.PatAndre

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This post is for Tigger3. I believe that when God created animals He intended three in particular to be our special friends: Cats, dogs and horses. I have owned all three several times over. In the last few years it has been cats-four in particular that I have always referred to as my cat family. They are all gone now. I still grieve over them. Tigger said something in one of her recent posts that triggered a precious memory about my cat family that is represented in this picture. She mentioned how her cat followed her around. That was a hallmark ongoing event with these four. I live on five acres, most of it to the rear of my house. I would go back there every day to pick up branches, pine cones and gumballs. The cats would always be in attendance. If I was able to sneak back there without them knowing it, they would discover me soon enough and here they would come in single file to join me as you see them in this pic.What great times those days were. The first cat was Boots. His mother was the second grey cat in line. In Dec of 2009, I picked up boots and hugged him before getting in my car to go to church. That would be the last time. When I came home from church he was nowhere to be found-never to be seen again. The next cat behind him was Phoebe. Her Mother is the tabby by the white pillar. She disappeared in Aug of 2011. I think the hillbilly that lived in a trailer near me (now gone thank heavens) and trapped turtles for a living caught her and cut her up for turtle bait (long story). The thought kills me. The next kitty in line Ma MA San(grey) was Boots mother. She disappeared in the early morning hours of July of 2014. I have her on the home video cam eating breakfast in the garage at 4a.m., then going through the cat door to the outside and never being seen again. She was 14 years old. The last kitty, the tabby by the white pillar is Ruffy. She was the matriarch. The two grey ones were her kittens. She rode with me on my 18 wheeler for five years. She was 11 years old when she disappeared in Oct of 2009, when I departed in my car for a trip to AR. Im thinking she became perplexed at my absence and why I didnt take her with me. When I came home she was nowhere to be found. I think she went looking for me. I now have two indoor cats, Benjamin whom you have seen and a Bengal cat that I have not posted any pics of yet,Donnie. A month ago, a purebred Snowshoe cat started hanging around my place. No one claims him so he is being fed by me and performs mouse patrol as an outdoor cat. As I wrote this I thought of John (the Lion) and how he grieved over the loss of his dog Molly. Remember him? And then there is Dunsticken and the sad loss of his dog. This post is for all of you pet parents on Cades who have had to endure the loss of an animal child! Thank you Lord for animals.