Piggy Addendum

My last post shared the sad news that Piggy was sick and then disappeared, presumably dead.  I found him yesterday.  He had died underneath the neighbor's broken down vehicle next door.  Sad though it was, it was nice to have closure knowing he wasn't somewhere out there suffering.  We were also able to bury him next to his three siblings and non-sibling cat.  He was the last of a legacy of fuzzes. 

Piggy is Gone

Our last cat, Piggy, has disappeared, and most likely died.  He has been sick for some time, but holding his own.  In the last two to three weeks, he appeared to be getting frailer, slower and was eating less and less.  We even went to the point of feeding him baby food, which he rather enjoyed for a bit.  Unfortunately, June 4, 2019, was the last time we saw him. 

He went outside and was relaxing in the sun on top of the picnic table like he always did.  However, he refused to eat anything that morning.  When we returned from work, he was gone and never returned. We surmise he either had some hiding spot he enjoyed or another family he visited and went there and died.  It is a sad time as he was the last of our six cats we had when we moved here four years ago. Four of the six are buried in the back yard. One ran away a few years ago, and Piggy didn't return. 

Piggy was so named for his tail when he was a kitten.  The tip of his tail curled like a pigs tail.  Even as an adult, there were times when it would do the same.  Piggy was known for his "I'm a tough cat" veneer as he would stand tall and proud on my wife's lap and look around as if saying "don't come near.  She's mine and I'm protecting her."  One of his trademark qualities was to "hush" her when she got too loud.  If she laughed loudly or yelled for something, Piggy would bound into the room, climb on her and tap his paws on her mouth to say "be quiet".  Other times he would run away because it was too noisy for him.

Piggy was also know for waking me up at night by walking on my head and meowing.  Usually it was because he decided he needed to go outside or be fed.  And as usual, I would get up and do as commanded, being the fool that I am. 

Piggy will be missed, the last of a legacy of four cats, all siblings.  Sadly, all have died within the last couple years.  All from the same litter, now all gone.  They brought us joy and laughter and memories of them will never be forgotten.  Rest now Piggy-pie. 

Peek, Poke, Pickle and Piggy

I'm sitting in bed perusing my emails and checking out the current news feeds when I hear a low rumble emanate from the foot of my bed. I look behind the foothills made up by my feet under the covers.  Just over the top lay Sassy, our female calico cat.  Her ears are perked up, she is staring in the direction of the bedroom door, growling.  Bewildered, I look toward the door to see what she is upset about.  I don't see anything. She quiets.  I sit back and the low rumble begins again.  I again look toward the door and the foot of my bed.  I see nothing but Sassy is definitely irritated.  Wondering what she is upset about I look toward the edge of the foot of my bed expecting to see another cat lying just out of sight.  But it is not to be.  And then it appears.

As I scan the bottom of the bed listening to the fuzzy semi-truck named Sassy idling in warning mode, I detect movement.  Just inches from her face two tiny points of fuzz begin to rise slowly above the foot of the bed like the sun rising in the morning.  Triangular points of fur begin to form and grow larger.  Then the rounded curve of fuzz between the triangular fur appears.  It continues to rise, almost in slow motion.  Sassy's growls grow in intensity.  Tiny whiskers rise above the bed covers and then two huge, dark eyeballs come into view giving the impression of a double moon rising in the east.  Sassy's growls are reaching a crescendo as the full face of Piggy, her brother, appear just above the bedspread.

Piggy's eyes are so full of mischief they appear as if the pools of darkness might spill out over the edge and stain the side of the bed with dark ink spots. As with any sibling, Piggy ignores the warning sounds of Sassy and peers at her with a taunting challenge.  Sassy is not amused. Piggy is totally amused and ready to poke and prod her into action.  Although Piggy knows that Sassy can shred him if she wanted and that he is putting himself into a very dangerous pickle, he could care less.  He is her brother, he wants to torture and irritate her and he will do just that no matter what.

As his face reaches full moon status, Sassy's growls culminate.  As I watch this, I know what's going to happen.  There's going to be a rumble.  Someone is going to get roughed up and all I'm going to hear is a bunch of fur-flying howls and shrieks.  I'm not in the mood for that.

"Piggy!", I yell. "Stop it!"

Piggy looks at me and jumps down.  His mischievous eyes still filled with prodding and an inherent need to poke fun at his sister.  He walks around the bed to my left side.  He disappears out-of-sight. I glance down and figure it's over. Then I hear the growl again. 

Not again, I think.  

I look over the side of the bed.  As Sassy's growl heightens in intensity, I suddenly see two fuzzy triangles begin to appear over the side of the bed.  Then the crescent fuzz and the pools of living ink show themselves. Sassy growls louder.  Piggy's face appears on the side of the bed full-faced and impish.  Sassy's ready to take his head off as her growls increase. 

Once again, wanting to avoid a fur-flying incident and not desiring to have to listen to the rumble-tumble sounds of two feline siblings fighting, I yell at Piggy to stop it and he drops to the floor and scampers out the door.  Sassy settles back down into a lagunoized pool of serenity.  Her eyes close, the purring ramps up once again and Piggy has gone on to other mischievous adventures.  

Siblings!  Whether human or feline, they always want to create havoc despite the fact that they will get themselves into a pickle. And once again I had to be the referee in order to have peace and quiet. It's going to happen again, I just don't know when.  Hopefully it's not in order to attack me!

Piggy the Laughing Stop

Piggy

Piggy's weird.  He doesn't like loud noises.  For example. Let's say we are talking among ourselves and something humorous is said and everyone burst out laughing.  Piggy will come running into the room and immediately try to quiet us down.  He does this especially with my wife since she is his human.  He will jump on her lap and use his paws to tap her mouth in a gesture of saying "quiet down".  If we have a loud disagreement, he'll do the same thing.  He hates us being loud.  And he doesn't like loud noises in general.  The boom of thunder or some loud noise outside and Piggy is off to hide or run. He'll do anything to stop the loud sounds that annoy him.  Does your cat do that?