When I came back from a funeral in 1996, Little Penny was sitting in the driveway. Right in the middle, just looking at the car as I drove in. He was talkative from the get go. Never left. We didn't even feed him at first. He seemed to just want lovin'. And he was really vocal and made eye contact. Totally friendly. At the time, we lived on College Ave in Berkeley, lotsa students, etc. And College Ave is not a street a cat wants to mess with.
Over the next month, he hung around and we started feeding him. As the weather turned colder, we put a towel inside the front door and he'd come in and sleep on that, then in the morning, wait to go outside. I was allergic to cats and it seemed a good compromise. When he started to get bolder with exploring, we got a huge dog carrier and he'd sleep in that at night, then we started leaving the door to it open, then we gave up and let him roam the small house, except for the bedroom, we kept the door shut because of the allergies.
He loved going outside and would generally stay out during daylight hours. He cleared the area surrounding our house of rats, then mice. Before he came, we actually had a mouse problem in the walls of our bedroom and I was gearing up to pay someone to deal with it. Never heard another mouse once he arrived.
He was the most interactive, vocal cat I ever knew. He'd look at you and talk, and when you answered he'd talk back. We'd have long conversations that both of us seemed pretty happy about. When my wife would study, he would lay on her books, or next to them, and when she'd write he'd take swipes at her pencil. Then, he'd chew lightly on it.
He was such a great cat. In 2004(ish) he got sick. Had a tumor in his ear. We got him meds and he lasted a few months. When I took him to the vet to do the deed, he was calm. I had probably waited a little too long.
The good ones are just like the good humans, they impact your life in ways that cannot be measured. Yassine, I'm so happy for your new family member. Thanks for the pics, too. I wish I could upload some pics of LP, who was named after Little Penny Hardaway (from the Spike Lee commercials for Nike). I can't see how to add pics to comments.
Thank you for helping him — I’m sure he missed you guys so much! What a beautiful kitty. Hopefully he’s just peeing to mark his new home and he won’t do it again…male cats, even neutered ones, seem like they just do that sometimes. Hope he settles down nicely in your home :)
I don't think he knew how to use a litterbox, and he's only done it that one time before correcting. He also was meowing at us pretty hard before letting loose, which I post-hoc interpreted as a desperate cry for help.
Poor guy. I’m sure he was super stressed from his adventuring and having to go back to his less than ideal living situation. No wonder he’s now so Velcro-ed to you!
I was worried for a minute, but this is so lovely, and I'm all embarrassingly choked up now. It's funny, but it reads very much like a religious parable in a way (says the atheist 😁). Your faith in doing the morally right thing, even though it was painful & difficult, was ultimately rewarded by the cat distribution system. Does he have a name yet?
I'm not a pet person, but when Cat died in 2023 (after 17 years as an outdoor cat), I found I missed it very much.. I never expected that to happen, but it did. And we were inundated with bunnies.
Glad your story had a happy ending for you and your new cat!
Our next-door neighbor's cat spends most of the time at our house. He sleeps on our deck. We leave a bowl of water out for him and give him treats and cuddles. We don't usually let him in the house, unless he gets trapped in our garage. Then we let him walk through. He usually scarfs as much of our cats' food as he can before we usher him out the back. Once he got out of their house last year when it was 45 below, so we let him in. When he started getting squirrely, my husband took him home. They hadn't noticed that he'd gotten out. We think he doesn't get enough attention at home. And also, they have dogs. We think he prefers our deck because there are no dogs there. If they ever want us to adopt him, I'd be happy to.
Because my boyfriend’s cat occasionally pees on the bed, I’ve done a lot of research on this unfortunate “statement”. It turns out the smell of their own urine can comfort cats when they feel stressed out. And sure enough, whenever “Lily” pees on the bed it is during or after a harrowing (to her) experience like having the cat ladder accidentally moved away from the counter so she can’t get to her food, or being left with a strange sitter for a few days (she waited til we got home to pee on the bed in front of me, as if to make sure i knew), etc.
It’s easy to forgive her because a) usually we’ve inadvertently offended her sensibilities amd we learn something and b) she is an otherwise perfect cat: beautiful long haired calico, loud purr, affectionate, good natured, undemanding, adorable. The very aptly named Nature’s Miracle sets everything to rights pretty quickly!
I’m sure with male cats there might be other reasons to “mark” but it sounds like your beauty was just saying “that was a tough day!”
When I came back from a funeral in 1996, Little Penny was sitting in the driveway. Right in the middle, just looking at the car as I drove in. He was talkative from the get go. Never left. We didn't even feed him at first. He seemed to just want lovin'. And he was really vocal and made eye contact. Totally friendly. At the time, we lived on College Ave in Berkeley, lotsa students, etc. And College Ave is not a street a cat wants to mess with.
Over the next month, he hung around and we started feeding him. As the weather turned colder, we put a towel inside the front door and he'd come in and sleep on that, then in the morning, wait to go outside. I was allergic to cats and it seemed a good compromise. When he started to get bolder with exploring, we got a huge dog carrier and he'd sleep in that at night, then we started leaving the door to it open, then we gave up and let him roam the small house, except for the bedroom, we kept the door shut because of the allergies.
He loved going outside and would generally stay out during daylight hours. He cleared the area surrounding our house of rats, then mice. Before he came, we actually had a mouse problem in the walls of our bedroom and I was gearing up to pay someone to deal with it. Never heard another mouse once he arrived.
He was the most interactive, vocal cat I ever knew. He'd look at you and talk, and when you answered he'd talk back. We'd have long conversations that both of us seemed pretty happy about. When my wife would study, he would lay on her books, or next to them, and when she'd write he'd take swipes at her pencil. Then, he'd chew lightly on it.
He was such a great cat. In 2004(ish) he got sick. Had a tumor in his ear. We got him meds and he lasted a few months. When I took him to the vet to do the deed, he was calm. I had probably waited a little too long.
The good ones are just like the good humans, they impact your life in ways that cannot be measured. Yassine, I'm so happy for your new family member. Thanks for the pics, too. I wish I could upload some pics of LP, who was named after Little Penny Hardaway (from the Spike Lee commercials for Nike). I can't see how to add pics to comments.
I added two pics to the "note" I created from the above:
https://substack.com/profile/251569474-e40/note/c-75497102
Thank you for helping him — I’m sure he missed you guys so much! What a beautiful kitty. Hopefully he’s just peeing to mark his new home and he won’t do it again…male cats, even neutered ones, seem like they just do that sometimes. Hope he settles down nicely in your home :)
I don't think he knew how to use a litterbox, and he's only done it that one time before correcting. He also was meowing at us pretty hard before letting loose, which I post-hoc interpreted as a desperate cry for help.
Poor guy. I’m sure he was super stressed from his adventuring and having to go back to his less than ideal living situation. No wonder he’s now so Velcro-ed to you!
I was worried for a minute, but this is so lovely, and I'm all embarrassingly choked up now. It's funny, but it reads very much like a religious parable in a way (says the atheist 😁). Your faith in doing the morally right thing, even though it was painful & difficult, was ultimately rewarded by the cat distribution system. Does he have a name yet?
Ozzy :)
I'm not a pet person, but when Cat died in 2023 (after 17 years as an outdoor cat), I found I missed it very much.. I never expected that to happen, but it did. And we were inundated with bunnies.
https://x.com/ScottGreenfield/status/1717248706683015256
Life's delicate balance was disturbed
Love this
Glad your story had a happy ending for you and your new cat!
Our next-door neighbor's cat spends most of the time at our house. He sleeps on our deck. We leave a bowl of water out for him and give him treats and cuddles. We don't usually let him in the house, unless he gets trapped in our garage. Then we let him walk through. He usually scarfs as much of our cats' food as he can before we usher him out the back. Once he got out of their house last year when it was 45 below, so we let him in. When he started getting squirrely, my husband took him home. They hadn't noticed that he'd gotten out. We think he doesn't get enough attention at home. And also, they have dogs. We think he prefers our deck because there are no dogs there. If they ever want us to adopt him, I'd be happy to.
He is a beautiful baby. I'm glad he has people who can take care of him now.
Because my boyfriend’s cat occasionally pees on the bed, I’ve done a lot of research on this unfortunate “statement”. It turns out the smell of their own urine can comfort cats when they feel stressed out. And sure enough, whenever “Lily” pees on the bed it is during or after a harrowing (to her) experience like having the cat ladder accidentally moved away from the counter so she can’t get to her food, or being left with a strange sitter for a few days (she waited til we got home to pee on the bed in front of me, as if to make sure i knew), etc.
It’s easy to forgive her because a) usually we’ve inadvertently offended her sensibilities amd we learn something and b) she is an otherwise perfect cat: beautiful long haired calico, loud purr, affectionate, good natured, undemanding, adorable. The very aptly named Nature’s Miracle sets everything to rights pretty quickly!
I’m sure with male cats there might be other reasons to “mark” but it sounds like your beauty was just saying “that was a tough day!”
Yessssssssssss. Sorted.
I’m glad you got chosen by another cat