adopt and bring home a few days later after the spaying and neutering?
Oh, and here's the point where I should mention that along the same time as the "awww" turned into adoption, ex had come upon a cat in the middle of the road who'd been hit by a car. He took him to the vet. Un-named cat was a solid black cat. A few days later, on a Saturday morning in December of 2000. We brought Ping and Pong who we renamed Oreo and Cookie, and black cat home.
We kept black cat in the shop in the garage, he was injured, and we didn't want to have the new cat hissing and slapping that is associated with introducing new cats (this behavior can go on for weeks). We were able to doctor on black cat without having to worry about the other cats.
There was a lot of hissing and spitting and general unrest inside the house. Willy adapted the quickest. Like I said before, he was social. He got along well with Oreo and Cookie and was happy to have new playmates. Milly on the other hand was not (and still is not to this day) happy about the interlopers. She tolerated them, but that was all. There was a constant struggle between her and Oreo (the greedy piglet when it came to feeding time). Willy got along well with Milly too.
Eventually, black cat wormed his way inside, and Willy got along well with him too. I turned out to be allergic to black cat. Every time I held him, I broke out in hives. We had a cat friendly friend who agreed to take him. She named him Nicholas because he was found around Christmas time. He had a great life with her until a year or so ago when he got out and was killed by some animal bigger than he was.
Right from the start, I was obsessive about the cats not going outdoors. Cats are curious though, and every time that door would open, 3 or 4 cats would try to get out. You can imagine the difficulty, esp if you had something in your hands. Early on, I had protested to the smell of the litter box, and I asked if there was some way we could make an enclosure for them to go to in the garage to do their business. A little engineering and a well placed kitty cat door behind the washer and dryer and the cats were able to get to a cage for lack of a better word, that housed their litter box.
Ex decided to add a penthouse, then a cat walk to the other side of the garage, with a kitty cat loft. Then came the cat walk across the shop, and finally, a huge outside covered and enclosed space for them. It was referred to as the Taj Mahal. The cats loved it! They spent hours upon hours out there, running, playing, relaxing, napping. Sometimes it was quite a task to get them inside when you wanted to account for them all.
I developed a compulsion to SEE all cats before I left the house. To make sure none got out, therefore, unable to disappear. Willy was the most determined about getting to the outdoors. Luckily, he usually stopped at the first patch of grass he saw for a little snack and we could scoop him up and return him to the safe confines of the house.
Milly got out one time, and much to my horror, the redneck neighbor's vicious Rottweiler was loose. He took off after Milly, and I took off behind them. I didn't get very far, when just like a cartoon, here comes the Rotty with Milly chasing HIM!
One day, I came home after work, and couldn't find Willy. Ex had left the house after me. I went back and forth through the house, searching the Taj Mahal, and he just wasn't there. The only possible scenario was that he got past ex, who didn't notice. We lived on 5 acres of land, about 2.5 acres of it were wooded. All I could think of was that Rotty, or some other animal bigger than Willy hurting him (or worse). I made fliers, I walked the acreage, I called, I begged, I pleaded for my baby to come home. Friends came and helped me. I was distraught to say the least. I couldn't work, all I could think about was my baby boy alone, out in the big bad world.
Two days later, ex called to tell me a hungry Willy had shown back up and was in the garage when he got home. You only thought my obsession with seeing all of the kitties before leaving was bad before -- now it was a full blown, neurotic obsession.
There was the time Cookie began having seizures, and we found a black widow dead on the floor. We rushed her to the vet for a very expensive stay in ICU. The vet couldn't locate a bite site and was skeptical. We went back home and got the spider to show her. She eventually found the bite inside Cookie's mouth! Bad things reside in the big bad world outside of the safe indoors.
Mostly the cats were all 4 healthy, thankfully.
In 2005, ex and I separated and divorced. About 5 months later, we sold the house, which I'd been living in. I was moving closer to work which was an hour commute one way. I was having a hard time finding an apartment that would allow pets. I finally found a duplex, and the landlord agreed to let me bring one cat. There was never any question in my mind - it was Willy, hands down. Ex agreed to take the other 3. It broke my heart, I loved them, and to this day I miss them and get teary eyed when I think of them. Luckily ex and I remained friends, and for a while, I went to his house to visit them. He kept Willy for a few days while I went out of town.
On moving day, I finally let Willy out of the bathroom in the apartment, and only a few minutes after he was out of the bathroom where I'd kept him confined, someone opened the door and he bolted. We chased him and finally cornered him and brought him inside.
I hated living in that duplex, and soon started looking for a house. I felt so bad that Willy had previously had a Taj Mahal and now all he has was a spot in the window (which became his favorite location). One of my requirements for a house was a screened in porch. No screened in porch, and I wasn't even interested in looking at the house, unless there was a way one could be added. I had a few other things I *wanted*, but the porch was a deal-breaker.
One day while riding through a subdivision that we happened upon, we rounded a curve and I found my house, complete with screened in porch. Moving day couldn't get here fast enough.
Willy loves the porch. Chris put in a kitty cat door for him so he can come and go at will. He has taken over my swing as his personal spot (he does let me join him from time to time). He chases the lizards that wander onto the porch, and he wins most of the time - poor lizards. He watches the birds, the rabbits, the squirrels and the ducks.
Every time I leave the house, I have to find him, know where he is, kiss him on the head, and tell him to be a sweet boy and that Mama loves him. Call it obsessive compulsive, a ritual, neurotic behavior, whatever, I don't care, I'm fine with the label.
12 years of love - both given and received, and I'm so distraught about the cancer that has invaded his body. I was so busy looking out for the things in the big bad outside world, that the microscopic things took us all by surprise.
I am so thankful for all of the photos and the videos I have of Willy, I enjoy them now, and I will enjoy them always, just like I enjoy the photos of Milly, Oreo, Cookie, Woody and Nicholas. I suspect I will enjoy the ones of Willy the most, heck, I don't suspect, I know.
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