Talk About Your Pets

[WTMHouston]

We have had a lot of "special" cats over the years -- at least when I was a kid. When I was in the fifth grade, I found a kitten under the stairwell at school and took it home. Over the next decade plus that cat gave birth to well over 100 kittens -- all of whom got homes. Missy was the homeliest cat I have ever seen -- small and ugly, but very fertile. She lived to be 20 or so before she died.

At its peak, we had 15 or so cats around the house.

One of the second generation, whose name I forget, lost an eye. It got renamed Clops.

One lost a leg and got renamed Crip.

We had one who always thought ear lobes, at least detached ones, were for nursing -- no matter who it was -- She got renamed Sucker.

We had adult cats trying to nurse on momma cats.

We had one whose favorite place was on anyone's shoulders and it aimed for the shoulders whenever it felt like it. If it was on a table, it just jumped straight up. If it was on the floor, it would jump and then claw its way up either your front or back. You could actually call it to your shoulders like a dog. The first time I brought my now wife to the house, she freaked out when this cat launched at her from the back of a sofa. I hollered duck too late but managed to pry it away with only a couple small scratches.

We had very big cats and very small cats. We had cats of every imaginable color and color combination. We had Tom cats and lap cats.

Our very first cat, Clown, (many years before the one above and when we only had one cat) was truly king of the house. This cat used to hang around in the back yard and get dive bombed by the mocking birds. I remember one night when I was about 7 or 8 being awoken by my mother's blood curdling scream and then hearing my father laughing hysterically. Clown had been crying at back door to get in, so my dad got up and let him in. Clown headed straight for my parents bed where he proudly dropped the live, uninjured, baby mocking bird he had captured. As he waited for his praise, my mother screamed and my dad laughed. Seems as though Clown had gotten some measure of revenge on the mocking birds.

Post-Missy my folks finally started getting their cats spayed and neutered, but the quantity and variety sure makes for some memories and good stories.