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~ just one jane's thoughts on life

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Tag Archives: cat

goodbye kitty

06 Tuesday Oct 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in get along like cats and dogs, Motherhood, Writing

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

cat, dog, Jane Koenen Bretl, pets

The last two weeks, I’ve looked out the window what feels like 500 times, waiting and watching for the cat to come home.

She went out at night, like she had 500 times before.  Most every day, for six years, she went outside for a while then came back, a few hours or a maybe a day later, her little round white face popping back up by the patio door, her mouth opening in near silent meows that couldn’t be heard through the glass.

One day last spring, she did not come back for a day and a half, and I was worried.  I walked along the woods behind our neighborhood, calling her and watching the bushes for a sign of a rustle.  Then, just like that, she came trotting out from the brush, her tail in a happy question mark, ready to be scooped up into my arms and carried home.

She always loved to be outside.  It was where she was happiest, ever since she was a kitten.  She did not catch birds or chase mice — she just seemed to like the freedom, even long before we brought home the dog.  All our previous cats had been indoor only, because letting them outside seemed too dangerous.  But there was no question with this one; to keep her locked up would seem cruel.

We knew we took a chance that her life may be a shorter one, but wanted to make it a happier one.

She was always my garden companion all spring, summer and fall.  When I went out to plant or weed or prune, she would trot out of the woods and come wind around my ankles, waiting for a pet from muddy hands.  Then she would wonder about, and keep me company.  For years, I think we were both hiding outside from noisy children…  In the years I ran my outdoor children’s portrait business in my backyard, she would sometimes come “help” with the shot, and some families had portrait proofs with the cat in them.  Surprise!

She had a reluctant yet softening relationship with the dog.  She had an on-again, off-again relationship with Buster, a male stray that courted her so often we gave him a name.  Buster, the cowboy of stray tomcats.  Oddly, that first night she was missing, I saw Buster for the first time in three months — he startled me in the dark yard as I scanned the rainy night, walking with my flashlight.  He froze with that deer-in-the-headlights look, which I’ll probably now always think of as a cat-in-the-flashlight look.  I whispered “Do you know where she is?”, but he was no help at all, a cowboy cat of few words.

So, I have kept searching, walking not just the perimeter of the woods but all through the brush and branches and along the creek, looking for any sign of her.  I emailed neighbors with a photo, asking if anyone has seen her.  I put up flyers at the vet office and in surrounding neighborhoods, and knocked on doors of people I don’t know asking if I can search the woods behind their houses.  I know there are coyotes that roam the neighborhoods here.  I know that a Yorkshire Terrier disappeared from his nearby wooded backyard three nights after Kitty was last seen.  I know what I find in the woods may not be pleasant.   That is the image that haunts me most.  But I’ve thought for two weeks that if I could just find something, I could stop hoping and stop watching and stop listening for a tiny squeak of a meow at the door.  Since that has not happened, it is now time for me to just let go.

Some well-meaning friends have suggested that she might have always lived a double life, and has had a second “home” that she visited on a regular basis when she stayed out all night before.  Maybe That House just switched to the canned food she was always begging for, so she ditched us with our dry kibble.  Maybe They decided that she should be kept inside at their house from now on, because she is so beautiful and they did not want anything bad to happen to her.  That’s a happier story, and really all of life’s stories are up to us to write.

Someday, maybe I’ll be able to pen one of those heartwarming tales of the pet that disappeared for a long time, and against all odds found its way back home after many adventures and mishaps along the way.  That would be a fun story, but I am going to stop crafting that one in my head, at least for now.  It is time for me to say goodbye.

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She’ll take those over easy

01 Monday Jun 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in get along like cats and dogs

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

birds, cat

it's what's for dinnerAfter perusing the menu of birds, Kitty ordered two sparrows with a side of wren.  Unfortunately, the service was slow.

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always check the couch cushions

28 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in get along like cats and dogs

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cat, icanhascheezburger.com

Normally I only post my own photography (other than guest author pics, etc.)  Today is an exception, since this one from icanhascheezburger.com so perfectly captures what Big D and I have said for years:

funny-pictures-cat-has-a-lot-of-extra-fur2

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pet pal finder

13 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in get along like cats and dogs

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bo, cat, dog, first family, pet adoption, petfinder.com

Petfinder.com = internet dating for dogs (and cats).

New pets in the news  — you have seen the new first pup Bo’Bama, right? — have suddenly spurred lots of spirited discussion about ways to find a new pet.  Hey, when looking for just the right pal and simultaneously trying to run a (messed up) country, their path seemed as reasonable a method as any.  So this dog did not work out in his first home, and now he gets a really nice house;  it’s all good.  And, none of our business, really.  I think the First Family set a fine example by carefully considering and researching their pet before adopting.

I found our last cat on petfinder.com, a centralized search site for adoptable pets.  I spent many late evenings, when all reasonable members of my household were sleeping, browsing the selection of kittens available in my area.  Petfinder lets you set pet parameters such as breed, age, size, gender;  then gives you the closest geographic matches, most from shelters or foster homes.  I viewed so many little kitten faces, many of them carefully posed by those marketing geniuses at the shelters. After viewing hundreds of cat photos and profiles, I found The One I wanted.  Big D did foolishly ask, given that there might be several thousand cats in our state, why were we driving to Indiana to get a kitten?  But when internet dating, sometimes you make a connection…  OK, so I never actually did internet dating for a human, but I guess it would be the same???

Recently we did another online search for a possible second dog.  Same deal — I was sure we would “know her when we saw her.” Most of the dogs have a little backstory written with all kinds of romantic, enticing details (there are those marketing folks again)… Tabitha the dog likes long walks by the beach and snuggling by the fire on a snowy evening.  Lola the dog likes drinking pina coladas, and taking walks in the rain…  you get the picture.  But it is the eyes of the animal in the photo — that’s the match-maker for me.  This time, we both did the searching, but did not find The One.  It was not the right time for the right dog.  Someday.

So, for now, our pup has her neutered dog pal next door.  The cat is safe from another possible predator.  We will watch vicariously as another family enjoys their new pet.  Welcome home, Bo.  Just don’t chew anything that belonged to Lincoln, or you will be in big trouble, little fella.

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is this a happy face?

01 Wednesday Apr 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in get along like cats and dogs, Photography

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

cat, happy face

Is she smiling?  Sometimes it is hard to tell.  Could be maniacal plotting of the dog’s untimely demise.

meow-wow

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jane, candid

In 2009, I started this blog to share my sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny, occasionally irreverent thoughts on motherhood, writing for publication and myriad creatures that got along as cats and dogs.

One day, I felt like stepping away from living out loud for awhile. Eh, life happens.

Fast forward five years -- I'll gloss over the details for now -- save to say that lucky for me an unexpected detour has provided some new material.

So here I am, standing at the corner. I've been here before, wondering which way to go. This time I choose living.

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