From commentor RoonieRoo:
We have always had rescue cats from the shelters and streets. Mishka has a special story. Mishka is a soul healer. 1999 was not a good year for my soul. Within a 3 weeks of each other, I lost my 13 year old and 10 year old pet rabbits (yes, rabbits), my 13 year old dog and my husband, Michael.
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That left me and my cat Pernicious alone very suddenly and shockingly. Pernicious, AKA Snic, was a man’s cat. He loved Michael. I was loved in a way but I wasn’t Michael. After Michael’s sudden death, Pernicious lost all of his fur. He was a completely naked cat and I was just a bit insane. Going from a full house with all the animals and a husband to just me and the cat was confusing as well as devastating for both of us.
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With the animals (Leo, Alex and Darcy) I had been spending most of the past couple of months at my vet as we went through each emergency and eventual loss. The clinic and the vets there knew me very well at that point. Since our vet was also my father’s vet, he had let them know about Michael’s untimely death.
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So, I dragged myself down to the clinic. My family had just left after taking care of me while I brought myself back to the point of basic functioning. Pernicious was still mostly naked but he was eating at this point. I got to the clinic and the doc took me in the back and showed me a grey ball of fur and said, “You and Pernicious have had enough death and you need Life right now. This kitten is life.”
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Apparently another client had seen the kitten running near a highway. She grabbed him and brought him to the clinic to see if they could find his home or find him a new home. Dr. Farley did his due diligence and then called me when he could find no existing home that was missing the furball.
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So, I happily took the kitten and brought him to our sad and broken home. He was about 6 months old and all fur. I came in and sat him down near the entrance. Pernicious came out, looked at him, looked at me, looked at him, looked back and me and seemed to say “What the hell is this and why is it in my house?!?” He then stomped off in a huff.
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That night the kitten slept in my bedroom but when I got up in the morning the house was filled with the sound of running cats. I found Pernicious in full play mode with the kitten. When he noticed me watching, he just stopped and glared for a few minutes and then went back to playing with the kitten. That was all it took. Pernicious grew all his fur back and he and Mishka became attached at the hip. And we had “Life” in our home again in a soul healing kitten that I named Mishka.
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Later, when I moved in with my husband John, Pernicious instantly became John’s cat and reveled in being a man’s cat again. But this time, he had Mishka too and they never stopped playing and being together up until Snic’s death at 17.
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Pictured with Mishka in the second photo is Milo. We got Milo from the shelter 4 weeks before Snic died to help Mishka bond with a new kitten before he lost his old buddy.
SiubhanDuinne
Oh my. Oh my. What a way to start a week of giving thanks. That story brought both a lump to my throat and a smile to my face.
Healing, indeed.
JWL
My erstwhile feral cat has been a pal of mine for nigh on one-fourth of my life. To her credit, she’s rarely a pain in the ass.
That noted, cats are very strange. She’s staring at me as I type….
Tattoosydney
That’s such a lovely and sad story I’m almost loath to mention this.
Am I the only one who hadn’t heard of Gasland? Halliburton, environmental disaster, Bush/Cheney exemption of the gas industry from the Safe Water Act, and tap water you can set on fire (at about 6.30).
Terrifying.
ETA – I see it has been mentioned on here a bit, but not enough apparently.
JPL
There are no ordinary cats.
Comrade Javamanphil
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Earl
An extraordinary tale, indeed.
Thanks for that…
electricgrendel
What a sad, but beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
I am trying to decide if I should take in another cat. I really would like to have a second one, but I already have a cat who’s a bit…fragile. When I lived with a roommate she got a kitten who just terrorized my Grippa. When I moved out on my own Grippa’s entire personality changed. She was playful and happy where she had been kind of reserved and depressed with the other cat. However- the other cat was a complete terror. Very dominant and a bit aggressive.
But I go to school now while working full time and I think Grippa feels a bit neglected. I’d like to get a second cat to try and keep her company, and it just so happens that a coworker rescued a darling little orange kitten that needs a home. I do not want to get another tormentor for Grippa, and I don’t want to feel like I’m neglecting two cats given my schedule (there are days when I leave at 9p.m. and do not get home until 2 p.m. the next day….)
Any thoughts?
Phyllis
Fellow widda here (2006), and I can say with all truthfulness that I would not still be here on earth if I had not had our kitties to give me an anchor to said earth.
Mystical Chick
Cats are love. They are. What a wonderful story. I don’t often read the pet stories because the ones where they die break my heart. But when I saw the words “soul healer” well, what else could a self-proclaimed Mysticalchick do? :)
Loved this story and was overjoyed at the happy ending.
Signed,
she who has had 4 cats, two guinea pigs and a dog. (Now down to 2 cats and doggie but would take more cats in a heartbeat.)
Montysano
Wonderful story.
abscam
@electricgrendel: Go for it. The fact that the new one will be a kitten will make all the difference.
abscam
@electricgrendel: Go for it. The fact that the new one will be a kitten will make all the difference.
Hillary Rettig
i just enjoy these stories so much and look forward to them each morning. this one was terrific.
Maody
Pets save lives, it’s true. Thanksgiving.
Ash Can
What darling kitties, and how nice that such a happy ending can come out of such a dreadful ordeal. Thanks to RonnieRoo for sharing.
Sarah in Brooklyn
What a sweet, sad, story.
I will admit I am jealous of people who bring a new cat home who bonds instantly with the resident cats. I have three now and they all hate each other. I did something wrong!
FFrank
@Sarah in Brooklyn:
Hi Sarah,
there is pheromone that you can spray that will help calm down the stress. I don’t know what it is, it has made a difference with my cats.
jayboat
Great story.
Cats are magic.
That is all.
Cain
A great story. I’m here in Mumbai and we have a dog who decided to adopt us several years ago. Today I gave him the first bath he’s had in about 8 months. Before that the first bath he’s ever had. Bathing is so uncommon that I had a crowd of people watching me in amazement. Probably never thought that a dog would subject itself to washing, but our dog was very thankful as he got a good rub down.
He is a total street dog, but he’s been trained because he can do all the usual dog tricks like shaking hands, and bowing and what not. We’ve tried to get him into the house but he won’t come in.. so we feed him and take care him outside the house but in the compound.
He’s fairly old now, and he’s full of fleas, ticks, and leeches and he’s now blind in one eye. A lot of his fur is gone on his hind legs from itching. I bought some flea killer from Costco (the high quality type that can last a month) in hopes that I can get him to stop itching. I’m not sure what else to do. My next visit or my parents visit I would like to get him some medication. It is sad to see the plight of the neighborhood dogs around here. One of the neighborhood dogs tried to learn all the tricks of our dog so that he can get treats! We have an organization called “In defense of animals” run by an old lady who feeds and helps all the dogs in our neighborhood. She is a great soul. If you have an inclination to give that would be wonderful:
Their website is here
I will post a picture later when I get a chance. He’s really an adorable little mutt. I wanted to get him into the calendar but I completely forgot about him. I spent more on the dog than on my own relatives coming here!
cain
WereBear
@electricgrendel: Orange cat boys are one of the most mellow creatures on earth, and orange cat girls aren’t bad at it, either.
Can you rub a tissue on the kitten and bring it home to see what the chemistry is? It can take a bit of the guesswork out.
AdamK
Mishka and Milo look exactly like my two cats. Exactly. It’s eerie.
Luthe
Someone just tried to pull a Nigerian scam on me over the phone. WTF?
Rebecca
What a beautiful story to start the day with. Thank you.
WereBear
@FFrank: It’s called Feliway.
You can also re-introduce them in an attempt to fix what you got wrong in the first place.
Kat
I need help!
I’ve had cats for a long time, and thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about raising and caring for them.
But these four feral kittens I’m currently trying to rescue have me stymied. They’re about 10 weeks old, and have been in my home for about four weeks now; and they’re still almost as feral as the day I brought them in.
When I catch one of them to pet them, three out of four now purr, but they’re still just as anxious to get away as they’ve always been. And every time I go in the kitchen, which is where they’re currently hemmed in, they all still scurry away as fast as they can.
Has anyone here ever fostered a feral kitten? If so, do you have any hard-won advice?
Comrade Misfit
@Kat:
I’ve taken in one feral kitten. She was 12 weeks old or so and had a bad upper-respiratory infection, which is why we were able to catch her.
After bringing her home from the vet’s, she was isolated from my other cat in a spare bedroom, until she had run the full course of antibiotics and deworming. I went in there one day and just laid down on the floor. She walked around me a few times, sniffing at me and, at one point, tasting my hair. I reached out to pet her and she purred. Friends ever since (she is now 13).
It took a little time before she and my other cat made friends, but they eventually did. He’s a year older and even now, he’ll wash her head for her.
leinie
Wow. I looked at that second picture and thought I was looking at Hippy, hanging with a new cat.
That is a lovely story, and Mishka is gorgeous. They really are wonderful creatures, and I’m so glad you found each other.
Thanks for sharing.
Trinity
I cannot fully convey how much these stories give me. This one burned my morning gloom away. Thank you!
bystander
Oh, RoonieRoo … what an amazing story. How lucky for Mishka, how lucky for Snic, and how lucky for you. And, who knows, maybe “luck” had nothing to do with it… the universe organizes itself in interesting ways.
GVG
Spoon feed canned cat food to each kitten personally twice a day so they get used to needing to come to you. sleep with them. My sister slept in the spare bedroom set up as a kitten room with a mattress on the floor so she was level with them and they began to play and run over her as if she wasn’t there (after a while). she set up a TV so she could watch while sitting near them for a few hours each evening and also read books in there. Food is really important though. good food, tempting smelling stuff. Good to kitten senses not nessesarily human ideas of healthy at this stage, in other words smelly.
TaMara (BHF)
So glad I hadn’t put my makeup on yet, because I’d have to do it all over again. That was a beautiful poignant story. Thank you so much for sharing it.
@Kat: I always say if you want a snuggly kitty, you have to snuggle the kitty. I’ve had great success with it. I hold the cat or kitten close to my body, gently but tightly, even if they squirm. I do it for a minute or so, working my way up to five minutes. Use a towel if you have to, to keep from getting scratched. The idea is full body contact against you, making sure their legs and tail are completely supported. I don’t usually pet them during this because it can be too much stimulation.
I usually see a difference after a week of this, but it can take up to a month. The cool part is when I loosen my grip, at first they jump away quickly, but as the week goes on it takes them a little longer to leap out of my arms. And without fail, they then start coming to me for pets.
The only time this didn’t work was with a feral 6 mos old calico. She hated me with a passion – but she loved my then-husband. The more I squished her, the more love she showered on him. Needless to say he got her in the divorce. ;-)
Kristine
@RoonieRoo
Your vet sounds like a soul-healer as well.
Thank you for the lovely story, and much sympathy for all you’ve been through.
ruemara
This is an awesome story and Mishka looks like a love ball. It truly does seem like pets enter your lives when you need them, not the other way around.
Svensker
Awwwww, such sweetness. Thank you.
4jkb4ia
Wonderful story.
At two removes from Sully, I see that Greenwald’s book is directly about abuse of law to protect the powerful. This might have potential and might also reflect that he was listening to Al Giordano’s criticism about having activism be about “The Law” in abstract.
bemused
omg, Mishka looks so much like one of our favorite kitties who died at age 19 three years ago and we miss her so much. Our kitty was just the sweetest girl ever and I hope you get at least 19 years with your Mishka too.
Liz
Aw bless. This is a great story and such an incredible example of how the humblest of creatures give us so much joy.
Dee Loralei
What a wonderful poignant story. Thank you for sharing.
Sarah in Brooklyn
@WereBear: how do you re-introduce cats?
I’ll look for Feliway
asiangrrlMN
Oh my. The story is so bittersweet. I am glad there is a happy ending. Mishka and Milo are gorgeous!