It has been a complete year since we lost Tigger and even though we missed him dearly, we were not sad too long. My parents heard his little footsteps in their bedroom pretty soon after and always around midnight. I slept over randomly just in hopes to hear him, but somehow I always missed him. Most cat owners I talked to told me they also have heard their kitties come home and wander their usual places from time to time as if to let you know they were there. We certainly did, and the very odd thing about it was you always knew which cat it was and there was never a doubt that we heard them. Even if we were sleeping, we would wake up and notice. Usually more than one of us hears or senses the same thing but the live cats never did.
My parents have since heard both Mochi and Tigger return (Mochi’s noises have not been around for years), and it was like both were catching up on a lot of missed playtime. What about our previous cats, Smokey and Kitty? We did hear them all come back. Kitty hung around for a month or so. Smokey stayed a good 6 months and disappeared after Tigger arrived. We may have also heard Pebble, our cat before Kitty, but it’s been so long I don’t remember. I have read that spirits come back to visit not because they are stuck, but because they know we missed them. This kind of makes sense for us, or at least it is what makes us feel relieved.
Almost right after Tigger left us, there was this new orange bushy tailed kitty in town, and he belonged to our neighbors two doors to the left. He started coming around and my mother befriended him. “There’s a cat with a really bushy tail in our yard! A really big bushy tail!” Dad met him and this cat let him pet him immediately. This was back in April 2020.
After some deworming, tick cleaning, hoping the owners would keep him happy and at home, covid keeping my parents stuck at home, buying a cat cage and neutering him, denial that this cat was theirs, and full garage takeover, I believe my parents are finally ready to admit that this cat was pretty much theirs. He has turned my father into a cat slave from 5am until midnight and taken over in priority over me for visiting hours to my parent’s house. Yes, he has visiting hours because if I visit too late I might wake up the little monster and he will ask to roam outside when coyotes roam the night.
What do Bushy’s owners think of all this? Oh yes, we have named him Bushy. His name given by his owners was Mimi because they thought he was female. We all thought he was a little female kitty too until he started to grow a bit, um, masculine. My parents spoke to the owners a few times and also texted that their kitty had tapeworms, ticks, fleas, needed to be neutered, and kept inside because there were coyotes around. The woman was a very kind lady that Bushy responded to lovingly, but her husband only brought the cat home as a mouser and said he wouldn’t spend money on him and cats were meant to be outside. When he came to take him home Bushy actually fled (we found out later from the lady that he often kicked him). The lady also offered to give my parents the cat, but at the time they were still very sad over Tigger and did not want anymore cats.
Well, you know how the story ends. My parents got him neutered, turned him into a fat sausage and currently feed him multiple breakfasts lunchees and dinners everyday. At one point they got a cat cage for him to rest after he was neutered and that became his preferred sleeping spot at night. He started requesting to come in at night and headed to his bed in the cage. How does he request to come in? Well, very simple, he finds my dad sitting by the family room patio door and meows. Nowadays he knows we can hear him even though no one is in sight because we often watch the backyard camera.
Bushy likes to roam around catching birds, lizards and napping at noon by the rose bushes. He might come in multiple times a day to the garage whenever he was hungry, thirsty, or just wanted to play. We think he visits the lady at home from time to time, but unfortunately, he would randomly get locked in by them if it was raining or they worried for his safety. He usually screams to come back out after missing first and second dinners.
Bushy’s favorite spot to sleep now is my camping chair. It was a takeover for sure. His favorite toys are my toes, string, his three way crinkly tube that I bought him for Christmas, and Mochi’s extra S-shaped scratching pad. Oh I am mistaken, his absolutely favorite toy is laser, of course, and sometimes his bouncy ball from my childhood bouncy ball collection.
Why does Bushy stay in the garage? I think mostly because my parents are not very used to how wild Bushy got during his time outside. They did bring him inside one night and he immediately attacked mom’s feet on the bed, and everything that he found interesting. Compared to Maine Coons I guess he is a bit wild to us. His claws used to frequently come out, or he would bite our arms and legs, and if he got really excited he had no issues doing a jump attack towards our face. He is a lot better now, but my parents still don’t know how to keep things clean with him rolling around in the dirt and mud and bringing back birds and mice. Dad pretty much let Bushy choose what he wanted to do.
I caught my dad bringing Bushy inside from time to time in his arms, and he even let him sit in Tigger’s spot in the living room couch! Bushy likes it there too, but he never stays long and always wants to go into the kitchen. We pretty much bring him inside now for a ‘tour of the house,’ every so often, but the rule is he cannot be let loose to walk around. He seems ok with this and he will literally let you hold him forever while he purrs and watches what everyone is up to in the house.