This story is about Mishka, a seal-point Siamese cat with a white turtle neck bib (called a dickey?) and a white star on his belly.

He was originally my cat. He was the last kitten (runt of the litter really homely looking) that his mother had --Quika (cat in Ukrainian), she passed away and while I was at my first year of college. Mishka (Misha -- mouse, Quika -- cat) was abandoned at 3 weeks of age and I was homesick at college so I took him back with me. He lived in a 5 X 10 dorm room with me for the first year of his life. He was the hit of the dorm. Everybody loved him and he was a sweetie.

We went home that summer and it took a while for everybody to get used to him because he was a rambunctious playful kitten. My brother didn't really like him because too much because Mishka had taken Jason's wild salamander and played with it until it dried up!. Boy was Jason angry. Mishka was not a hit with him.

I went away to work at a summer camp 4 hours away. He became attached to my Mother but when I finished work and returned home, he came back to me so to speak. We lived at home that year and I went away to work again in the summer only I didn't come home all summer. When I came back he totally ignored me. He was no longer my cat. My Mother loved him and he followed her around. I guess I left him one too many times. But that was okay. I returned to school and was unable to have a cat, and I knew he was still in our family.

SO as the years went on (at least 7) he was so devoted to my Mother, he completely ignored me!

My parents moved around a lot in those years (financial troubles) and they eventually settled in the lower mainland of British Columbia. I in the mean time was still in school and got another cat (Euphy and then 2 years later Cleo) so I was happy that I had a cats that loved me!

My parents had moved 6 times in 6 years and each time Mishka moved he took longer and longer to get settled. He began spraying (never did that before) and peeing on couches and on blankets. We tried everything to get him to stop. He was put in the basement, he was on medication, he was not allowed in certain areas of the house, he was tranquilized, but nothing worked. He was never put outside because he had always been an inside cat. My Mother would clean up after him, but the house was starting to permeate with the horrid smell and my Father was getting really upset. And they were having problems because my Mom loved Mishka so and Dad was really upset that the house was getting ruined (not just furniture, but the smell was in the house and it was not going away -- as well, my Father was raised on the farms and he distinctly remembers the cat urine smell that was around his home growing up -- kinda a mental thing I guess).

As a last resort my Mother was going to have him to be an outside cat in a last attempt to keep him. But I knew that he would not survive. I told her that I would take him and maybe I could get him better. He lived with me for about 3 months before he started to really get really sick. Then he attacked me twice and he had to be put down so he wouldn't suffer more. It was really sad. He was put into a new household of cats and he didn't fit in and had nowhere to go. So he couldn't get better. I still get really upset thinking about him because I feel so sorry that he was so lost. Things happen though. And he is in a much better place right now. That was almost 2 years ago

The reincarnation part comes in now.

A few months ago I started fostering cats for a local non-kill adoption agency. At one point I had my two cats and two foster kitties in my house. The foster cats were living in my bathroom and the other two were ignoring me for disturbing their habits. A friend of my landlord's came by and told me that I was really good with cats and how she knew I loved them a lot. She asked me if I wanted one more cat to take care of. It seemed that her daughter had returned from college with a friend who was moving to China and could not keep her Siamese cat. Would I be interested in taking her? I am never one to turn away animals in need, but I really wondered what I was doing.

Before I could think I said yes! When I got her I almost, and I mean, almost dropped in a dead faint! China (her name) was the EXACT SPITTING IMAGE of Mishka. Not just a faint resemblance, but exactly the same facial makeup, build, colour. The only differences were that China did not have 4 white feet. She did have the same dickey markings on her neck, and star on her belly! I am not fooling. She is 2 years old, she has the same voice and meows the same way (Mishka was a little bit feminine in his voice, we all say that he should have been a girl with his meow).

I took her home and she took a few days to settle down. She had 2 different owners in 2 years (now three). But when she began to relax certain qualities became apparent and these same qualities are what Mishka had.

Now these things could be just normal in certain cats, but its a little too close for comfort for me and my other two cats don't do these things!

She was acting just like Mishka in so many ways:

1. She takes each piece of food out of her dish and eats it on the floor one piece at a time.
   
2. When her litter box is too dirty (she likes a fresh litterbox I have since learned), her tail twitches and she chases it. and bites it.
   
3. She has an itchy skin condition that makes her back twitch at times and then she races around the house trying to relieve the itch. Same thing as Mishka.
   
4. When she lays down on her belly she puts her back legs straight out (I call it dislocated hip syndrome!).
   
5. She loves my Mother!
   
6. And the thing that really got me thinking that this is the reincarnation or spirit of Mishka is during the first week she was with me: I was doing some work in another part of my living room and I heard a low growl. I thought it was the two cats just testing each other's territory so I ignored it. Well, this went on for about 2 minutes. No fighting, just a low growl. I went to the kitchen and passed over China and her face was about 1" from the floor and she was growling at something. I looked and it and could not believe what I was seeing. It was a Salamander! She was growling at a salamander.

I have NEVER, EVER seen a salamander here where I live and I have never seen one again. Where did it come from? How did it get inside the house? Why did she find it? Again, why did she find it? How could two unique things happen to two different cats at different times, different locations? I don't feel its just chance. Things like that happen for a reason!

Now I am going to get philosophical here.

It was almost like she was acting out the major events in Mishka's life. And I feel it was a second chance for me, and his way of saying he forgives me for having to put him to sleep and that everything is okay.

Now some may say that its purely by chance that all this has happened. But I believe it is a second chance for me. My Mother says its her second chance, but I believe it is my second chance at taking care of him/her.

She is a wonderful cat and she does have her own personality. She loves to pick things up and drop them just to see them fall. She once took the disk out of the disk drive in my computer. She follows me around everywhere. Even to the bathroom! She is a real sweetheart and I am so lucky that she found me!

Thats my story! She has been coming up every so often to stand in front of the computer screen. I guess its time to go to bed now!

I hope I didn't bore you with this story! I love my cats! Each has their own personalities and character traits. I have so many stories about these guys. I took Euphy camping once when I was in college and I'll have to tell you about Cleo's habits.

So thats my story of reincarnation! I do believe in it. She's proof! If I ever get a scanner, I will scan a picture of her and a picture of him. You would swear that they are the same cat.

Animals are amazing creatures!

Copyright © Tanya Ilnicki
February 18, 1999