A Good Kitty
Turin (1992-2012) was a good kitty. He was my sister Susan's cat. Honestly, he would probably not like to be called a kitty. At twenty years of age he had burnt through the betraying indiscretions of youth. Of yarn ball chasing and the like. Had gathered enough mannered reserve and gravitas to be known by his given name (or by some private cat name).
Turin, a selfpossessed cat
My sister Susan gave him his name. She has also over the years named cats Gandolf, Pippen and Merrie. If you sensed a certain JRR Tolkien theme to this, you wouldn't be wrong. This last cat Merrie is also an equal piece of this story. A small tortie she shared the same life span and life departure with Turin, thought they were not blood related, They were simply adopted within a year of each other and grew old, eventually too old, together. Merrie also was a good kitty. For most of the ten years I knew them they seemed content to serve as guarded antipodes to each other. I once had a cat which I named Felicity after a Wedding Present cover of an Orange Juice song (A Leeds Band, a Glasgow band respectively). Well, It made sense at the time. Merrie was a quintessential lap cat. She could purr for hours, but she resisted the lure and freedom of the outdoors, even when they moved from urban Vancouver to suburban Bethesda. Something to do with a garbage truck in Chicago. Turin, a grey tiger, always seemed in demeanor a dog as much as cat. The mayor of Parkwood drive my brother in law observed; a politician of a cat. He always followed the doings of people more than other cats. A keen eye on pecking orders and his best interests. He was a "fixed" cat also he didn't have the burden of impress girl cats. As he came from the Chicago animal shelter original name was Chester which my sister didn't think suited him. The shelter also told her his original owners could not afford to feed him, which is how he came they. He had a life long complex about adequate food. It took some effort from him from over eating, eating too fast, eating all of Merrie's food. This was acerbated by a kidney condition as he got older. He couldn't process nutrition well and no amount of eating helped.
Merrie had been adopted from the San Fransisco Animal Shelter a some months earlier. Both these cats are more well-traveled than I am.
People think that cats as a species are aloof and uncommunicative. They manage; however, to always make their needs needs known. I've heard that cats unlike dogs will not look where a person points. This I know is not entirely true. Cats routinely follow the gaze of their peers, other cats, and even neighboring dogs they deem astute and trustworthy. If you can completely capture a cats attention -- if you are holding food in your hand say, or have worked up a good game of "I've rolled the ping pong ball under the couch." A cat will look where you point. Turin would do this, he trusted the gestures of those he trusted. Cats don't fathom they can't communicate with you, I don't think the notion ever occurs to them. They have a wide array of vocalizations inside the meow, purr and growl, If you're paying attention you begin to realize they have different meanings. Contextualized meanings to be sure, It helps to be aware of where they've wandered in from when they start talking. Usually its something more or less obvious: "My food bowl is empty, my water bowl is empty, the auxiliary water bowl is empty, you've stripped the sheets and blankets from the bed where there is the patch of sunlight where I take my naps at this time of day, I would like to go outside but there is a robin out there I just don't get on with." Its all very important to them. They often would point their body in the direction of whatever material condition they wanted you to remedy, tying to make your task as easy as possible. This last was often a great help I was only aware that there were different mews for all their questions. And that when all was done and said kitty questions are easier to answer than people questions. This is I'm sure a large part of their general charm
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