Living with a kitten or cat is a rewarding experience. Like dogs, they ask so little and give so much.

Jezibel enjoying the sun

I was looking out the window the other day and saw Jezibel sitting on the hillside, sunning herself. She looked so warm and comfortable sitting there with her eyes closed facing the sun.

I thought of my Siamese cat that I had years ago. She loved warmth.

I wanted a male Siamese kitten and in the classified section of the newspaper, I found an ad for Siamese kittens. When I went to see them, I picked out a male. I paid $25 for him and named him “Sparky”.

He was the best little kitten. He liked to burrow under the covers and he slept with me every night, all stretched out next to me. When I turned over, I moved him over to the other side too and he never woke up.

I had a wall heater and he would lay on the floor in front of that thing for hours. I touched him one time and his fur was hot, but he just loved it.

When I had him a few months I took him to the vet. That’s when I found out that “He” was a “She”. I was already hooked on her though, so I couldn’t be mad at the lady who had sold her as a male.

Unfortunately, back in the days when we didn’t get our cats “fixed” right away, I left Sparky with a friend while I was out of town over the Christmas holidays. She had a black male cat. Sparky was only about six months old, but when she started gaining weight, I knew how she spent her Christmas holidays.

She went into labor one night and me being kind of young, and knowing that cats had kittens all the time by themselves, figured she would have her kittens that night. She hadn’t had them by the next morning and she really didn’t seem to be trying. I went to work, but when I came home, she was clearly in labor and I took her to the vet. Thinking back on it, I’m surprised I had enough sense to do that. I should have taken her that morning.

Well, I left her there and they called me later and said that Sparky had had three black kittens....all stillborn. They were very large kittens and she was just a tiny thing. She was spayed and I would be able to pick her up in a day or so.

I had no idea how I was going to pay the vet bill, but when I went to get her, I set an account up with the vet to pay at least $10 a month until it was paid off. This was in my early working years and I did good to pay my rent each month.

Sparky seemed to be recuperating well. I made her a bed by the furnace and she slept a lot. Then she stopped eating. I had some antibiotic pills that I was supposed to be giving her, but she was so hard to pill, that I just didn’t do it.

I came home one day and she barely looked up at me. I knew she was about to die. I took her back to the vet. To put it mildly, the vet was a little annoyed with me that I had not been giving her the medicine after her surgery. He gave her a shot and when I told him that she “wouldn’t take her pills”, he said “of course she won’t take her pills. You have to open these joker’s mouth and force the pill down the throat! If she doesn’t get her medicine, she won’t eat and she won’t get well. You’re going to have yourself a dead cat!” The vet was from Oklahoma. He was real big and pretty scary then. I could probably handle him today....maybe.

So, I took Sparky home and watched her during the night. I offered her food and water and started giving her her pills. It was hard, but I figured it out. She started getting better and started eating. Pretty soon she was playing around the apartment like she did before.

Years later I lived in a house. I still had Sparky. I left the patio door cracked for her to come in and out. She usually just stayed in the backyard during the day.

Some mornings in the winter it was cool when she went outside to do her business in the yard. There was a wooden shed near the back fence. She would go over and sit by the side of the shed. I was getting ready for work and I used to look out to see where she was. She was always sitting there, by the shed, in the sun, just basking.

A bird has distracted her from her basking by the shed!

Sparky used up several of her nine lives during the time I had her:

#1: There was the caesarian section surgery that almost killed her, (thanks to my stupidity);

#2: She came in one night with an injury to her eye, which I never knew what happened.

#3: Then there was the time my brother got out of the Navy and was going back to NC. I went with him and took Sparky with me to visit our parents. We were young and we didn’t stop at motels in those days. We drove late into the night and early in the morning we stopped at a rest area in Tennessee to sleep. (That’s something none of us would do these days because of safety). Anyway, we woke up at dawn. We both went into the restroom to wash our faces, etc. Sparky was in the cab of the truck. The little “wing” window was open in the driver’s side. I got back to the truck and noticed that Sparky was not in the front seat. I looked across the parking lot. It was early morning, but I could see a light colored cat moving down the hill towards some woods. I took off running, calling “Sparky”! at the top of my voice. I still remember that she only ran faster and as I got closer to her, she slowed when she recognized my voice. I scooped her up and took her back to the truck. That was a lucky day for both of us.

When I got back to the truck, my brother was there. He said "I was wondering why you were running down the hill towards the woods. Did you find another cat?" Of course, he was joking and just as relieved that I caught her in time.

#4: At my parents’ house, I came out in the yard to find her and saw her crossing the road. As I called her, I realized a car was coming down the road. It wasn’t going fast. He stopped, but since I had called her, she started back across the road, just as he started moving the car again. I screamed as I watched her tumble under the car and come out unhurt. The car had stopped again and Sparky came running into the yard and didn’t stop until she got to the back of the house. My heart had already stopped.

#5, etc. Probably lots of near misses that I never knew about. But, she lived to be 16 and was one of the best friends and companions I ever had.

If I had it to do over again, and know what I know today, I would have taken better care of her. I would never have let her go so long without taking her to the vet that time when she was trying to have the kittens. (I guess Jezibel is proof of that, but that’s in another blog). I would never have left the door cracked for her to go in and out when I wasn’t home.

Me and Sparky, in our younger, POW-looking days!
Circa 1982 ish

I’ve learned a lot and that’s why we watch our cats so closely now. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for them to keep them healthy and safe.

More later.............