The Big Gray Cat

My husband and I are empty nesters, except for a big gray cat. In the summer of 2000, our younger daughter decided to adopt a little gray kitten as a companion for our older cat, Allie, who now resides in kitty heaven. Our daughter named the kitten after her favorite Boston Red Sox player, Nomar Garciaparra. (Never mind that he now plays for the LA Dodgers.) The little kitten proceeeded to grow into a huge cat. He weighed in at nearly twenty pounds until the vet said the cat needed to go on a diet. He now weighs in at a trim sixteen pounds. When our daughter graduated from college and took a job in Boston, she left Nomar behind. Now he is our cat and views our daughter with suspicion when she visits. He often lies beside my chair in his favorite positon on his back. Or he jumps into my lap to make his presence known. Sometimes he lies at the top of the stairs leading to the office that my husband and I share. We call him our guard cat, but in reality he's a big scaredy-cat. When company arrives, he runs to hide under the nearest bed or couch. He might come out if he decides the visitors are not threatening.

His favorite pastime, other than napping, is eating. Every time I go anywhere near the laundry room where we keep his food, he is prancing alongside me meowing at the top of his lungs in hopes of getting me to give him more food. He is so enamored of food that he has learned how to catch his treats in the air with his paws. Maybe he can do that because he's named after a baseball player.

He is an indoor cat, but he gets a little slice of outdoors when he ventures out to our screened-in pool area. He loves to catch bugs, frogs or lizards who somehow foolishly find their way inside that screen. I have rescued many lizards and warned them about the big gray cat, who will make them into a toy then a treat, as I put them back into the yard.

From time to time when our daughter visits us, she talks about taking Nomar home with her. However, this action never takes place. I think she likes to visit and play with him and then leave him behind for us. Whenever this discussion takes place, I always have mixed feelings. If we didn't have a cat, we wouldn't have to make arrangements for him when we go away. But, on the other hand, I'd really miss him. He is really my cat now.

How many of you have had children leave pets behind?
Merrillee

posted by Merrillee @ 9:17 AM