Crazy Gifted Animals Part 3 – In memory of Our Mom and Gran

I have come to the conclusion that animals choose their owners not the other way around.

We went through a stage of having many cats. To my delight I must add. My first Cat I had in Johannesburg after not having a cat for a very long time was Called Puss (as Puss in Boots) how was I to know that Puss was actually a male cat. A tom is the correct word to use. As kittens those gender parts are not on display.

I loved this cat more than I can describe, he was unique and loved to play with soft cuddly toys – but his best toy ever was Sarah. They would play catches. There is no exaggeration here. The real catches game we play as kids. Tap on shoulder – your it game.

Puss would wait for her to come home from school, greet her and talk to her is his deep meow voice and then he would get that pounce stance ready and this was the signal that Sarah had to go hide.

She was 11 years old when I got him. Sarah would then giggle in her infectious giggle, and run and hide and wait. Puss would runoff in the direction she went in and he would search for her and it was almost like search and destroys as Sarah would try to be quiet but the anticipation of him finding her and zapping her was just too much.

She would sit there holding her breath in the fear that he would hear her, and then shriek out as Puss would pounce on her. Tapp Tapp and run off in the opposite direction. The game was on, He would then go and hide and wait for Sarah to find him. As she approached we could see him do the wriggle and pounce dance that cats do and she would move the curtain or looking the washing basket and he would leap out at her and she would scream blue bloody murder! Puss loved the reaction and he adored this game.

We learnt the hard way not to go away for too long. One time Cait was the first one in the house after we had gone away for the night. She walked in and was walking to her room when Puss shot out at her like a jack in the box and proceeded to attack her legs, and zap her and really let her have it with such furious abandon that it was actually quite a shock. I had to put the Disney Plaster on Cait’s injuries and she was not at all impressed with Puss and told him so. Puss was not the slightest bit perturbed by this as he was the ruler of our family and we had better just accept it.

He was so upset at us for leaving him alone that he decided to let the first person through the door know exactly how upset he was. He then turned to Sarah and Matt and chased them around the house. I finally calmed him down and he was happy and settled into his hide and seeks game again.

After that we never entered the house without pre-greeting him. Cait would call from the Gate “Puss we are home, Puss we love you, Here Puss Here Puss” I am sure my neighbours thought we were terrible people using a word like that but in all honestly that was HIS NAME!

Now Puss had this ability to warn you that you were going to come down with an illness, flu, tumours, headaches, monthly pains, toothache, heart attack, all ailments (except Matt’s accidents – he never warned me of those! Mores the pity as I would have liked a heads up for these events as my heart nearly couldn’t handle the shock of the dreaded phone call.)

When I was so ill with my colon in 1999 Puss would not leave me alone and when I came home after my operation he stayed by my side for 4 weeks until he felt I was well enough. We all became very aware of his powers of deduction and if he went and slept with one of the children or paid particular attention to an area, say the neck or back I would say, oh on you getting sick to the children and sure as nuts they would become ill in the area he was protecting. The most amazing animal and so loving when you were ill. Our little resident doctor.

My mom visited us the December of 1999 and she was not a huge Cat Lover but it was not long before she was telling Puss that it was bed time and he would tootle off to bed with her. “Come Puss its bed time” she would say.

Puss would stretch out claw the furniture he was lying on. Yawn, the yawn of boredom. Give us the beady eye as if to say “What no treats?” and stretch again. He would then slowly amble out the lounge, tail straight up and start talking to my mom. He purred so loud we could hear him all the way down the passage. He would weave his way through her legs and rub himself ever so lovingly against her legs.

My mom would talk to him in a soft gentle voice and explain that she had to go and brush her teeth and get ready for bed and he would dutifully follow her into the bathroom -Lurch onto the basin and watch this routine with great interest. He never took his eyes off my mom and would tap her on her hand as she brushed her teeth and hair. Why her hair is anyone’s guess. I mean MOM you are off to bed, unless she was expecting a midnight visitor!

They would then waltz to the bedroom as he weaved in and out between her legs and she would warn him that he was going to be the death of her. Mom would then, pull back the covers and Puss would dutifully if not impatiently wait for her to pick up her glasses next to her bed, retrieve her book as she read every night before sleeping.

She would then settle down and he would come and climb on her chest and settle in. If my mom so much as tried to push him ever so slightly into a more comfortable position, he would dig his claws in. This is where he wanted to be and she was not going to change the status quo no matter how uncomfortable she was! His attitude was “I am King! Deal with it.”

Which my gentle mom did. She would peer over him and try to read her book. Puss on the other hand had other ideas. Love me Damit was his attitude. He would put his paw exactly where her hand was holding the book and zap it out of her hands. Or he would chew the pages so she was unable to read.

My mom of course realized she would lose this battle yet again but she still tried to read. We could hear her telling Puss that she was reading and he was to play NICE. Puss did just what he wanted and my mom would sigh, put the book down and give him the love he was so badly in need of. They would then settle down for the night and Puss would cuddle up in the crook of her neck.

He followed her around and was her shadow and would not get off her chest when she slept.

During the day he was like a dog, following her around and when we went out for a day visit somewhere he would yowl for my mom to come home. When we arrived home, after the pre-greeting from us all the way from the Gate, he would run to her greeting her in his deep meow and wrap himself around her legs and the purr box would start up again. He won my mom over in no time at all and I believe Puss loved her just as much. By the time my mom left to return to Zimbabwe Puss was absolutely and totally in love with her

I knew there was smoothing wrong with my mom and warned her to go and see the doctor as Puss was telling her she was sick.

When she was packing to leave, he kept on scratching her clothing out of the tog bag to climb in almost as if he either wanted to go with her or wanted to prevent her from going back to Zimbabwe. After we dropped her at the airport we returned home and Puss did not meet us at the door as was his usual behaviour. We found him sleeping in the cupboard where my mom had kept her tooth brush and toiletries and he absolutely refused to leave the cupboard for at least a week. He would every now and then yowl for her in a sad forlorn voice and we could see he was pining for her.

My mom passed away in February of heart failure in her sleep and we were devastated and still are to this day. Puss was trying to tell us she was not well and even though my mom did heed our warnings, the doctors did not find anything wrong with her heart. But out sweet Puss knew better.

Puss left our lives about 6 months later and we missed him terribly too. I can still see him and my mom walking down the passage to bed and smile a smile of love and tenderness as he was a little angel in fur for the most amazing woman I have ever met and I was truly blessed to have her as my mom.