Our new cat is out of the bag and AWOL

Editor's note: We just discovered our Cindy-Lou Who just knocked of a mouse in my basement. Cindy maybe terrified of us —even though we are kind and gentle — but she has no problem taking a rat out for a walk. He is a mouser with no remorse and our Luco Brazzi. Don Corleone would be proud of his solider.

"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this."

                                                                                                                                     — Terry Pratchett

AUBURN, Maine — No cat will ever replace Tabby — a one-of-a-kind fur ball that was fearless, sometimes ruthless but always demonstrated its kindness — except to other cats.

I miss his antics and odd sense of humor. His untimely death still smarts. Tabby owned my wife’s heart and it eventually stole mine. But Terri also knew that another feline would be the only way to fill that void of emptiness in house that was suddenly quiet.

So we went shopping for a new cat at the local animal shelter. Our second pick went to a five-year-old cat who appeared to enjoy our company.

So we thought!

We headed for home with a cat that was terrified and meowed in sadness.

As soon as we opened the door to the cat carrier in the house, it bolted toward my son’s bedroom where it stationed itself against the wall under his bed. We peered at it and tried to coax the little bugger out from its hideout.

The cat was stubborn and gave a look like: "Back off, you knuckleheads."

Cindy-Lou Who, its new name, wouldn’t budge. Not even enticing, yummy treats could extricate the terrified cat from self-imprisonment under my son's bed.

But cats know how to pull a disappearing act and will use any orifice in an old home to hide from the ones who love them most.

Over the next few days, it found the open door to the dreaded downstairs and disappeared into the damp, cellar darkness like a fugitive hiding in plain sight from the long arm of the law.

We thought we would never see Cindy-Lou Who again.

For the next week or two or three, Terri would stalk Cindy-Lou like a bounty hunter. All she wanted was to do was give the cat a loving hug and lure it from the dark side.

This cat went AWOL and had the stealth of a B-1 bomber. It didn’t want to be found. If you believe in reincarnation, then this cat was like the great magician Houdini.

But our cat discovered the closets around the top floor of the house to conceal itself. It even once started griping about the lack of treats in its bowl in the middle of the night.

It is getting braver and perhaps it is “working its way back to us, babe,” just like the song by The Four Seasons — except without Frank Valli and his trademark pompadour cut.

It has been three weeks since its disappearing act, but you can hear the scoundrel sneaking around the night like a bobcat. 

One evening, the “In Search Of” team, and that would be us, went downstairs to pay our new cat a visit. 

“I just don’t where he is,” a frustrated Terri said. 

I looked down and then up and there was our deserter sitting on a beam and laughing his ass off at his masters.

“Terri, please look up,” I said to my befuddle wife.

“Why,” she said. “Oh my god, she is above our heads.”

We pleaded with our runaway to have heart and join the family. The cat just meowed away and began looking for an escape route.

It has been nearly a month, but Cindy-Lou Who refuses to watch TV with us or cuddle up on the coach.

But we are still working on her and time is on our side to win over the elusive Cindy-Lou, who is somewhere hiding in Whoville.

Tabby was the cat's meow

"Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it." 

— Rod McKuen

AUBURN — I will miss Tabby’s wake-up calls when he bounded into our bed and demanded to be fed every sunrise.

He was a stickler when it came to his breakfast. After eating, he hopped in the bathtub to drink from the tap. Sipping from a a bowl of water was too bourgeois for this upper-class cat.

Whenever I see a bottle cap, I will think of our rambunctious cat that treated plastics tops like pucks. It batted them all over the living room like an NHL player at the Boston Garden. 

I am still finding the caps under furniture.

We stubbornly let 15-year-old Tabby go after a tumor was choking off his breathing. My wife made the agonizing decision to have Tabby put down. I was not in the room. I was home fighting off a severe cold. 

We believed it would be a routine visit to the vets for Tabby and the sawbones would prescribe an antibiotic and our cat would return home to occupy the couch or recliner.

Terri spent those last mournful moments saying goodbye to animal she adored. I always say Terri is more courageous than I could every be. 

We shared our tears because this cantankerous cat shared 15 years of his full life with this grateful family of three. 

I enjoyed gently squeezing Tabbys’ head or being on the receiving end of one his loving head butts. I tried to startle him more than once while he was sleeping with one of his toys, but he would look up and give me that look: “Beat it dumb ass! I am sleeping!”

Terri enjoyed rousting him and he could get real ornery with my wife, who loved his playful nature.

He had charm, stealth and could be a real wise ass. He brought dead animals to our doorstep, proving he was one sleek predator and assassin who decreased the rodent population to earn his keep.

He constantly begged for treats and used his good looks and wide eyes to get his way with us. We almost always gave into Tabby.

Who could say no!

Growing up, Tabby was a climber who scaled our trees and mysteriously found his way to our roof top more than once to look down upon us mere mortals. He also found his own way down — another puzzle that will remain unresolved for all eternity.

Pets are a timeline in our lives. Tabby was the subject of countless pictures and loved being around our son who loved that furball. Anthony grew up with Tabby and the two developed mutual respect for each other.

He was family and he let you know it. Tabby took us on his terms. Cats are autonomous and famous for calling the shots in any household. I was never a cat person, but Tabby won me over because he was so damn cute and had the smarts of a clever mountain lion.

When pets die, the house suddenly feels empty. We still look for him on the porch or on top of a bed. I want to hear him purr one last time as he buries himself under the warm covers of our bed and disrupts our sleep cycle.

We fight back the tears when we think of him.

In time, we will find another cat, but Tabby was one of kind in our eyes — and he really can’t be replaced.

Pets, like humans, leave us, but memories of these four-legged wonders remain cherished forever and give us incentive to go on enjoy the little things in life.

For the last week or so, Tabby fought for each breath to remain with us, but another spring with him won’t happen. Like Terri, Tabby had courage and love that makes them both oh so special to me.

A union of devotion

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin 

AUBURN, Maine — What is so perfect about our marriage is perfection does not exist.

After 23 years of being together, we want no part of being labeled the perfect couple. It is a reputation nearly impossible to live up to in any lifetime.

Today is March 24th — our anniversary and a another milestone for us.

Talk about a relationship that has seen its peaks and valleys. Our partnership has been a roller coaster of raw emotion tempered by a great deal of love and respect for each other.

We are fast approaching the quarter century mark of a union that somehow continues to endure. We don't take our commitment for granted because we both understand our marriage demands a lot of blood, sweat and tears to prevent it from dissolving like remnants of a March snowstorm slowly disappearing in the spring sun.

We've been through adversity in our lifetimes, but we are damn lucky to weather these sad moments together and not have to survive those cold nights without any sort of companionship

Throw in a wonderful son, and well, we are living the life even though we walk on the edge of a tight budget. But that could said of most married couples who are raising children as mom and dad struggle with their finances.

That's what good parents do when it comes to raising  a child — the most important job on this planet.

This has been a warm relationship sprinkled with moments of loud disagreements. I would be lying if I said every confrontation ends with a peck on the cheek. And there are days when I am Darth Vader and she is Obi-Won Kenobi, and out come the light sabers at the dinner table.

But as a couple, we find common ground and amicably settle our disagreements with no hard feelings. Both parties are left standing and leave the battlefield with their honor intact.

Marriage isn't easy. Someone once said marriage is where two people come together to unload their baggage. I think that is true and necessary to keep a union from unraveling from outside forces that often test a strong partnership.

Look, whenever I walk through the door and holler, "Honey, I am home," don't look for Terri to run to door and greet me with a loving embrace. She is no Scarlet O'Hara and I am no Rhett Butler.

And frankly I don't give a damn if we don't act like the two main characters in "Gone with the Wind."

At the end my day, I often hear: "Hey, you got some dishes to do. We need to do wash. Anthony has a doctor's appointment Someone has got to wash the floor. I need money to pay this bill."

The cat sometimes get more attention than me, and Tabby doesn't even cook or do dishes.

But I am relieved that Terri hasn't decided to trade me in for a younger model with washboard abs and dark, brown hair.

I don't know what the universe has in store for us the next 23 years. But I still see stars when I see my wife at the end of the day.

Cat-atonic

AUBURN, Maine — Goldfish are mesmerizing to watch, dogs are a handful and require constant affection, but cats — those sneaky and moody critters —have one thing going for them — autonomy.

These independent feline hairballs come and go as they please, and they don't like being told what do. They run on their own clock, and all cat owners better get used to their mood swings.

 

There is no way to control these fiercely independent animals. Get that idea out of your head. They like you, but do they really need you?

They play favorites with family members, too, which can lead to stress and divisiveness in the household.


If you are lucky, they will curl up with you when they want to give you the time of day. And yet, there is something to a cat's soothing purr, like a comforting whir of a fan in the dead of the night.

Just give them a place to eat and sleep and these bipolar, four-legged creatures will be back on your doorstep after a long day of carousing and killing mice or birds. They are good at thinning the herd around the backyard and don't mind letting their owners know it. 


Cats love to present their dead or live prey to their horrified owners to prove that they too are proud members of the Eco system.

And for some strange reason, water is their main enemy. Get a cat wet and you have one angry cat on your hands. Look out! They will scowl at you as they dry themselves off in some lonely corner of the house. A soaked cat means you will be ignored for hours, which can be a good thing.

I was never a cat person, although I found Cat Woman a sight to behold.

But cats, well, I didn't mind not having one around, and as for goldfish, these little fellows are fun and relaxing to watch, and they demand little of you because you matter little to them - except when you open the lid to the tank to feed them. 


Then they come around in schools when it is time for feeding. Having a dog is like raising child, and while a dog's love, companionship and devotion are unquestionable, their constant thirst for attention rivals that of a newborn.

Look, I am a friend to all animals, but I never thought about owning a feline - until I got married, and then I had to bend a little, aah, actually a lot. You do a lot of bending in a loving relationship. Finding common ground and compromise are imperative to any lasting union. Saying yes to your spouse means a quick end to any hostilities.

And remember, there is no last word in diplomacy when it comes to your spouse's request to purchase a moody feline.

We have had two cats over the last 20 years. One was uptight and the other is as cool as cucumber, especially when Tabby closes in for the kill. He is a stealthy assassin who has brought down large blue jays and once marched into our living room with a live chipmunk. 


It escaped our cat's clutches and sent the family scurrying around the house to chase the varmint out of our home.

Tabby, like all cats, can be playful and suddenly become downright evasive, but when Tabby likes to play, he can be amusing. But there is a soft side to Tabby. He knows he owns our hearts and is quite affectionate in his own mysterious way, but just don't ever, ever get him wet because he won't forget.

He holds grudges.

Tabby enjoys my wife's constant attention and seeks me out when nobody in the house is around to cater to him. The cat and I are both fine with that odd relationship.

It has taken me years to understand how these fearless felines operate, but our Tabby proves that cats are extraordinary creatures, which do give a damn and need human interaction - when cats feel like it, of course.