Traveling Cats and Secret Boundaries
Traveling Cats and Secret Boundaries
Not too long ago , I told the story of the new cat in town and his ouster from our yard by Hector , the enforcer . Hector is the furry boundary master , patrolling our property at least twice a day , in good weather and miserable . He comes in soaking wet from his duties , a condition that he does not like in the least . But duty is duty .
Not all cats share in his passion for maintaining the perimeter . Mrs . Brown has always been an explorer , a traveler in Avis . One of our favorite family stories about her happened the Spring after she was thrown in the dumpster and called to our porch by my sister , Nancy . By then , she was a member of the family . Nancy and I were headed out to State College at about 11 in the morning . Passing by the bar in the center of town , we saw the door open , and a cat leave the bar . That was unusual enough , but on getting closer to the cat in the street , we saw that it was our very own Mrs . B . sporting her pirate collar . She gave us a dirty look and bustled across the street , about four blocks from our house , and headed north in the borough . We had no idea that she roamed so far .
Many years have passed since that day . She has been missing for as long as two weeks at a stretch . But the most awful time was in mid-Summer when she went missing for almost a week . By then , she was an older cat , about 10 years old . We posted flyers and on Facebook , for we knew from previous escapades that she liked to hide in storage buildings . She had been locked in before . But this time , it was different . She had become overheated , or did not have any access to water , or some other disaster . According to our vet , she suffered a stroke . It was hours after we blanketed the village with lost cat posters that she returned home , staggering and unable to climb stairs , or really eat . She was still able to lap water . The vet said that , like a human stroke victim , she had been without medical attention too long for any medicine to help her . She would survive and heal on her own , or not .
She did survive and heal . It took months . She got very thin , but eventually resumed eating dry cat food ( She hates wet cat food and will not touch it ). She walked haltingly , then smoothly , and after 8 months , resumed her more normal gait , which here we call bustling . The change was that any gait other than a walk was on a very slight diagonal . So cute , and a reminder of those scary days .
Since then , she has been more of a “ stay at home ” cat , and I supposed that her wandering days were long behind her . It ’ s been years since the stroke - she ’ s 15 now and an elderly cat with a gentler version of the spicy attitude of her younger days . But just today , I was reminded again that her personality is that of a wanderer , an explorer . I was on the porch when I saw motion across the run and the parking lot , over on the neighbor ’ s property . It was our new boy cat in the neighborhood , all tiger stripes with a white bib , and he ’ s chasing someone from the property he ’ s staked out . It ’ s Mrs . B , all spit and anger and not on the property protected by Hector security . The new guy doesn ’ t want to hurt her , just warn her with a good cat threat . She ’ s already crouched down , for an old lady like her is no match now for this young , strong cat . A call from me , and it breaks up . She bustles over to her property line and then casually saunters up to the house , comes in for a bite and a nap after her morning walk .
- by Linda Roller , Bookseller , Writer , and Owner of Liberty Book Shop in beautiful downtown Avis , PA .
Pawsitively Pets -- June 5