My mom has been caring for animals since I could remember. Our cat Zeb was in her life before I was.
My brother and I had fish and birds. But of course Mom always took care of them. She cried when my bird Maxine, a green and yellow budgie, died.
From all this love of animals emerged a real saviour for some of the animals who entered our family.
My brother, my friend and I found a stray cat while we were waiting for the school bus. She was quite a pathetic sight. Her tail bobbed and the tips of her ears frostbitten. Sadly, my brother and I thought we couldn’t bring her home. We had Zeb and knew dad would be mad if we brought another cat home. So my friend grabbed the cat and took her home. Later that day my friend brought over “Tiger” to meet my mom. Mom says it was love at first site with that cat. For both cat and woman.
Tiger and my friend went home. And we let the little stray slip from our minds.
The next day, Tiger was outside our house. I know a block doesn’t seem far to travel, but Tiger was probably carried both ways to and from our house, but she still managed to find her way back to mom.
That was it. Mom had to keep the undersized, bobtailed stray. But dad and my friend were the problem. We hid the newly named Patches in the front porch (which we rarely used) to keep her warm at night and let her out during the day. She always came back to mom.
Finally, dad got suspicious. “Why is this cat always hanging around?” Finally we fessed up. “We love her. We gotta keep her. She loves us.” It was 3 to 1 for keeping the little thing. Yippee!!! But he soon fell in love with Patches too. Her sassy charm. Her toughness (she beat up on 2 huskies one day). What was not to love?
Mom fed Patches well. She started getting rather plump. I was happy that she looked so healthy. But it wasn’t just the good diet making Patches plump…she was pregnant! Oh! I was so excited. I’d never had kittens living in my house. Dad wasn’t impressed.
Soon the time came for little Patches to give birth. On Easter weekend, we prepared a cardboard box with some blankets behind to unused fireplace for her to use as a nest. The first one out was Batman. Mom caught the beginning just in time. A little black tail was coming out of Patches. Mom scooped her up and put her in the nest.
Batman, a tuxedo cat with a black mask on his adorable face, was the first born. I wanted to keep him, but old Zeb didn’t like having a tough little male kitten around. He ended up living with my dad’s friend’s family. They kept his name as Batman.
Second born was Ching Ching, same markings as Patches but she had almond shaped eyes which inspired mom to name her. Ching ching went to live with my grandparents. She was quite the high strung cat. Poor thing ended up dying from diabetes complications.
And the third and last born was Mootsca. A white and grey kitten. Neurotic kitten, who would cry when you picked her up. My brother called her W.C. for some time (w.c. = whine and complain). Because of her little crying problem no one wanted her. Another vote that dad lost…
