This is Zeke's Story. We got him as a kitten from a friend. When she had tried to take him to the vet, the vet had to wear protective gloves. Then we got him and named him Zeke. He calmed down a great deal. (The same vet thought we had switched kittens on him.) Zeke is black with green eyes. He has a brown undercoat so in strong sunlight he looks more like dark chocolate than true black. In fact, our friend had called him Hershey. But he took his true name of Zeke (or bubba, or Elvis or dummie or whatever) when we got him. We also call him Tyson (He is big and black and has a squeaky voice like the fighter and he is chicken; afraid of just about everything.)

As I said, he gentled down when we got him. In fact, when he was still just a kitten, he was on my daughters lap and rolled off. He let himself fall on the floor rather than dig his claws into the kids leg.

He is real sweet now. Just a big, fuzzy "boo boo kittie" as my lady says.

Our little Zeke, (a "special needs" cat) has a thing for rubber bands. He likes to chew on them, and in the process, will eat them. Therein lies the problem.

The last time he got hold of one, he swallowed the thing whole, and it almost made it's way through the digestive process; it got "stuck" going out. Our other two cats were fascinated by the "thingie" hanging from Zeke's butt. Poor Zeke. Having something stuck in you is bad enough, but having your buds chase you all over trying to get a good look is worse. That's when my lady came to the rescue. Seeing what was wrong with Zeke, she got a paper towel and started to pull the offending band out. However, in the first attempt the rubber band slipped from her grasp and snapped poor Zeke in a most vulnerable area. OUCH! Zeke was quite vocal in his dismay, but being the good cat that he is, He let my lady pull the thing from his backside. And we have never left one of those Zeke-traps lying around since.

Copyright © Michael Stivers
August 25, 1998