I am fond of cats nowadays. That was not always the case. I remember back in my childhood when I thought my dad was perfect and knew everything about anything. He hated cats! So I did, too. I would express my dislike at every opportunity. Then we moved to Summers Road in Union County. We had mice galore. They were everywhere and didn’t care if we saw them or not. All food had to be stored covered and sealed.

I suffered with mouse traps until Anne moved to Tennessee. She had always loved cats in the past, but I hadn’t allowed any on the premises. Her suggestion for the mouse problem? “Get a cat.” I was desperate and had to agree.

We both worked at the Hampton Inn in security. Anne had made friends with the strays that frequented the hotel area. She fed them. Cats followed her on her rounds, a parade of kittens and cats. There were so many that the management called the Humane Society to trap and exterminate them. Anne rescued one and brought him home. She had named him “Fitten.” He adapted well here. Why not? We were overrun with mice. The hunting was excellent.

Then one day Fitten brought home a wife and two kittens. His, of course. We named the kittens Fluffer and Gismo. They were characters. Especially Fluffer. He would sit on top of a raccoon den out in the ravine and torment them. Fluffer survived that somehow. He was fearless. He would hide in the bushes and jump out at Elizabeth’s Yorkie.
Scared the daylights out of Elvis. Fluffer and Gismo were indoor - outdoor cats. When they wanted to come in, they would jump up and ring the doorbell. We don’t know what happened to them - just gone. Maybe the raccoons got their revenge.

Next, a mother cat showed up with her kittens. She was almost starved when Anne found her in the ravine. Anne nursed her back to health. When the kittens were old enough, she took them to Knoxville to be neutered and spayed. By that time, Mother Cat was pregnant again. She was promptly spayed. Yes, we suddenly had a lot of cats.

That’s the background on our cat situation. We have gone from nine down to a few over the years. We currently have two. Ours are outside cats. They are not as long lived at indoor ones. Anne feeds them dry cat food on the porch and keeps up with their flea removal.

There were four in our last batch of cats. A neighbor, Kat, brought them home from her brother’s barn up in Claiborne County. They were already named: London, Paris, Tommy and Little Bit. Little Bit would eat anything, even noodles. She perished under the wheels of Anne’s car when Anne was backing into the driveway one day. Paris, a beautiful Persian, met her end on Hickory Star Road. Anne found her body when she was leaving the hollow one morning. London, a black and white, and Tommy, a tabby, are our only survivors. I asked Anne yesterday what she planned to do when we run out of cats. She said she will look for more kittens, but with a mother cat this time. It’s not fair for kittens to learn survival skills on their own out here in the woods. Mother Cat needs to be here to protect them.