Kokonut came to me in October of 2004, as a birthday gift from the guy I was seeing at the time. His mother belonged to a woman I worked with and the litter of kittens was anything but planned. I had grown up having cats and was so excited when my boyfriend agreed to ride out to Unadilla with me to pick one out. There were black cats, and gray cats and even some tiger striped cats, but there was only one orange one. Since I was little I had always sworn I would own an orange cat someday so, of course, I took the one that was different from the others. He was also the runt. The tiny little guy fit in the palm of my hand, and it was love at first sight. I put him in my hoodie pocket (I'm pretty sure this is why he is to this day obsessed with boxes, bags, pockets, etc...) and away we went.
Kokonut and I have a strange bond and I believe it is because of the way our first months together went. See, I had moved away, almost 2 hours from home, gotten a new job, a new apartment, and basically a whole new life, to be with this guy that I met while in college. Being out there with no friends or family, and a boyfriend who rarely came home, Kokonut became my best friend and confidant. I won't lie. I admit there were nights that I would sit on the futon with Kokonut on my lap and talk to him, and I mean full fledged conversations, but who else was I supposed to talk to? It got to the point that Kokonut became the light of my life and if there is a single cat on the planet deemed most spoiled, Kokonut is more spoiled than that cat. Needless to say the relationship didn't work out the way I had planned and within a few months I was packing up again, changing jobs again and moving back home. The breakup wasn't an easy one, not that any ever are. I was depressed, stressed out and again adjusting to a new situation, and again, the only one I had by my side was Kokonut. Don't get me wrong, my family was there, but there are only so many things you can talk to your parents about. I really felt like he was the only consistency I had at the time and, though I never really thought of it this way until now, I certainly was the only consistency he had. We look at pets like they are just that, pets. But in all actuality, they are much more than that because we give them no other choice. I walked into that woman's house and took Kokonut away from his mom, his siblings and the only home he had ever known (for those 6 short weeks) and brought him into my arms. He was given no other choice but to trust me. Through the years that bond has done nothing but grow and for the sake of sounding like the crazy cat lady, he is still my best buddy. And I can tell that he feels the same way about me. If I say "ow" whether it be for real, or in play he comes running. He has been known to push his way in between myself and my husband if my husband is the reason for my "distress." (These would be the play ows I mentioned earlier. My husband never REALLY puts me in distress.) He runs to the door when he hears me come home and snuggles pretty much constantly. I can't imagine my life without the little guy.
Kahlua came to me in the summer of 2005. A friend of mine invited me to go with her to the Humane Society one afternoon to look at animals. She wanted a cat of her own and I agreed to help her pick one out. We spent hours looking at cats (and even the dogs) but none of them were really calling out to us. That is, until I saw Kahlua. My friend didn't take interest at first because Kahlua wasn't a "kitten." She was 7 months old. She was born in the humane society and had spent her life in a cage. During our trip my friends mother had called her to inform her that she changed her mind and did not want her bringing a cat home. Defeated she began to walk out the door. That was when it came to me. The offer was... If you chose THIS cat (being Kahlua) she can be your cat, but live at my house. Kahlua was just about the same age as Kokonut
I call Kahlua my sweetest heart. She is shy, timid and oh so loving. She hides in the cupboard when "strangers" come over, and if she is willing to get to know you, she does a whole lot of sniffing first. She doesn't fully trust anyone but my husband and I. She is skittish and jumpy, and a tad overweight but when she snuggles, it is heart-warming. She isn't an overly playful cat, she certainly doesn't run around, it seems to me that her only concern in life is loving and cuddling. But at the same time, she isn't a boring cat at all. There is no other word than sweet. Heart-breakingly sweet. Kokonut man-handles her sometimes. She's got a good 7 pounds on him yet, for some reason, he still tries to drag her around by the scruff of her neck (which basically just ends up at a painful standstill and a mouth full of fur.) The dependency that Kahlua has on Steve and I is very obvious. She gets nervous when she is left at home for too long without us and I am not sure what attributed to this (maybe fear of being abandoned again like at the humane society?) But her dependency makes her all the more sweet to us.
Enter Rampage McMurderface! That's right. Rampage McMurderface. My husband told me one day that his dream pet would be a bear. And he would name is bear Rampage McMurderface. This story stuck in my head the day that I went to his mother's house. His mother had a cat who came around every six months, dropped a litter of kittens in the barn, and then went off to get pregnant again. There were always kittens at the house and just days before I had stated that I was so proud of my self control! I hadn't even had the smallest desire to bring home a kitten! On this fateful day I took my friend Hillary with me. I should've known that wasn't a good idea. See, Hillary is a cat lover too and though I had gotten good at saying no to kittens, I apparently cannot say no to Hillary. It seems that Rampage picked us rather than us picking her. None of the other cats had any interest in being held, or played with. They ran and hid in the barn when people showed up, but for some reason, that day, (October 1, 2010!) Rampage walked right up to us, climbed up on a chair and demanded that we hold her. Hillary picked her up, threw her in my face and said "You must take her home." So, after some himming and hawwing, I took this adorable little kitten home, the whole way thinking "Steve is going to throw a FIT!" My way around it... Pretend the kitten was a gift for him. "I have two cats of my own, I think you should have one too. One you can call your own!" He knew better. But, to play the story up, I named the kitten after his dream pet, Rampage McMurderface. And I explained that I got him a kitten because bears are obviously illegal.
I am sure this is it for the pets for now. Someday I would like a puppy, but we would like to be settled before we take on that challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment