Roland

This is a really hard post to write. I've posted about losing pets before, but at the end of April we lost our almost 14-year-old black cat. He was the sweetest and most loveable cat, and he was my Buddy Boy. Before we had our kids, he would make sure to nap in whatever room I was in. Even after the kids, when I was at the computer at night before bed, most times he'd be curled up near me on my husband's chair. Saying I was very attached to him is an understatement. So, I'm going to dive in with a list of all the things I remember about my unique kitty, a kind of kitty I know I will never likely own again. I reserve the right to edit this post in the future to add anything I forgot (there's just so much and my memory can be wonky).

❦ Roland was named after...yup, Roland from Stephen King's Dark Tower series!

❦ He was one of the meowiest (is that a word?) kitties I have ever known. We knew from the first night we got him as a kitten that we would never have a quiet night again while he was around! Therefore two of his nicknames were Mr. Meow and Meowhead. His purr was also crazy loud.

❦ He was also our Crooked Kitty. His tail had a notch at the base, and a couple notches at the tip. We don't know if he was born that way or if he got hurt as an itty bitty kitty before we adopted him. When I was taking a ceramics class in college, I made him a crooked bowl that said Crooked Kitty.

❦ He was our Great One-Armed Hedgehog Hunter! He loved to bring us presents--mostly sparkle balls, but one of his favorites was the hedgehog (which only had one arm). During the day he'd bring it downstairs, then at night while we were crawling into bed, he'd bring it back upstairs. Of course, he'd meow the whole way on his trek with the cat toy in his mouth. We knew he was coming!

❦ Oh, and he was part dog. He enjoyed playing fetch with his sparkle balls. AND he loved to dig. No, not in dirt, but in blankets. Many a time I ended up sitting on him on the bed because he dug his way under the blankets.

❦ He had a little black cauldron full of his sparkle balls. He loved picking those things out of there.

❦ We constantly had to clear sparkle balls out of his food bowl because he thought that's where he needed to deposit them. And he preferred to drink water by dipping his paw in the water and licking the water off his paw. NO cup filled with water in the house was safe. Many times I found an untended cup of water with litter in the bottom. Ew!

❦ He enjoyed chewing the tails off of his toy mice. He also enjoyed chewing string in half. He'd always ruin the ball of string for one of our other cats that's no longer with us. Pikachu loved them. Roland would not only chew the end off, but for good measure he'd chew it into several little bits (he never ate any of the bits, though).

❦ He was our Needy/Kneady Kitty. The first because he shamed those people that claim cats are independent. He wanted attention. And then he wanted more. If we locked him out of our bedroom temporarily, we heard his unhappy meows begging to be let back in. He insisted the first thing we did when we woke in the morning was give him itchings. The kneady part though was because he loved to knead. Especially our jeans...when they were ON us. I was insanely glad that we had his front claws removed because then we could allow him to knead to his heart's content (though he still managed to knead a hole into the corner of our current bed skirt--heh).

❦ Sometimes he would lie on his back and play with his tail. It was his way of trying to get our attention (it worked most of the time).

❦ At night, he preferred sleeping in between my husband and me, but when the kids took that spot, he decided sleeping on my husband's pillow was the next best thing. Who wouldn't want back claws tangling in their hair at night?

❦ That meow I mentioned? Yup, our little alarm clock...usually earlier than we intended to get up. And when going to bed, he would meow for a good 10-15 minutes too because, no it's not bedtime, it's love the Roland time.

❦ Being a silly human, I used to sing "Roland, Roland, Roland. Meow, meow!" to the "Rawhide" song.

❦ As mentioned he was my Buddy Boy--probably his most used nickname. Baby Boy Kitty, Little Black Cat, Monster Meow, Fuzzy Boy. More nicknames. He had so many! (For a short time at the end, he was also Demon Kitty, due to his glowing eyes in a picture I had taken of him.)

I feel like there should be a lot more to this list. We had nearly 14 years with Roland, but it's so hard to remember all the crazy, silly, lovable things he did. Perhaps this list is enough, but my heart says it isn't, merely because it will never encompass and truly show what kind of kitty Roland was. It'll have to do though.

NEXT UP: The Plan (What's this? Is the suspense killing you yet?)

In Memoriam - Amara

Back in October 2005, I posted about a Fresh Distraction - a new kitten in our house. The post ahead will be brief, but it will be a sad one.

I feel it's only fitting that I write something about our cat, Amara, since I did introduce her on my blog all those years ago. This past April, we found out that she had a tumor in one of her eyes (she'd always had some runny eye issues that the vet was never able to clear up). It was a difficult decision, but we decided it was for the best that we put her to sleep, especially since there was no way of knowing if the tumor had spread or not. We gave her a few more months though, so she could enjoy some open windows, but we knew it was time when she was no where near as active as she used to be, and in June we said good-bye.

She wasn't my favorite cat (maybe because she was such a naughty kitty - lol), but she was still much loved. Below is a list of a few things about her.

- Her name means unfading. Some of her nicknames were Fuzzle (or Fuluffle) Rat, Fluff Head, Fur For Brains, Dumb Cat (lovingly, honest!), and Kitty Girl.

- She was the naughtiest cat I've ever owned. She is the only cat I've owned that I've put a collar on because we needed a bell on her to know where she was if she was being naughty!

- When she'd try to sneak into the basement, she'd give herself away by meowing every step (and it was a special, she knew she was being naughty, meow).

- Cords? Chewed them, and not only as a kitten (she's the reason I switched to a cordless mouse).

- Plants? Yup, chewed those too. I had to keep putting them up, then I forgot about them, and then they died. =P

- Fake Yule tree? Uh-huh, chewed that too. Yes, I said fake.

- Balloon ribbons, feathers, rag to clean eye glasses with, other various things that I can't think of right now - chewed those too!

- When we would pet her, she would drool, profusely (yes, this cat seriously had an oral fixation).

- Box cat! Oh, look, it's a box, I must knock it over, I must see what's inside.

- She would chase Roland (my poor, Kitty Boy) around the house and she was so mean to him. She was his arch-nemesis.

- She was also a selfish kitty. She expected Roland to groom her, but she never returned the favor.

- When she'd stretch out on a rug, we'd call her Rug On A Rug. She also had huge paws.

- She liked to chase bugs and eagerly watched the birds outside, but when we had a mouse in our house, she didn't much care.

- She was also the Chicken (or Poultry) Fiend. Anytime we had chicken, she'd be begging us for some. And many a time she'd knock over the garbage to dig out the chicken bones in it.

- She would rotate her preferred sleeping areas. And one of those spots was a shoebox (I did say she was a box cat). Near the end, she rotated through some of her favorite spots daily, when usually she'd stick to spots weeks at a time.

- See that picture off to the right? That is our Fuzzle Rat, Dumb Cat on top of a bookshelf only a couple weeks before we took her in to be put to sleep. She was a great jumper. And no, she didn't know how to get down. I had to rescue her. See, there is a reason we called her Dumb Cat!

OK, I think that's all I can manage for now. I tear up easily. All of my animals become part of the family, and it's hard to lose them.

NEXT UP: What Am I Writing?