Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Men Attraction

As you have read; Mrs Gato was raised by a man in a wheel chair. Well she kept some of her affinity for men even into her later years.
We are now in Punahauo street in Hawaii
One morning after spending a quiet time reading with me on the sofa Mrs Gato leaped to the top of the dresser. She was not agile and pretty much liked to keep all four on the floor; so this was quite unexpected behavior. I got up and followed her gaze out the window. Down below were some men adding stucco to the outside of a house. They had been there for 5 days now and were making pretty slow progress. What made this day different was that the boss showed up. I could not believe my eyes. There stood a spitting image of her former owner if he would have been able to stand. He was about 6 feet tall lean and muscled. I could certainly admire him too. Mrs Gato had either heard or smelled the difference in this man's presence and identified it as something she knew. I was amazed
Ok so we moved yet again. Now we are on the other side of Punch Bowl in Hawaii.
I slide between the cool sheets to tuck in for a good read. Low and behold Mrs Gato makes a flying leap to the top of my dresser again this time with such vigor she scratches my cheek with her claws. What on earth! I peak out the closed curtains for a look into the dark expecting to see a big monster cat prowling around. Wow was I in for shock. There on the far side of the alley was another apartment with an open window to their bathroom. The man of the house was taking a hot steamy shower! Again he looked just like her former owner and my ex boyfriend. I have a peeping Toma cat!
Hope you had a good laugh. Mrs Gato loved me but she really knew her men.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Gato-isms

Here I wanted to jot down some creative saying that Gato and I said to eachother. Sometimes I would hear her voice in my head and sometimes I would make up different names to call things which she responded to.

"Paws Up!" = high five...err...high 4 in her case
"Whiskers Touch" = kiss kiss
"Fur Off!" = no clothes on!
"Foot Pads" = shoes
"Nose to Tail Weather" = cold!

I'll add more when I remember them.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fat Cat

Today I want to tell about the time Gato was a fat cat. I know she would not like the title of this entry, but it has a good ending.
For awhile I was on a very limited income and could not afford her usual Nutro Max Salmon flavored crunchies. Instead I bought a cheap box at the grocery store. I gave her regular canned food at dinner. Then around 2 weeks later Gato started spreading out in the middle. I just took it to mean that Gato was getting older and slower and thus gaining more weight. 3 weeks went by when I got my new issue of Cat Talk. There was an article in it identifying the main ingredients in most cat food brands on the market. The article went on to say that the cheaper dry food uses corn as a filler. Cats are not able to digest much starch and so it turns to fat right away. The next level up uses soy protein. And the highest quality uses animal protein. The highest quality was also the highest priced. The Nutro Max was one of those higher quality foods. I showed Gato the article. Yes I turned the page to her so she could see it. I said "Well it says here that we should be feeding you the more expensive diet so that you don't gain weight. Ok so the next time I get a check, I will get you the kind you like"
Did you know that for 1 week Gato did not touch her crunchies! I kept checking to refill it. She ate her canned food. But she stopped eating the cheap dry food all together. I was amazed at her knowledge of the English language. As promised, I bought the one she liked a week later. Within 2 weeks she was back to her normal weight and her fur was soft and shiny.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Meeting and Greating

My first encounter with Mrs Gato, Fuzz Face, Princess Kitty, was not actually in person, but rather over the phone. " You are the cat person. What do I do for a kitten that just jumped in my lap?" asked her new owner, my new boyfriend.
"Well, No tuna, kitty crunchies, and cat canned food are good. How did you get a cat?"
He told me Mrs Gato's sad start to life. She was left with an older man at an elderly apartment complex. Shortly after she was there, the gentleman had to go to the hospital. With no one to take care of her, Gato started roaming the complex accepting whatever kind offerings people left out for her. She scanned the rooftops and doorways to find out the routines of the inhabitants. One day as my boyfriend wheeled in toward his apartment on his wheelchair, a grey fuzz ball took a flying leap and landed in his lap to secure her new owner. After the initial shock wore off, my boyfriend and Uno Gato became inseparable. Gato would ride on his lap down to the laundry and back. He would feed her and talk to her like a little lady. He would hold the phone up for Gato to say "hi" to me.
It was about a month later that I got to meet Gato in person. It was instant jealousy, not on my part of course. Gato would stare me down while I hugged her human. She sat on his chest if I lied down next to him. She sighed and pined away whenever my boyfriend would leave for a moment. I love cats and just chuckled at her devotion.
Lets move 10 years down the road. My boyfriend has moved to a place that doesn't allow pets. He passes Gato off to a friend named Dania. Gato stays with Dania for 2 years. Then I get on my own and get an unusual phone call asking if I could take Dania's cat.  "oh Gato Yes of course!" I agree.
Gato comes by way of car in a small milk crate on the front seat. Gato hides. Gato hides at the foot of my bed for a whole week and it was a strange event that coaxed her out. A previous knee injury plagued me on and off. This time I twisted it while setting the table. It hurt enough for me to need to sit down. I sat down on the bed and massaged it for a minute. Then I saw a fuzzy grey face look at me with concern. She blinked and hopped on the bed. Then she did the kindest thing. She wrapped her body around my knee and purred, and purred. The intensity of the pain decreased and Gato found her place in my home as nurse and friend.
One day shortly after our bonding, Gato looked up at me from under the dining table and formed the word "an-yah?"
"Oh Mrs Gato, I said. I'm not Dania. I'm Andrea. Dania had to go. I'm Andrea"
Gato blinked.
A week later in the same position from under the table I heard "Amm ree aaa?"
Gato and I are friends to the end.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Aloha Rain

My first random memory is during a spring time rain. Hawaii has intermittent rains that can come and go at a moments notice. It was one of these moments while Mrs Gato and I were enjoying our morning devotion time together on the love seat; me with my Bible in my lap and Mrs Gato drifting off in revere beside me. I looked up as a cool wind brought a heavier rain through the louvered windows. Two fledgling doves darted onto the sill of our second story window to take cover from the sudden deluge. Gato sprang off the seat and crouched down in front of the open window ready to pounce. I closed my book and crawled down slowly to the floor to be eye level with the birds and Gato. Then I whispered "Wait Mrs Gato. They are just babies. They cant fly. They are coming out of the rain. Wait till they are gone. Then you can pounce on the annoying male doves all you want." She listened. Her ears pivoting in my direction but never taking her eyes off  the birds. Then Gato did the sweetest thing. She curled up in a little ball and watched as if she were watching her own little ones. The rain vanished quickly as it had come. Seeing the sun peak out again; the mother bird chirped and urged her little babies to try again. The babies flapped their downy wings and whooshed away carried by a soft breeze. Mrs Gato knew the importance of that first flight and blinked in contentment when they took off safely. The next day however she is was in full cat patrol chasing the cocky male doves with their incessant hoo-ooing off our landing. That's my Mrs Gato.