Tara - Part II - "Stub Tail"

Yes, I was talking about our Siamese, Tara, the first cat that lived with husband and I .

Our first house, as I mentioned yesterday, had the "cat hole" in the basement window.

No fuss. No muss.

One day, we walked into the kitchen to find, not only Tara eating at her dish, but her new found pal, a grey male with a stub tail. She had brought him home through the special door, to meet the parents.

He was well-mannered. Wasn't noisy. Kept himself clean. Played outside with Tara without TOO much howling and carrying on. We figured him to be part Manx, a special stub tail breed. He kept coming in through the "cat hole". We kept feeding him. We thought him to be a stray of course, but certainly didn't want to take him to the vet to be put down. He kind of grew on us. What was another mouth to feed after all and he had that "special breed" look to him.

So, we decided to keep "Stubby". He was loved greatly and Tara had a special affection for him. We did notice though that he began to "spray" outside marking his own territory and we told him that it was totally unacceptable to do such things. If he wanted to stay with people on the "right side of the tracks", he was going to have to change his ways.

He didn't. So, we did.

We did not want an un-spayed male in the presence of a lady. Tara agreed. Off to the vet he did go and after a few snips, became our lovely neutered, gray, stub-tailed male cat - "Stubby".

No sooner had we brought him back home from his expensive hospital stay, the darned thing ran off. We couldn't find him anywhere. And all that hard-earned cash was just spent on making his life, what we thought, much easier and much more comfortable. Now he was gone.

We mourned. Tara mourned. She was not to be consoled. Our new friend of the family had left for parts unknown.

We accepted his leaving and went about our normal lives again. Poorer.....and wiser.

Husband went next-door one day to meet the neighbors. In the corner, on a lovely soft blanket lay a real beauty of a gray cat that looked vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaguely familiar.

It was Stubby, OUR CAT!!!!

Husband was estatic!!! He was about to go running to gather up his dear Stubby, when their children called to him by an unfamiliar name, "Pete.......Pete.....here Pete......." to which he responded by poking his head up, stretching and purring.

It actually was the neighbors cat.

Husband said not a word to that family. I'm sure they wondered where the poor thing had been for those several months and why he wasn't very "outgoing" anymore.

We often wondered if he was a "special" cat, one they would have used for mating.

Guess we'll never know...........and Stubby never, ever returned to discuss the matter with us. His mating days were over and I'm sure he was feeling the effects.