Heather Lynn Rigaud’s Monthly Post
Published April 8, 2011 | 
Some of the Austen Authors decided to take some time to talk about our pets this month, and I’m very excited about that. I am not afraid of the stereotype of a romance writer, much less a fan fiction romance writer writing about her pets, because A: I think we’ve proven that those stereotypes don’t actually apply (Austen Authors are a diverse bunch) and B: because I’m not going to drone on and on about ‘Snooki-Woogums’ hairballs for 8 pages. (No, No, don’t thank me. No thanks are needed. I’m a professional)
I’m blessed with two kitty boys, and hearing that April was going to be pet month, they actually posed for a picture!
May I present Hobbes and CowCat.
We got Hobbes as a little kitten. One of my sister’s friends had adopted him and never realized the work or money that went into having a cat. The kitten developed worms and fleas, and was banished to the woman’s basement. This was too cruel, so I took the little darling and went straight to the vet. Once there I thought I’d be super-clever naming an orange tiger-striped cat ‘Hobbes’, but the receptionist just kinda rolled her eyes and asked me if I spelled it with a ‘bes’ at the end.
Hobbes is my cat, as much as he belongs to anyone. He enjoys sitting with me when I play video games and will often demand my attention for snuggles and love. His passion is hunting, as the lack of mice in our home can attest. We live in a heavily wooded area and prior to Hobbes I believe we could have been registered as a mouse sanctuary. His latest trick has been just leaving the heads of his prey for me to find. I suspect he’d like them mounted on tiny poles, but that’s not going to happen. Sorry Hobbes.
CowCat has a much more complicated story: We had a dog named Puppy* who was also a rescue. He came to us (literally) as a little baby and lived for 10 years before dying of cancer. The night we lost Puppy, I had gone to bed and after midnight one of my sons knocked on my door and said, “We need you.” Nothing bolts you out of bed faster than those 3 words from your child, so they brought me to the back door and there was a Black & White cat with very distinctive markings at my door. I had seen him in the neighborhood a couple times over the summer, so I figured he was a local cat who had accidentally gotten locked out for the night. It was December and in the low 20s, so I let him in. I knew my husband had to get up early for a school function with my other son, and for 6 hours, it’d do no harm to have a guest cat. My hope was that a neighbor would do the same, should it happen to my cat.
In the morning he was gone, but that night he came back. And over the following weeks and months he kept coming back, and I started to wonder if he actually had another home he was going too. He was neutered, so at some point he was someone’s cat, but he clearly wasn’t been cared for now.
Then in February he barfed up a belly full of worms on my bed, so I took him straight to the vet, who listened to my story, vaccinated him, wormed him and advised me to keep him. Which we did. The vet guessed that he was between one and two years old, which made him about the same age as Hobbes. My theory is that Hobbes found him and told him of the vacancy at my house.
CowCat however, is not a terribly monogamous cat. Over the summer, since I was still trying to find out where this cat had come from (I certainly didn’t want to be stealing someone’s pet) I talked to my neighbors about him. They all asked the same question “Is this your cat?” and I explained that no, maybe, I’m not quite sure. None of my neighbors knew where CowCat had come from, but they all also thought they were adopting him. He had two other names (‘Oreo’ and ‘Black Nose’) and was eating at all three houses. I had a slightly stronger claim, because mine was the only house he was actually entering. I offered the cat to the neighbors, but they all assured me that I was welcomed to him.
This past winter CowCat stayed indoors almost the whole time there was snow on the ground (and in New York, that’s a long time) but I won’t be surprised if he goes back to his wondering ways come summer.
So that’s my cat stories. Hopefully they weren’t too painful. What are yours?
*Okay, you might have noticed that I have as little bit of trouble coming up with names. Luckily, with JAFF, that’s not too much of a problem.
17 Responses to Heather Lynn Rigaud’s Monthly Post
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Lovely post, Heather Lynn!
I have had 3 cats and, by pure chance because I didn't pick them out, they've all been mainly black with white markings – like the inverse of your CowCat.
They seem to have met a need at various stages of my life. No. 1, Mickey, was like a childhood friend – since my nearest sibling is 10 years older than me, it was almost like being an only child. No. 2, Dixie, came to us when we were just married – a refugee from our neighbours who had just had their first baby. Dixie was our 'child substitute' for 12 years! Then our kids pestered us for a cat and we got No. 3, Toulouse, the last of a litter taken in by a 'foster home'. So he's been the cat we've had as a family, although the kids are almost grown up now and ready to go!
Cute! I love the name CowCat! I love kitties and we've had many a stray cat (literally dozens over the past 20 years or so), and some dogs, show up at our house and never leave. It's like they all know which house to go to!
Oh, Juliet, that's lovely. You just reminded my of my childhood cat, Lucy. She was a sweet mama cat who served as the guadian angel for my & my siblings growing up.
Monica: I believe in an open door policy for pets too. (Obviously) I do believe that rescued animals make great pets.
Thanks so much for sharing, both of you.
(sighs with bliss) Ooo, I do love me a good cat story – like that! Hm, maybe I'd better write up one too. Pindar, Martial and Catullus deserve that…
Diana: Join me! We can be AustenKittyAuthors!
And I love those names. Names are so hard for me.
CowCat is an adorable name! Hobbes is cute too but I can understand why the gal rolled her eyes! LOL! Great story. Pets have a way of burrowing into our hearts and giving us that special love. I think it is lovely how CowCat came to you when you needed him.
I cannot fault you for naming a dog 'Puppy'. The first pet I remember was a tabby by the name of 'Puss'.
Although other cats have been in my care over the years, one has a very special place in my heart. As a teenager I was given a Lilac Point Siamese kitten. Soft and white, he was named Puffinstuff (Puffy for short). We knew his 'points' (ears, face, legs and tai) would darken but did not expect it on his flanks. We thought he had gotten into ashes from our wood stove, so we tried to scrub off the sooty smudges. As Puffy aged, his name evolved to Tuffy. He was the best cat EVER! He growled while he ate, scooped up his food with a paw, and played one-sided hide-and-seek (me hiding while he searched). Tuffy was totally loveable … unlike my sister's Seal Point, Taffy, who was an irascible man-eater!
Thanks for the post, Heather Lynn.
Are we a catty lot, or what?
Joanne
I think animals have marked my house with their scent indicating that they will find refuge there. We have had three rescue dogs and one cat. Makes life intersting.
I am convinced that animals (cats in particular) know which house to go to that will take them in. We had 2 cats, and gained 2 more when they just showed up, content to stay. One of those was pregnant, had 7 cats, and now we have…no, we only kept 2 of the kittens, so we have 6. My pet story actually will appear in May, and not about our cats, but our dog. But I, too love a cat story. thanks Heather!
Oh noes I started a thing.
Good post anyway.
Joanne: I always said that we'd only had cats before Puppy. It was a totally new concept to have a pet that responded to it's name.
Puffy sounds like a wonderful friend.
Mary: Yup, I know exactly what you mean.
Kara: What a wonderful thing! My husband would have a fit if I tried to have 7 cats. And I think the cats know this. No more show up than we can handle.
Marsha: I blame you!!! (And the great picture the cats posed for.)
When we lived in New Orleans, we were temporarily adopted by a black and white, nasty old alley cat that we called Toxo (after toxoplasmosis- yes doctors do have a weird sense of humor!). He hung out for two weeks while the weather was cold, and bit us if we tried to pet him when he was not in the mood. We got him vaccinated and wormed and I guess he thought he was good to go- he marched off and never came back! Hope he is not in jail for beating up some poor pit bull, or something…
I love CowCat's three 'homes.' My cats would happily convince dozens of people that no one else ever fed them. At least you don't need to worry about a pet sitter for CowCat!
Puppy was a very sweet dog.
Carey: CowCat would bite us too the first couple months if he wasn't in the mood. He's also not at all tolerant of the small children who visit.
Abigail: Yeah, I have to admit that I'm a bit tickled by CowCat's easy morality. He's such a player. We'll see if he does it again this summer. He's taken posession of our bed and sleeps with us every night (which is fine except for when he want my pillow-while I'm using it) so maybe he won't. But I'm not counting on it.
And Puppy was simply the best dog there ever was.
Heather, What beautiful cats! I love how they posed for you!
I have one cat. She adopted us! She is much like an overly afectionate alleycat. She lives on our covered front porch with a heated bed in winter. She is spoiled rotten. My husband (who is allergic) dotes on her. Her meow is more like a growl so we eventually started calling her Tiger.
I have two dogs that we rescued. The first one had an awful name given to him by the shelter that he did not know so my boys renamed him MOJO. Gave a new meaning to 'loosing your Mojo"
The second is a girl. She also came from the shelter, but we knew her original name. She was dropped off by a young college girl who had named her Blueberry (she is blue and white) My boys just couldn't agree to have a 'blueberry' but never came up with a better name so she goes by Blue. (except occassionally by me)
Like you, we have never been good at naming our pets, especially the girls. My boys had a snake that was always refered to as 'Girl'
Thank you for sharing your cat stories. I had one cat growing up. She was given to me when I was 3-4 and died peacefully in her sleep when I was 20 and away at school. She was an outdoor cat her entire life (my mom did not like animals in the house) and stuck with us through a thousand moves. If she was 'adopted' by the neighbors, we never knew it and she always came back to us at the end of the day. =] When I first got her I named her Spot (she was white with black spots like CowCat) but later decided that Spot was a boy name and since she was a girl her name would be Patches. She really was a great cat–she loved being pet and always left us wonderful gifts like mouse, bird, and lizard bodies at our back door.
Great story about your cats!
My (I use the word loosely) first cat was Gray Boy – a gray & white male tabby. Gray Boy was an alley cat who came with our new house back in the early 1970s.
He had seen better days – he had lost an eye and had a limp. He eventually got used to having 3 kids around (me and 2 of my brothers) and would tolerate us for short periods of time, but he always remained an alley cat in spirit.