Sylvester
My New Home
The Incident
The Hummingbird
Byte
Friends
Shorty
Vacation
Purtygirl
My Felidae Videos
Cat Videos
My story begins with Mom. You must know her beginning to understand mine.
Mom was born in a field behind an asphalt construction plant. She learned early how to dodge large trucks and the construction workers as they entered her domain.
Life consisted happily of catching rats and foraging the company's large trash can. The construction workers were known for hearty meals and sometimes threw out tasty morsels she would enjoy.
Don't really know what happened to her Mom.
One day, Mom noticed one of the construction workers looking at her as he was leaving and placed something on the ground beside the building before he left.
Curiosity got the best of her, and she proceeded to investigate. To her delight, she found a can of something quite tasty and ate it all.
The next day, she was there at the same time to see if it happened again. The construction worker looked her way, put something on the ground, and left.
She delightfully ran to get her treat.
So started the ritual that soon formed a special bond between Mom and the construction worker, whose name was Billy. He named her "Plant Kitty" and she became the company mascot, loved by all.
Mom and her friend, Billy, became very close. She loved to be petted and also liked laying on his desk in the lab while he worked.
As the years went by, Mom began mingling with her own kind and soon became pregnant.
Billy and the other construction workers were delighted when they realized their "Plant Kitty" was pregnant.
They all awaited the arrival of their mascot's little gang.
The day finally arrived and Plant Kitty delivered seven beautiful, healthy kittens.
From that day forward, her relationship with Billy changed. He did not begrudge her as he understood why.
During the day, Mom placed all seven of us on the roof for safekeeping while she went hunting.
Unbeknownst to her, Billy and the other construction workers would occasionally "sneak a peak" when she was away.
Billy became especially fond of the little black and white kitten (me!) that had a pink nose and pink toes.
Days passed with Plant Kitty's attentiveness and the occasional visits from those big strangers.
Then one day life changed. This particular day, Billy and the other workers went home as usual. Mom brought us down from the roof for the night and we started playing. We always looked forward to this time in the day.
By now, Mom was feeding us field mice and we were missing our milk extremely. Mice tasted good though.
All of a sudden there was a strange noise. Mom tensed and quickly started taking us on the roof. She got all seven of us on the roof and left.
The hours passed and we were getting hungry.
We continued to hear that strange noise though we didn't know what it was.
Morning came but Mom didn't. We heard Billy and the other workers but no Mom. We were all starving and terrified!
Then there was Billy. He just stood and looked at me. He seemed different today. The day continued to pass and all we could do was cry for Mom.
Earlier than usual, Billy was there and had picked me up. It felt like I was flying in a big soft cloud.
Billy seemed to be taking me somewhere. I was so scared! Then he was putting me in this big object. (Later learned was a pickup truck.)
This big object made a horrific noise and we started moving again! I couldn't see anything but four walls and Billy's face. (I later learned I was in a box at the time.)
I was shaking uncontrollably. Billy was constantly talking to me in that soft voice and gently petting me but I could not quit shaking!
Somehow, I knew my life would never be the same.
We finally stopped and Billy picked me up again. Shaking uncontrollably, I realized I was meowing franticly as well.
Then there's another human! Billy starts talking to this other person and hands me to her!
The nice lady was his wife, Cindy. She wouldn't quit kissing me! She kept holding me and kissing me as we went into another room.
When we got into this other room, she put me on the floor and I started taking in my strange new surroundings.
While I was looking around, Billy proceeded to put a bowl of food on the floor beside me, as well as some water.
Though scared, I ate ravenously and greedily drank water until I could hold no more. At which point, I actually felt sleepy and went to sleep!
I groggily woke up to find myself still in the same surroundings and the nightmare was real.
It seems the noise I heard was a dog barking. Mom had managed to get all of us on the roof to safety. However, in the process of trying to lure the dog away from us, she was killed.
Billy had found his dear friend, Plant Kitty, that morning. He and his friends proceeded to check on her kittens all day while working.
Then, after work, all seven of Plant Kitty's kittens were adopted by construction workers and given new homes.
Billy was one of those construction workers and I was his choice. He carried me to his house, introduced me to his wife, gave me the name Sylvester, and a new home.
So marks the beginning of my story as Sylvester.
My first day in my new surroundings was quite pleasant. Billy and Cindy left early that morning so I had the place all to my self.
Once I realized they weren't coming back, I relaxed and proceeded to investigate.
One of the rooms had two huge glass doors that showcased a menagerie of cats and kittens that were just like me!
It was like looking through a glass window at myself! There must have been 15-20 cats or kittens outside for me to watch.
I made that my special place and watched cats all day.
There was a bowl of food on the side of the porch and I even had some other strange animals coming to eat besides the cats.
I later learned that they were racoons. There were even possums and foxes. My days and nights were always full of new surprises. Life was a pleasure.
It only got bad in the afternoon when Billy and Cindy came home. Of course, time took care of that with their loving devotion to me, and I soon began to enjoy them too.
One afternoon Cindy was sitting in the den with me. (I learned the glass doors room was called a den.) I was playing the role of aloof and about asleep when I heard this awful noise.
Not knowing what the noise was, I jumped up and ran past Cindy to the other room.
Upon running past her, I noticed her bending over with laughter. Then suddenly there was a hideous odor. Realizing what had happened, I proceeded to give her the most disgusted look I could conjure up.
If looks could kill, she would have died that day! It didn't deter her, though, as she just kept laughing! Obviously, humans have gas too and far worse than kittens!
Life after that terrible incident only got better. It was day after day of watching cats in the den and cars out the big window in the kitchen.
However, I did feel a sense of loneliness when Cindy and Billy weren't there. It seemed unfair that all those cats and kittens were outside and I was alone in the house.
One afternoon as I lay in the den watching the outside kitties, a spider began building a web on the sliding glass door.
I continued to enjoy watching it build the web until it covered the whole door!
Dad was enjoying the spider as well. Mom, however found it revolting.
I overheard her telling Dad to get the web off the door but he wouldn't because he liked to see how far the web could grow.
Then one day Mom came home from work to find a hummingbird tangled in the spider's web. She just knew the lifeless little bird must be dead. It did not even flutter.
She proceeded to open the glass door and cut the hummingbird from the spider's web. Upon freeing the little bird, she brought it into the kitchen to perform more "surgery".
The little hummingbird didn't move. She laid it on the work island in the kitchen so she could finish cutting all the spider web from it's wing.
Just as she finished cutting the web away, the little bird flew into the laundry room. Mom was frantic! I was elated! We both ran after the little bird. Mom had a broom trying to get it to the door and I was right behind her just trying to get it!
This chase lasted several minutes when the little bird finally flew into the kitchen window and hit the floor.
To my dismay, Mom got there before me. She picked up the stunned little bird, took a kitchen chair, went outside and held the little bird until it regained consciousness and flew away. What an exciting day!
Then more excitement came as my loneliness was about to end.
One afternoon, Mom came in with a little kitten from outside. It was a tabby and had a very loud mouth!
It seems the mother had abandoned it on the roof (what a coincidence) and Dad had to retrieve it. Being homeless, they were making it my new inside friend.
Mom had taken the kitten to the vet and I shuttered when he was put in that hideous pet taxi. I would pee every time I was put in there.
She later brought him home and told Dad that he weighed 1/2 pound. Upon hearing that, Dad proceeded to name him "Byte".
Mom enclosed an area in the kitchen to keep Byte from getting out during the day while she and Dad were away.
Well, I did not like that because Byte was crying and as lonely as me. So I proceeded after everyone left to jump over the enclosure, pick Byte up by the scruff of the neck (like those outside cats did), and bring him in the den with me!
I began to clean him and, basically, became his "big brother".
Mom's head was really messed up when she came in the first few days because she could not figure out how Byte was getting out from her enclosure. (Of course, I didn't let on either.)
She stayed dumbfounded until the weekend when Dad watched me get Byte and carry him down the hallway. (It was bound to come out sometime.)
After that day, Byte was officially left "unenclosed". I won! Life was so much better with my little friend. We were inseparable.
I forgot to mention the hard times earlier when I learned I had pneumonia. It almost cost me my life!
I started feeling bad and Mom thought I just had a furball. Days passed and I steadily got worse when Mom decided that she had to find out.
That was the most horrible day of my life! It even beat the first days of missing my Mom.
They put me in that pet taxi and was carrying me somewhere. My immediate reaction was to pee. I believe that is probably a natural cat reaction when confronted with that horrible contraption.
I was so sick, though, that I really didn't care. That is, not until I got there.
When we went in, there were dogs as well as cats, and they all looked as sick as me! I was terrified all over again!
I was introduced to some gentle talking man like Dad but it didn't matter as I was still scared.
The man told Mom and Dad that I was in critical condition, and that he would like to keep me overnight to give me medicine. Mom was in tears and they actually left me with him! I couldn't believe it!
Well, after they left, this man began poking some round things in my mouth. Even sick I found it revolting! It did, however, get me to feeling better.
That night I was caged in this strange environment wondering what tomorrow would bring.
Well, tomorrow brought Dad, Mom and going home.
The vet (that soft spoken man) took me into the office where they were and told them about my night as I walked around in his office.
I had improved as you can tell. His atrocious antibiotics worked. He told Mom and Dad about my condition, and that I would have to take medicine for the rest of my life.
So started the beginning of the hideous fight every morning with Dad over that gagging stupid pill.
Somehow, he always won. Over time though, he decreased the pills to a couple times a week and life became somewhat normal again.
In the meantime, I had my new friend inside, Byte! If I could just get him to stop whining! For such a little kitty, he's got a loud mouth!
Years passed with endless days of wonder, boredom, even irritation at my dear friend.
Then one day, we had new friends in the house. Dad and Mom had a visitor for a while and he brought a lot of pleasure.
Byte especially liked him because he would feed him ice cream every night before going to bed.
Another visitor brought his girlfriend's dog in the house.
Picture this: two cats - one black and white and one tabby - hissing with every single hair they had standing straight up. The dog had a short visit.
While these friends were staying, another kitty was added to our menagerie. This was a long-haired gray cat they called Shorty. I have never figured out how she got that name. She wasn't short!
She was an outside cat that started coming in the kitchen to eat with us. Eventually, she stayed inside.
It was now a matter of irritation more than boredom. What was I thinking earlier! If I could just get a little peace!
I love the bed. Mom has this soft pink blanket on the bed that I enjoy sleeping on during the day.
Of course, they'd take the bed at night. I could never train them right on that.
Mom tried to get me to sleep with them, but I never felt comfortable.
One night, though, I decided to jump on the bed and let Mom pet me. Dad was asleep.
All of a sudden, Dad let three go! There goes Mom again! She finds me so funny when there is gas involved!
Of course, it didn't help that I swayed with each one passing!
Anyway, that was enough for me and I went back to my quiet floor with Byte and Shorty.
Mom and Dad were aflutter! They were going to the beach and so excited.
It was hard to believe that that they wouldn't be back for a while and someone else was going to be coming in to feed us.
They hired this nice little petsitter and she was real good to me. Byte nor Shorty would come out except when she left.
I found her quite entertaining though. Especially the first day when she locked herself out of the house. She was hysterical! Fortunately, the neighbors had a key she could borrow.
The funniest of their vacation times was with Shorty.
Mom had put a sticky roach motel out before they left for the week.
Well, nosy Shorty decides to investigate. I have never seen such a ruckus in my life!
She was all over the place. It had stuck to her paw and then everywhere else as she tried to get rid of it.
The house had bits and pieces of roach motel all over it. (Not to mention what was still on her!)
I dreaded seeing Mom walk in the door with the house the way Shorty had managed to destroy it.
There were pieces of paper in every room and mostly the den.
Mom's reaction was, "What in the world?" She and Dad walked into the den and then Mom saw her.
Shorty was looking at Mom with bits of paper all over her face as if to say, "I didn't do nothing! Really!"
Well, when she realized Mom was not buying her story, she started to run down the hall!
Mom went into another one of those "peals of laugher" I call them and simply couldn't quit.
You see, Shorty had the biggest piece of paper on her but! The means to an end!
This time Mom wasn't alone. Dad was laughing too!
Shorty came out with only a bruised pride and one nosy lesson learned.
Curiosity did get that cat!
Returning home one afternoon, I noticed the most precious little kitty sitting on my front porch. She was looking at the front door as if to say, "May I come in?" I immediately welcomed her to my home.
With five cats in our house already, she didn't immediately become an inside cat. Our back yard, however, became her home. Over the years, she had several litters of kittens. We finally decided it was time for her to retire. She seemed to appreciate our efforts, although we missed her babies.
In conversations with the neighbors, I learned that she had already been in the neighborhood at least ten years and that she had been a mother many times before we met.
It seemed the whole neighborhood had known her and loved her. One neighbor's first visit with Purtygirl was similar to mine. Looking out her front door, she was met by those same yearning little eyes seeming to ask, "May I come in?"
I grew closer to her and started trying to coax her into the house.
My coaxing finally worked and she became our sixth inside kitty. After she became accustomed to the inside cats, she seemed to realize her dreams had come true.
Her beginning years had been in a house. After she was abandoned in our neighborhood, she had wandered from house to house in hopes someone would adopt her. No one did. Over the years, she had given up and adjusted well to ouside living.
Whether the sheer appreciation of getting her wish for a home or that she was just a loving cat, we became very close.
You could almost say we were inseparable. If I sat down, she was in my lap. When I went to bed, she was in the crook of my arm. She was the perfect cat companion.
Even with her age, we had six wonderful years together.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all aged that well?
