Anakin's Tale
I've had my cat, Basho, for twelve years. Basho lived with me when I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, an engineer for GE in Syracuse, New York, a graduate student at the University of Michigan,and as a professor at the University of Minnesota. He's lived with me in six homes,and tagged along during visits to my parents in two of their homes. He's been with me through my most supreme joys and worst depressions. And, in the last year, he started showing his age.
He was starting to dehydrate regularly, forcing me to put him on a special kidney diet, and to give him subcutaneous water about once a week. (His I.D. drip being referred to as his "heroin fix" by his insensitive owner) Ever since I got him, he's been insistent on having people watch him eat. But in the last year,he's taken it to extremes, meowing for "watchies" constantly. Similarly,he's always liked for the right sort of human to pick him up and walk around. But he became much more clingy and dependent upon "uppies." He also stopped playing actively, and even stopped wanting to sleep on Laurel and I, preferring to sleep on the foot of the bed or sometimes even off of it entirely. I was watching my cat grow old before my eyes.
Laurel suggested we get him a pet kitten. Normally, this wouldn't be a bad thing, but Basho has a history of being very hostile to other cats he's seen. It was almost as if he just wasn't a "cat person." So getting another cat was out of the question. Too risky. But then Laurel and I decided that even if he hated a new kitten, giving him an Enemy would make his life more interesting than it presently was. Friend or Enemy, Basho needed something to occupy his pea-sized brain, and so, to quote T.S. Eliot, Laurel and I decided "For Good or Evil, let the wheel turn!"
Laurel and I looked at different breeds as represented in cat books and web-sites. I'd never gotten a purebred cat before, and (given the life span of cats)this kitten would be the last cat I bought in a long time. I don't think L. and I seriously considered BUYING a purebred, but it was fun to think about. The main criterion, of course, is that it would have to be a breed that gets along well with other cats. This was Basho's pet, and the fact that Laurel and I were so excited over getting a new animal was just an unfortunate byproduct of his treatment.
Finally, we decided it would be a fun weekend or two to drive about the area and visit breeders. Since we were deep down planning on eventually getting a kitten from a shelter, we figured that this would be a harmless exercise. If we were really impressed, we'd get a purebred. If not, we'd have a great time looking at the breeds we'd read about. Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of breeders close by. One cattery we called had a suggestion. There was a big cat show coming up,and we could go there and see ALL SORTS of cats! So we went, taking along our pal Pam, because things are always more fun with her around.
We went to the cat show, and we were tempted by a Tonkinese, seduced by a
Snowshoe, and bedazzled by a British Blue. The one breed we decided ahead of time NOT to
get was a Selkirk Rex, because they looked like sheep. (I bet you know how this story is
going to end) We had also ruled out Siamese and Persians, but this discussion is
restricted to cats, not genetic freaks, so that was obvious. I have always wanted a
Russian Blue, and my friend, Ed had three that were very nice, so I secretly was hoping we
would wind up taking one home. The Tonkinese were REALLY affectionate, but we would have
had to wait until January to get one. I took the breeder's card, intending to call. The
Russian Blues weren't very charismatic, and they were expensive. The British Blues were
also pricey, and we would have to wait until October. Again, we took the Breeder's
card,once again not ruling them out. When we saw the Snowshoe, we decided to get it right
then and there. Oh boy, are they gorgeous cats! AND a kitten was available. (Don't worry,
we won't wind up with the snowshoe. You know what is going to happen. Look at
So the lady took it out to show us. Very very pretty. And the personality of one of those girls in high school who giggle with their friends and will dance with you when asked, because it is rude to say "no", but then they spend the whole dance rolling their eyes over your shoulder at their friends. We could hold her, but only because she was SO gracious as to tolerate our simian presence. So, after some discussion, we put the little Queen (that's what they call female cats, although both meanings work here) out of our minds.
Our stalwart companion Pam, Lap and I started our way out of the show with no cat in hand. (Don't worry, we don't make it out catless. It's clear what is going to happen) We were probably going to either call the British Blue lady or the Tonkinese lady,or maybe stop by a shelter on the way home and pick up a kitty. We asked Pam what to do,and she refused to give us the benefit of her wisdom.
On our way out we (here it comes; you have been waiting) passed by the Selkirk Rex cage again. The Selkirk Rex is a very rare, new breed, coming from a single mutation. They are being bred to keep this mutated gene, which causes them to have curly fur, which is why they look like little sheep. Lap and I noticed that they looked a LOT better in real life than they did on their web-site. The breeder, a really sweet ex chemistry teacher named Nancy McMullen, had two or three kittens for sale. One was straight-furred, and therefore cheaper. Her name was "Fluffy," which was a good thing because she was, in point of fact, fluffy. She was sleeping on a little pillow,covered in sheep-like black fur. Only it wasn't a pillow. As she half woke and fluffed the"pillow" it turned out to be Sir Bailey, her brother. Their mother was a TICA Double Grand Champion, and the International TICA best Selkirk longhaired kitten, 97-98.Their father, Nickleby, was a TICA Supreme Grand Champion (which is evidently a big deal) and the 10th best cat (not just Selkirk, best CAT) from the Great Lakes region,96-97. Their grandfather was ... well was Nickleby, due to an unfortunate incident of incest. So the breeder took Sir Bailey out of the cage, so we could feel his coat. At which point, he looked at Laurel with his butterscotch colored eyes, and... well pretty blatantly fell in love. He reached out to her, and she picked the little one up in her arms. He sat right on her arm, and then Laurel... and then Laurel... well the best word to describe it is "melted". At that point, negotiation was impossible. Lap had found our kitty.
I almost bought his sister, too, but Lap and I thought that Basho was going to have enough to deal with Sir Bailey, whom we renamed Anakin. (Basho didn't like him at first, so I wanted to call him Darth Vader, and Lap suggested Anakin, Darth Vader's birth-name, and I agreed. I had also suggested "Purr-o""Smart-o" and "Play-o" based on his behaviors, but Laurel wisely rejected those names, too.)
So we have a black sheepcat. The first day he liked Basho and kept trying to be friends. Basho despised him.
The second day he liked Basho and Basho could tolerate his presence, but hissed and swatted when he would go to pal around with him.
The second night Basho did something I don't like to talk about because it involved his nose and Anakin's butt. The third day Basho would try to go up to him and be friendly, but Anakin was wary of him because of day 1 and day 2.
Now they are pretty much chums. They play together, but don't cuddle. I'm sure that soon they will be even closer. Anakin adores Basho, and follows him around. Basho is a little more aloof, but warms up more and more each day. When I come home tired, I'll often flop on the sofa, Basho will flop in my lap, and we will watch Anakin play. Basho will look up at me as if to say, "We used to do that, didn't we old friend?"
The changes in Basho have been phenomenal. He's gained weight (a good thing), drinks more fluids (a very good thing) and is friendlier and more spry than he has been in several years. He is more affectionate than he's been, but less demanding in terms of watchies and uppies. I've only had to give him external fluids twice in four months. Best of all, his last blood test was in the normal range,whereas a few months ago he was having problems with his kidneys. He's basically become a happy kitty again. As for me, since we've gotten Anakin, I've gained weight(a bad thing), drink more coffee (a very bad thing) but have not become either friendlier or more spry. Go fig.
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Doug
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