"It was a dark and stormy night" when this poor little, hungry, wet calico came to call. She climbed the screen door and fortunately I was passing by and heard her.

I invited her in and toweled her off, and she quickly settled in. We had a puppy then, an overgrown, awkward Border Collie who loved the whole world. He heard something interesting going on in the living room and came barreling out to see what it was. It took about 3 seconds for this miniature cat to teach him his manners -- a good WAP on the nose and he caved!

We named the tiny thing "Little Stuff," - "Stuffi" for short. She was the first in a long line of lovely cats. Not that she didn't have her faults! She was not a good mother, to say the least -- but that is another story all together!

She ate and played and grew, and we moved to a larger house in the same city. The houses were fairly close and we had no problem with her. But then, three years later, came the second move, to a house quite some distance away. On the final trip to the new house, I put Stuffi in the cat carrier, secure in the knowledge that she had never given me trouble before and hence would not again! (You can see that I didn't know much about cats!)

About halfway to the new house, she let out a wail and threw herself down on her side, unconscious. I was terrified for the cat, of course, but I also worried about how to tell my 8-year old son that I had killed his cat! As soon as I pulled over she sat up and began to groom, looking at me with a very self-satisfied expression.

I took her to a new Vet and was told that cats will do this out of fear and -- yes! -- anger. (We didn't know much about tranquilizers back then!)

She grew to maturity and had many interesting adventures (more later!) along the way, but we never tried to take her travelling again!

Copyright © Renee Darvin
October 5, 2000