We’ve lost track how old she is. Twenty-three? Twenty-four, maybe? She’s old. And she’s sweet as sugar. She came along some time after the original “Old Mama Kitty” was found, cold and still, lying on a bale of hay in the neighbor’s shed. She, too, was ancient. She was my Uncle Bob’s kitty. Bob was born with a developmental disability. He lived and worked on the farm his entire life. A kinder and gentler man would be nigh on to impossible to find. His “job” was ring the church bell every Sunday…a position he took very seriously and performed religiously, so to speak.
No one told Uncle Bob that his old kitty had passed away. They didn’t have the heart. But one day, this sweet kitty who looked exactly like the original, came strolling up the yard by the creek. Bob saw her and his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he exclaimed, “There she is! Old Mama Kitty back!” So, this kitty is Old Mama Kitty, too.
I was really worried when I didn’t see her last night and again this morning. That isn’t like her. Usually she is right there when you feed her…waiting for that one brief scratch on her head that she will allow and a couple rubs against your leg. The last few days have been desperately cold here at the farm with highs in the low teens. These are outdoor farm cats, so I know they’re tough. But old kitties are more fragile. I decided I’d better do something better than the outdoor cat boxes I had provided out on the back porch. I went to Rural King after church and bought electric pet mats and a heated water dish. I fixed up their beds when I got home, in hopes that Old Mama Kitty would show up. I no sooner finished when here she came! I was so relieved! I went right out with a dish of the soft canned food she loves so much and she ate like she was starved. Within ten minutes, she had found her now warm little house and had curled up inside. It made my heart warm, too. I have grown very attached to her.
When I returned from Thanksgiving, there was a tiny orange and white kitten here increasing my feline entourage to three. Come to find out, the little kitten belongs to the lady who feeds the cats when I’m gone. It must have hitched a ride in her engine when she was here over the holiday. She would love to have it back, but it’s been too cold to catch it, and now it is attached to Boy Cat so I doubt it would stay away at this point. The neighbor says that’s fine…as long as it’s well cared for. Interestingly, this little kitten’s littermate looks exactly like Old Mama Kitty. That would have been just too much synchronicity had that been the one that showed up.
I have no idea how long I’ll have this old gal here. But I’ll love her to pieces..for my Uncle Bob. It’ll feel like losing him all over again when she is gone. ❤️
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”
Isaiah 11:6 NIV