Aqaba Thomas, when he wants to be picked up, will run right at me, as if being picked up and carried around, is an urgent thing. He’s not allowed on the table, but if I pick him up he won’t be on the table, that message is clear, isn’t it? I bend over at the waist, he gets two paws on my right shoulder, and I lift, catching both his back paws in my left hand. We’ve done this before, he and I, and he knows to keep the claws in, knows I got him, and knows he gets picked up and carried around.
Some of this is heat. It’s early in the morning and he wants me to hold him close so he can be warm. Aqaba Thomas, the Cat Unexpected, leans in hard, and purrs.
Some of this is he wants me to carry him around to the windows, so he can see out while he’s being carried around. The back deck is nice, and he likes looking, the bedroom window shows the yard, but what he really likes is the front door. He likes to look out of the front door and see the porch. I turn my body, blocking his view and he bats me lightly with a front paw. I turn so he can see and he wiggles a bit, yes, right there. The body language is subtle, but Aqaba has trained me well.
He looks down at the porch at the spot it began. His first food bowl was there, and the water bowl, too. He was at eight pounds when he came in, and is at thirteen now. He was lighter when I started feeding him on the porch, and he would stop, look up at me, inside the house watching, and that is how we met. He knew who I was, and knew I was feeding him. That’s how it begins in cases like this. “Hi! I’m Mike and I’ll be taking care of you today.”
Aqaba remembers this spot. This was the beginning of home. He likes being here, at this spot, with me. I’ll hold him until he wiggles a bit, a sign to move on, and he purrs all the while.
He rubs faces with me before I put him back in the cat tree. This, too, is how we do it. It’s his way of showing he appreciates the ride, the warmth, and the moment. This is his way of saying he remembers what was, but this is what is.
The connection between an animal and the person who rescued him is undeniable and runs deep. Aqaba Thomas remembers being lost, and cannot forget being found.
Take Care,
Mike
Furbaby memories amaze me. Mike get so frustrated with Crowley being a butthead to beg for treats at night and knocking things off my nightstand in the morning to get me up for his wet food breakfast, but I remember how skinny he was when we got him and that shortly after he came to live with us, we discovered he had a tapeworm — so he probably spent most of his 6 month old life before us always hungry. Even 7 years later, with a rarely empty “free feed” dry food bowl, he will ALWAYS beg for food, and I usually attribute that to that tapeworm and that memory for him.
Lily, Aqaba doesn’t seem to have that food thing going. I know he was out in the wood from late July to mid September, and I knew no one else was feeding him, but he wasn’t starved when I brought him in. He also never knocks things off high places, and he doesn’t meow much. Before I brought Aqaba in, a raccoon attacked him and left his neck bloodied. I trapped him, took him to the vet, and the rest is history. The little boy has had some adventure.
Awesome bud
Henry, yes indeed. It’s taken some effort to save this boy’s life but it was worth it. When I took him to the vet they grinned. They don’t get cat stories like this often, with a happy ending and all.
Nice writing. Evokes joy from despair
Tumult, Aqaba had the cards stacked against him. He was a stray, dumped most likely and could have had rabis or some cat disease that would have killed him. The raccoon attack could have done permanent damage to his neck. He might have not liked being inside my house and the dogs might not have accepted him. I had no idea who he was or who he would be. The reasons to be optimistic were few. But standing there, watching him while he looked up at me, I couldn’t help but think he wanted to come in, and wanted to stay with me. I did my part and waited for the vet to call me and tell me if Aqaba would live. After that, it was incredibly easy. He really wanted to stay.
I love that your pack has accepted him as one of their own. They knew he needed to be rescued and loved just as they did.
Chick, every animal in this house has been abandoned by someone. Every animal here has lived with the idea they have no home and no family.
I think that drives acceptance of other in the same situation. Budlore accepting any animal, much less a smaller one who isn’t a dog, is downright remarkable.
I’m still amazed it worked out so well.
My best, most favorite companion came to me from an animal shelter. I was looking at the pretty cats… I had set my sights on a tortoiseshell colored, beautiful cat. There was a plain grey cat that kept following me around jumping on my back trying to get me to notice it. There were other people in the room… A lady said to me, “it looks like he’s chosen you!” Light bulb
! His name was Chandler and let me tell you, we vibed. I’m in a nursing facility now, Chandler has passed, but when I had to say goodbye my friends paid the cremation fee, my wood worker friend made a wooden urn and another bought me a figurine of a beautiful angel holding a cat. He’s here with me among my plants. I never forgot that he chose me.
Chris, odd, isn’t it? How much of a say cats have in where they stay.
It is amazing how animals can train us as we train them.
We had a cat that my wife and son showed for about 18 months or so. When that cat got to about 4 or so, I started working with him to come with me to bed so I could comb him. He enjoyed it and soon it did not take much coaxing to get him to come.
Then the younger cat started joining in and he enjoyed it, too.
Now, the retired show cat made it to 18 before passing away last year and that younger one is now 15. And we have a rescue from a shelter that is now about 2 and she joins in on the nightly combing and petting routine; however, she does not like it as much–or is too much of a kitten still to not stay for a while.
While the (now) older cat will tolerate the dogs, the young one runs in fear, so the cats generally stay upstairs and the dogs stay on the main level. The only time they are all close together-ish is when we are in the basement because the tornado sirens went off.
Tim, Aqaba stayed in the bathroom for a month or so, then I let him out to socialize with Lilith Anne. They got along very well, and would sleep side by side. Then I let Wrex in, and Wrex was curious as to the why a cat was in the house, but he’s pretty chill. Jessica Elizabeth was terrified of Aqaba and would leave the room rather than stay . Budlore Amadeus and I had to have a talk. Bud is large, aggressive, and athletic. Yet at the same time, he seemed to realize Aqaba was special and protected. I kept those two apart for a couple of months before letting them hang out together without me right there with them.