IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO
Composite photo of "Ouija"
This article was originally written for the Bubblews website on May 7, 2013, which no longer exists
The very first article I wrote here at Bubblews was about the grief I felt with the passing of my black cat Pyewacket three years ago. I've had cats since I was five years old, and have loved them all, but some pets stick in our hearts more and have a more special meaning to our lives. In the case of Pyewacket, he seemed to have come into my life when it was the most turbulent, it was almost as if his arrival in my life at that particular time was to act as a helper during those years.
Deep inside I knew I wanted to adopt another cat, specifically a black cat, as throughout my life, on and off, I've had black cats. I never had any superstitions about black cats, especially about them being bad luck, if anything I considered them good luck and had a unique quality all their own. Still, as much as I longed to get another black cat, I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I still had my Kissy, a grey tabby and she became "queen" of the domain for nearly three years.
Then beginning last year I was starting to have what could only be described as "panicky" thoughts. Those rather dumb thoughts that circulate in one's mind over and over again. You see I was realizing that Kissy was getting on in years, she's 13 years old. And yes, I'm hoping and praying she has many, many more years of life with me, but that panicky thought came that, OMG, what if I wake up one day and found she was gone from my life. When Pyewacket died I feel into a deep depression and was almost non-functional, so the idea that Kissy might pass on would be too much for me to bear.
Then around October of last year, there was an on-line auction with the Grayson County Humane Society in Leitchfield, KY over at Facebook. There were a variety of items one could bid on, but there was also the opportunity to be a cosponsor for one of the cats at their shelter. I came across one such cat, named "Dot"…he was primarily black but with a white "dot" on his chest, so I chose him to cosponsor along with two other people. Time moved on and I thought to myself, well why not take it to the next level? Why not, instead of just being a cosponsor, why not adopt him?
It took about a month in the making. I filled out the on-line application and crossed my fingers that my application for adoption went through and was accepted. It was. Now came the tricky part. I couldn't have him right away, as transportation had to be arranged as the Grayson County Humane Society, and thus "Dot" was in KY…I'm here in the NYC area. But yes, transportation was arranged for not only Dot but for several other pets who were being transported to their new forever homes as far as Maine!
On December 1, 2012, Dot officially came to my home. Kissy who is timid and will hide when strangers are about and she did indeed hide when the transporter came to my place…Kissy had no idea what she was in for. Lindsey the transporter let Dot out of the carrier and he came trotting right over to me as if we were old buddies and had been in my life all along. I was hoping that Lindsey could have stayed a bit longer, but she had to start the trek back to KY. So now it was just me and Dot, and of course, Kissy. Dot began investigating all over the place as if to check it out, in fact he explored the bedroom and hopped on my bed…LOL..this cat was taking over the joint!
I soon discovered that Dot didn't just have a white dot on his chest, but also some white on his "armpits" area and white on the lower part of his stomach. I also realized I really didn't care for his shelter name, I wanted something different. I was thinking of renaming him Shadow, but already had had a Shadow in years past, then thought of Salem, nope, then Binx, as in the name of the boy in the movie Hocus Pocus that had been turned into a black cat; nope, didn't care for that either. I was even tempted to maybe call him Pyewacket II…that idea quickly dissolved. About two nights after Dot had come into my life, it hit me. I was drifting off to sleep and the word Ouija struck me…this, Dot became Ouija.
Ouija isn't exactly a "kitten", I'm figuring he's about a year old already, but he sure as heck has kitten energy and definitely keeps me on my toes; he follows me around like a puppy dog, is very, very affectionate and loves to keep me company while I'm sleeping.
How does my Kissy take to Ouija? Uh, not too well. Even though some months have passed, she continues to hiss and growl at him, and maybe even swat him on the head when he comes near her. I often feel sorry for Ouija since I sense since he sees another kitty in the house he simply wants to play with her. I can at least be thankful that there hasn't been WWIII here, and sometimes I even catch them side by side eating from the same plate of food, even though I have two separate plates for them. I've come to the realization that the two of them aren't going to be cuddle bugs.
The photo I include here is Ouija the very first day he came to me on December 1st.
UPDATE: Sadly on Septmeber 1, 2015, my other cat Kissy did indeed pass on. She was 15 years old. I used to name her "picklepuss" due to the way she never took to Ouija. I sure miss that "picklepuss" though. Composite Photo of Kissy
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