I got Moses a about 5 years ago. He was a replacement for a previous cat, to be a friend to a surviving 12 year old cat, Max. Max did not like the friend I got for him.
Moses was first Delilah. Those that gave him to me had rescued him and his siblings from flooding waters. We live in West Texas and when it decides to rain around here it does it all at once. The rescued kittens had to be bottle fed and cleaned by humans. The humans lacked in how to properly ‘clean’ kittens so my kitten was extremely swollen in the nether regions. To the point even the veterinarian though he was a she. Then she was a he.I changed the name to Moses, because he was plucked from the water.
Moze was a tiny scrawny thing- Lots of spunk though. As a kitten he lived in the house with us, till he was old enough to move out. Max, the old one, was a jerk to him when he was a kitten, so Moze found hanging with people (me) and a couple of the dogs was more pleasant.
Max and Moses did finally become friends, though Max never really played with Moze- cause he was old and basically just slept and ate- Till he didn’t.
A friend at church offered me a kitten not long after Max died and I took Leo in for a companion for Moses. . Moses was 9 months when Leo came in. They were the best of chums. Moze taught Leo the ropes. How to taunt the dogs. Where the best pack rats lived. How to open the sliding screen door. Where to hide in the house when they snuck in. After about a year though Leo disappeared- probably a victim of a bird of prey.Just as Moses recently was. Hawks and Owls are jerks.
This left Moses to me. I didn’t replace his last friend for a couple of reasons. 1. My grandson has asthma and cat dander is one of the allergens that bring it on. 2. I didn’t want to loose another cat to a big bird.
Moses became the cat of the place- All mice and rats were his. One time he ran through the back door with something in his mouth. I thought he was bringing a mouse in the house, until he released it and it flew. It was a bat. I chased he and the bat into a bathroom and left them there till Moses had his fun and the bat was no more.
Moses was my cuddle buddy. Prior to our knowledge of the grandsons asthma, he would come in the house and sit on my lap in the morning while I ‘woke up’ in the morning. When the house became off limits, he would meet me in the upstairs detached mancave, where I would do my Bible study and prayers in the morning. Moses would show up by the pool and hang out while we swam then jump in my lap when I got out, wet, and leave hairs stuck all over me. If we had the bedroom window open he would come to the window at 5AM and talk loudly about some nonsense.
His places to hang were the top storage space in the shop. The unoccupied 10 acres next door, and the wicker couch on the porch. Sometimes he would burrow into the oregano bush and vines in the herb garden as if he was a tiger hiding in the jungle.
No one in my family is very interested in cats. Some even dislike them.This made Moses all mine. All the cats I had before were all mine. No one seems to understand the companionship of a cat. Nor do they empathize with one that does. Moses was a friend to me. Searched me out if he heard me call, usually. Brought me gifts of dead things and sometimes live things, for no reason at all. He would sit with me content to be just sitting with me, not asking for anything. I liked Moses. I loved Moses. And I think he liked me, just the way I am.
This is an ode to a companion,friend, pal, amigo,bud, never just a cat to me.
I'm Not So Petty 