A tribute to Calico Jackia

The ex and I had been trying for a year and a half to have a baby with no luck. I was sitting in the living room watching tv, and he hadn't come home yet from work. He was over a half hour late, and I couldn't imagine why he wasn't home. Finally, I heard him come in the back door. I looked up, as he peeked his head around the doorway from the kitchen, and realized that he wasn't alone! There was another much smaller head also peeking around the doorway! It was a tiny calico kitten! He thought I would like to have a new fur-baby to take my mind off my human baby disappointments.

Within an hour in her new home, she was already nuzzling me and giving me little affectionate head-butts and purring like crazy! I have never seen a kitten warm up that fast to a new home!

When she was a baby, she had really bad earmites. Multiple trips to the vet and multiple medications did nothing to clear them up. One day, I noticed they were getting better! I couldn't figure out for the life of me why her ears were healing when all the medications hadn't done a thing. And then I caught our 120 pound German Shepherd gently holding her down with his paw while he stuck his great big tongue into her tiny little ears! He licked those nasty mites away! She was forever loyal to a dog who was more than ten times bigger than she was.

She loved her family. Sleeping on the bed with us was one of her greatest joys in life, and if a hand happened to be sticking out of the covers, it was immediately subjected to self-petting attempts! She was also madly in love with one of our male Siamese-mix kitties. She was always snuggling with him and following him around. But she also made herself a little mama to our other Siamese-mix (Old Captain Paulsgrave). She would bathe him and snuggle with him on ocassion as well.

But Jackia was a jealous girl. We had taken in a stray dog for a while who was a pug/chihuahua mix. Being a small dog, I allowed her to be on the furniture. Jackia wasn't having it! She would not share her mama's lap for anything! She declared war on the little dog! Eventually, the stray had to find another home due to other circumstances, and our little calico queen felt as if she had won the war - scaring off the obnoxious dog!

Her biggest fear in life? Strangers!! If someone visiting our home was lucky enough to get a glimpse of her, it was usually just a quick flash of orange and she raced through the house to hide! My dad stayed with us for a week at one point and only saw her once the entire time. She walked into a doorway, saw him sitting on the couch, looked at him with a "where did YOU come from?" look and then promptly ran back out! My aunt and uncle visited with their children, and I actually managed to get her to appear for my aunt and female cousin. They had to sit very quietly in my bedroom with the door closed while I coaxed her out from under her hiding spot under the dresser. She even allowed them to pet her briefly until sounds in the hallway made her nervous and she hid again. Surfer Pirate's greatest accomplishment when we were dating was the day he finally won her over and she would let him pet her and hold her. She loved him dearly after that.

When she was about 4 years old, she developed some kind of allergy that affected her ears. She would hide under the bed and scratch her ears until they bled. Again, medication did nothing to ease her suffering. The decision was made that she would have to be declawed to keep her from causing more harm to herself. Unfortunately, she couldn't be declawed while her ears were bleeding or infected. That meant she had to wear one of those big cone things around her neck. She was constantly trying to get her "lampshade" off. She would be almost healed, and then she would manage to remove it again. I would find her under the bed bleeding again. She had to wear the cone for almost 2 months going through this routine over and over! Eventually, she was finally healed enough and we were able to get her claws removed. Her ears never noticeably gave her problems after that.

When Black Beardette joined the family, Calico Jackia found herself having to battle for her position as queen of the house again. She was not only fighting with Black Beardette, but with any of the other furry creatures that got in her way of destroying her new nemesis. We have a strict rule in the family that pets who can't get along with other pets can't continue to be a part of the crew. So sadly Calico Jackia would have to go. I passed her on to one of those groups who find new ships for pirate pets who are lacking a crew. I don't know what happened to her, but I like to think that she found herself a nice family and is living out the rest of her days being spoiled and loved.