AUGUST 6, 1999

Tyger's Diary Aug. 6, 1999
Grrrreetings gang! Today's cat story is about a cat I had when I was about 6 or 7 years old. A girlfriend of mine from school who lived a couple of streets over from me had a litter of kittens, well, I mean to say, her CAT had the kittens, of course, not her (!) and she was looking for homes for them. She had this one orange and white striped kitten she called Gingerbread. I liked the kitten and my mother finally gave permission for me to have it. So I brought her home with me and decided to call her Ginger Puff. I had read this story about a cat named Puff who had a vegetable garden at school, and I wanted to name my cat Puff. But I kept the Ginger part in to please my friend. To make a long story short, one day when Puff was fully grown, we came home and discovered her laying in some leaves at the side of our house with a litter of 4 kittens. I'll never forget my grandmother's first words at the sight of mother and kittens. She said, "oh, you bad cat!" Why on earth was she a bad cat for having kittens?! I never thought to ask her and to this day I'll never understand why she said that! Anyway, we brought Puff and the kittens inside the house and kept them there till the kittens were old enough to give away to good homes, which we did, of course finally do. We gave them all to good homes. There was one cute little kitten with black and white stripes and a black nose that I loved as my favorite and wanted to keep. But that was a no-no as far as my mother was concerned. So I had to say goodbye to him, too. Mom kept Puff outdoors after that and one day, she just never came back. I never knew what happened to her. We lived in the country at the time. There were very few cars going through there as it was farm country in the early 1950's. So I have often thought that she may have been killed by a wild animal, not a car. But I will never know. I don't remember too much more about Puff. I was so young. But I do recall having her and her kittens. It was her little black-nosed son who always stands out in my memory of those times. I still recall (with much anguish) the day I almost accidently killed him. I was young and thought the kittens were toys and I played with him like he was a toy. I accidently dropped him. He didn't wake up right away and I thought I had killed him and began to cry. Fortunately, he did wake up and in the end, wasn't seriously hurt. But I learned a very painful, scary lesson that day. It has always stayed with me. I would never have forgiven myself if that sweet kitten had died because of me. The point of this story is this: if you have children and cats (or any pets, for that matter), make sure your children understand well that they are living creatures, not toys. Nobody made that clear to me and I had to learn it the hard way. Well, that's my story for today. Hope you found it interesting. See you next time. Have a grrrrreat weekend everyone! Next Wednesday is my birthday! Best Wishes, Tyger