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Friday, April 27, 2012

Missing My Fur Baby

I had forgotten that Pirate Baby's hair has been three different colors in his young life. It was this brownish color when he was tiny, then it went red for a couple months, and now it's blonde.


I miss my cat.

When we first moved here, we had been told there was a litter of brand new kittens out on the farm. That first summer, Surfer Pirate bonded with one of the male kittens. The kitten would ride on his shoulder when he mowed the lawn out there and would follow him around as he worked.

Then, just days before Pirate Baby was born, we had gone out to the farm to let the dogs run around in all the snow. We went looking for the kitten, and found him starving and half frozen. I put him in my coat and we brought him home. We wrapped him in a blanket and snuggled with him and got him to eat a little. Over the next couple of days, the kitten and I really bonded.

But I had checked out of curiosity and had discovered certain... ...body parts weren't there. I showed Surfer Pirate and said "Look, you were wrong. This is a girl, not a boy!" He agreed, and Brave Bonny got a girl's name.

She was a very affectionate cat. Anytime any member of the family was sitting down, she would be right there on your lap to snuggle. She liked to curl up next to Pirate Baby, and it was a constant thing for a while to see me with both of my tiny babies on my lap.

Brave Bonny was never the smartest cat. She was from a long line of barn cats that were all from the same litter generations earlier. Generations of inbreeding leads to some interesting traits. Her one eye was never quite right, and she seemed a little lost half the time. We kept waiting for her to get pregnant (Captain Kitty isn't fixed), and even thought she was at one point. Nope. She'd just been pigging out and had developed a bit of a fat belly.

And then one day, Surfer Pirate got to show ME something. Certain... ...body parts had resurfaced! (Can they descend, ascend, and then descend again???) Brave Bonny was indeed a boy!

Well....

...that would explain why there weren't any kittens at our house.

But considering that she he wasn't terribly smart, we decided not to change her his name. It was quite confusing for all of us. We were constantly having to correct ourselves when talking about the cat.

But then, about a month or so ago, Surfer Pirate and I were standing in the mudroom when Brave Bonny marked her his territory. In the house. On one of the windows.

Ya know.....

the weather was really nice. Spring had come...

uh....

Let's make the cats OUTDOOR cats.

So out their food and water dishes went, on to the porch. And out the cats went.

Captain Kitty was thrilled! He has always LOVED being outside. He already knows the area, has a girlfriend, knows where home is, etc.

Brave Bonny, on the other hand, stuck around the house for the rest of the evening, hoping to be let back in.

The next afternoon, Captain Kitty stopped by to visit the family.

No sign of Brave Bonny.

After a few days, I was getting really worried. There was a light snowfall one night, and there were tiny little Brave Bonny sized paw prints going up the porch to the food dish.

But still, we never saw her him. Still haven't.

And I wonder. Does he still remember living on the farm, hunting for his food? Is he enjoying his freedom? Being such an affectionate cat, did another family take him in? Or is he simply too dumb to figure out where home is?

Captain Kitty is around pretty much every day. Some nights he sleeps in the house. Some nights, he goes out. Having one cat is much simpler than having two. And we've already decided that when Captain Kitty passes away, we probably won't get another cat. It will be nice to not have to deal with litter boxes and cat fur on everything. My mom will certainly enjoy visiting more when she's not plagued with allergies.

But I miss my snuggly little Brave Bonny.

1 comments:

B. said...

I'm sorry Brave Bonny is missing! Maybe he'll still show up again one of these days. If not, then he's probably off being a happy, carefree pirate kitty somewhere.