Cubby

I’ve been posting for almost 2 weeks now and not once have I talked about cats. Well, nothing lasts forever so here goes...

On Tuesday, our Cubby finally laid down to rest for the last time here on Earth. He died of old age basically. He was about 17 years old. Here he is a few months ago. The only other pictures I have of him are in old paper format but he was an absolutely adorable kitten. He arrived here (in my NY barn) in the summer of ‘96

with two brothers, Cozy and Catnip. Cozy left us many years ago and I’m not sure about Catnip anymore. (I left him and some others in the capable hands of a Wildlife Rehabber when I moved to Idaho.) I only brought Cubby and Cracker with me when I moved thinking that my husband’s house was too small for more! Hah!

Their mother was a stray feral cat, a tiger tabby with beautiful markings. She was as fierce as could be and would not even tolerate being looked at. I named her Kismet. She is a whole ‘nother story and an incredible one to save for another time.

So, there they were in the upper story of the barn where we kept our hay. It took a few weeks to realize that the space was being occupied by more than a couple of mice and bats. One morning, I went up to throw the hay to the horses and saw a quick movement out of the corner of my eye. I stopped in my tracks. You never knew what you’d see next when you lived in the country. Suddenly I saw a little black face peeking out from behind a bale...”Awwww”...I think, “How cute.” So where are the rest? Then the little face disappears and reappears on the other side of the barn! “That can’t be the same one”, I’m thinking. Then I see a little gray tabby face appear and disappear. Okay...so there are at least 3 of them. Where’s mom?

Up until this point, all I had ever seen of this female cat was from a distance of at least 150 feet. Any closer and she bolted!

I did the first thing I always did whenever I wanted help with a ‘situation’. I yelled for my daughter! (She was always my ‘left-hand man’ in everything! I’m left-handed!)

It took us a good hour or two to catch these little 4 week old kittens and they were growing up as fierce as their mom. Lucky for us, mom was nowhere in sight. The kittens ran in and out of boxes we had stored, hay bales piled to the roof and all manner of miscellaneous hiding places. If we got one cornered we were bitten and scratched royally! The worst part was not being sure how many there were. But we never did find more.

We had just finally gotten the three of them rounded up when mom showed up with dinner. With her mouth full of chipmunk, she climbed the stairs while my daughter and I plastered ourselves against the wall to watch her. During the summer months, we always had the side door open upstairs for ventilation and it was a good 15 foot drop to the ground from up there. But there was a tree. All of a sudden mom saw us, dropped her dinner and literally flew across the barn, out that side door and fortunately, landed on the tree that was about 6 feet from the opening! Up until then I had heard only of flying squirrels...not cats! J

That was poor Kismet’s first encounter with humans and it wasn’t the worst that she would experience but getting back to Cubby...

It turns out, as the weeks went by, that Cubby could fetch! The kids would throw a little wad of paper across the room; he’d run after it and bring it back to the couch where they were sitting. This would go on for several minutes until the poor cat would collapse with exhaustion!

One of his most endearing traits was his habit of kneading his claws on the bare floor while ‘talking’ and rubbing against a human’s leg. He was never comfortable around men until he got to Idaho and met John. So, for the last two and a half years, he was pretty content. He was a super ‘big brother’ to all the nursing babies we’ve brought in over the past year; always welcoming the newcomers with a curious sniff instead of a hostile hiss and a hope that somewhere nearby there was a treat waiting for his good behavior!

He was a good boy and he will be missed for a long time. I trust that where he’s at now, he has a litter pan full of treats for all eternity!