Aug
Cat Cycles
For many years, the dominant feral cat family around here were the Pandas. We first saw Mama Panda when we moved here in `99. She was a large, round-faced cat with Panda-like markings. Mama Panda was feral to the point of keeping her distance from humans. She never got closer than 20 feet. We often saw her progeny, all with the trademark wide face. One of her last kittens is our house cat, Velvet. Velvet’s kitten, Peake, also has the Panda face. Since Velvet was spayed after her first batch of kittens – she used to be feral – we do not see much evidence of new Pandas. (After she was spayed, Velvet followed Audrey into the house one day and stayed.)
The last two years we have had a different family of cats descended from a skinny, long-haired brown cat called Mamakat. Last year she had three kittens. One kept residence in our yard. Cricket – so named for her penchant for reducing the local cricket population – is a thin calico with a tiny head. She is somewhat amiable toward Audrey. Me? Occasionally. This year Cricket had her first and last litter: four kittens. Dexter was an orange and white cat with brown eyes reminiscent of the TV character. Chessie is a scrawny calico. Isa is mostly white with ice-blue eyes, and Gjedtost is a fluffy fellow the color of Norsk goat cheese. We are going to have Cricket spayed. Up until this summer, we could never get close enough to catch her.
Dexter took ill a couple days ago, but he seemed to have shaken it off. Today we found him under a tree, dead. Whatever made him sick was too much for the four-month-old kitten. That is life for feral cats. These are not pets, even though we name them and get to know them a little.
Life happens. Death happens. We need to remember that there is a cycle between the Birch and the Yew, the Bjork and Yew Runes. The timing of both is a matter of Wyrd. Sentiment has no part in it. It happens to cute little kittens and it happens to mean old men. The cycle continues for each of us. That little kitten who died today was not a tragedy but part of the ever-moving tide of Life.
