He was gorgeous. He was a feral boy who, 25 years ago, found his way to the deck which was outside my mother's bedroom. My bed-ridden mother for whom I was caring was not fond of cats because of a childhood trauma (she loved all other animals), and so I felt constrained to feed him and shelter him outside. He used to sit on the deck looking into my mother's room, charming and sweet as a little angel.
One day my mother called me in and said, "well, he watches me all day, you might as well bring him in!" He'd won her heart, though she wouldn't admit it.
I brought him in and asked mother to name him :>). She said, "his name shall be 'Bogey' because he's one too many cats" (referring to a bogey in golf). We both laughed. (Later, we changed the spelling to "Bogie.")
It turned out that Bogie had feline AIDS, and the vet said, "I'll put him down for you." I barked an emphatic "NO!"--I couldn't put to sleep an animal who had placed his total trust in me without a good fight. Both my vet and I learned all there was to know about the disease, and we waged that fight together with dear Bogie whose joy and lightness of being was the best of all medicines. He lived over 10 years. I do miss him terribly.
An anecdote: I had never had a cat who had lived outdoors. It became clear that Bogie really wanted to go out at times, but because of his illness it would have been unwise to let him do so unattended. I had grown up with dogs, so my first thought was, "I'll get Bogie a collar and leash!" I did that, and he took to it like a pro. Of course, he taught me the lesson of letting another being complete his/her agenda before I completed mine--cats take their own time :>).
Every morning and every night we'd walk a mile around our circle having a grand time, navigating "demon dogs"--hahaha--and all manor of interesting creatures and circumstances. Sometimes Bogie would leap along like a gazelle looking at me as he did so. I'd leap along with him. I had many epiphanies about joy and gratitude on those walks, more than once singing to the universe as angelic Bogie walked beside me in the dark.
We eventually got a following. Cats would string out behind us in a long meandering line every night, following our every move. Bogie was the feline Pied Piper. (I, ultimately, cared for most of those cats throughout their lives.) But it was not only cats. People began to walk with us. Many neighbors counted meeting Bogie each night for a rub and a purr as the highlight of their day.
Years later several of those neighbors had confided that they had tried very hard to train their own young cats to walk on a leash like Bogie. "But you know," said one frustrated neighbor, "cats don't walk on leashes!" :>)
What a great experience! Bogie had some personality!
I also had a cat adopt our family. He was this large and beautiful Seal Point Siamese and Tabby mix. He was almost 20 lbs and looked like a pure bred Seal Point Siamese except for 3 stripes at the end of his tail. He would come when we called him and play chase with my boys who were little at the time. He was also rather clumsy and we named him Cluseau after the famous French detective. What a blessing he was in our lives, just as your Bogey was in yours.
Thank you for sharing!
And thank you for sharing. Cats are such a surprise to people who've never had them, aren't they? People call cats "aloof." In my experience, they're anything but.
I had a huge grey tabby adopt me who sounds a lot like your Cluseau. He was 24 pounds of muscle and taller than many dogs, but he was a love bug, Definitely, also, the "leader of the pack." I named him Michael after the man I had lived with for 20 years. I had just needed a Michael around of any species when human Michael was gone. :>)
Here he is when he was older:
I'm going to also feature an old animal discussion, Bella, so that all our furry loved ones are on the front page together. Sounds kind of silly, but it makes me happy to have them all in proximity. <3 <3 <3
Great topic! Did you start your new discussion?
Oh, no, I didn't start a new discussion--I just "featured" an old discussion from 2009 that was called "Animal Companions." If you hit the "Back to Haiku/Senryu Discussions" link at the top of the page, you'll see the featured discussions. :>) (BTW, there are 14 pages of discussions to choose from.)
Soft and curly black
bundle of love. Let's snuggle.
The world fades away.
whimsical pup-pup
courageous to a fault girl
and bright as sunshine
sweet dachshund kisses
snugly joy and comfort
love on four short legs
It's a dog party!
Lets be social and join in.
Happy tails wag bright.
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