Winter the catdog

Pet's are amazing in how they can understand a person, quite often, better than another human could. The way they can learn to communicate thought and emotion to us is amazing.  Now I am like any other old soldier, an animal lover....Two things that can make any old soldier cry, kids and puppies.

I'm not much of a cat person I'm more of a dog guy....but I don't have time for pets, I'm always gone for one reason or another. So my wife (another dog lover) and I decided after we moved cross country in 2000 that we were not going to burden ourselves again with pets. HA HA!! We should have known better. A few months after we moved into our new home we had a couple of kittens show up on our back deck. The male took to our little girl immediately, and was a very friendly and amusing little guy so we didn't discourage him. I know, I know our first mistake. With him, was a female feline, I'm sure was his sister. Well as the months went on they would come visit us regularly, and we got to feel like we had the best of both worlds.  They would come, hang out, and leave! Not really pets, just friends that would come visit on occasion and never overstay their welcome....Well except for the time or two our beloved youngest would smuggle the tom in to sleep in her room. We weren't too happy about it, and to tell the truth I don't think he was all that happy about it either, but he never fussed, he would just go along with whatever "his person" wanted.

Time went by and sometimes we would see them daily and some times it would be weeks, but eventually they grew up. One day our two youngest heard a noise in the back yard. It was raining pouring down buckets and every so often when the wind was right they could hear a kitten in distress. So they came to get me, crying that the kittens are drowning! So out I went to look. Sure enough behind the shed under a pile of rubbish that was waiting to be hauled off.  Momma Cat, (as she came to be called) had given birth to a litter of kittens, in a depression, that was filling up rapidly with water.  She was nowhere to be found.  So I did what any marshmallow would do.  I scooped them up and rushed them in to the house.  I assembled the troops and assigned emergency tasks for all of them.  The love of my life looked at me, glared at me actually. (she knew as I did this was a big mistake!) She then looked at the kittens soaking wet in my arms, and melted. She rushed off for dry towels barking orders to the kids, and that was that. Eventually Momma Cat showed up, and we coaxed her inside to find her babies.  At first she tried to take them away, but we convinced her that they were safe, and so started a peaceful coexistence between us. She would come and go as she wanted, eat our food and otherwise ignore us, and we would babysit when she was out.  Momma Cat never really took to people, but the kittens were adorable and in time we managed to give two away to a good home.  Leaving four....yeah four....I know, I know!!  Well each cat seemed to choose a person. The runt of the litter "Rat" soon divided her time between my youngest daughter and my wife, but she made it clear that my wife was her person.  The only tom in the litter, who has many names, (most of them are not appropriate for this venue) "Diamond" or "Sumo Cat" or "Bubba" chose my youngest daughter...or she chose him....I know, cats choose people, people choose dogs, but she has a way of bending the will of any creature great or small to do her bidding....let's hope she always uses her powers for good.   My son the animal lover, could not decide on one..."Fluffy" had chosen him and he loved her.  He also loved "Winter" the timid.  Our oldest daughter (who will forever be referred to as "the smart one") chose not to get attached to any of them. Not that she didn't think they were adorable, she was just smart enough to realize the responsibility, (and mess!) and she was already planning for college in a couple of years.

Soon the pecking order was set...Rat (the runt) was queen of all she surveyed. Of course Diamond was King....he tried to bully Rat as well but she usually out smarted and out maneuvered him. Fluffy had staked out her territory. (my son and his room) She was subservient to Diamond and Rat, but near her boy or in his room all bets were off and the others knew it. Fluffy being extremely jealous did not like to share her boy with anyone, including Winter. Winter the Timid was of course at the bottom of the pecking order, and led a rather sad existence. Now, she was fed and well cared for and all that.  My boy loved her and petted her whenever Fluffy would allow it, but winter didn't fit in anywhere.

This is where I come in. I had been injured before we moved into the house and had to have several surgeries. After one such surgery I was laid up recuperating for a few months. During this time Winter discovered that if she stayed near me the other cats would pretty much leave her alone. I, out of boredom, started to play with her. If I saw one of the many cat toys laying around I would throw it, and watch her take off after it and play. Usually one of the others (mostly Bubba) would eventually see her having fun and come take it away from her. She would just walk back over and lay down with me. Well as time moved on I became ambulatory and could start getting around more and more and Winter took to following me around. She would follow me any time I got up, and if I stopped anywhere for any length of time she would lay at my feet or in my lap if I invited her. Now I know that she did this as security from the other cats, but it almost seemed to me that she was acting just like a dog to endear herself to me. One day I was lying on the couch and Winter did an amazing thing. She brought me a toy she had been playing with and dropped it on my chest. I figured she wanted me to throw it so of course I did. She did the usual chase and catch and rolled around for a while while I watched. Then she picked it up and brought it to me again!! She just dropped it at my side and backed up with her shoulders hunched like she was ready to take off. Just like a dog. Well I threw it and the process started all over again. Eventually she got to liking the chase more and more and would bring the toy back right away without wasting time. A few times Bubba came and she backed off and let him have the toy, eventually though he tried to take it and she just ran up and laid down on it until he left.

That's how Winter the timid became Winter the catdog.

OK, I know that Winter learned the trick of acting like a dog out of coincidence, not from any desire to conform herself into the pet I wanted..........or did she?

You might change your mind if  I tell you about "Winter the Motorcycle Riding Guard Cat"


I know this was a little long for a blog but the story is amusing to me, and I hope you liked it as well.

If any of you liked this, leave me a comment and I will tell the story of Winter the motorcycle riding guard cat.