Cats and Blogs

Mauki the Wonder Cat tells his story...

I was only three weeks old when they took me away from Momma and brought me to that place. It was small and cramped, and the only real company I had was a little Calico. She wasn't any happier about the situation than I was, but we would often curl up together for our naps. That made up a little bit for our rather depressing surroundings.

One day, the nice brown-haired lady came in and there was a man with her. He was so big, I couldn't even see his head from inside the cage. The nice lady opened the door and they took the Calico out. Well, at least someone was getting out of here. I was so depressed, I just sat in the back, feeling sorry for myself. Then I heard the man asking what about that grey one and the next thing I knew, these big hands were lifting me very gently out of the cage.

He smelled different from the lady. Not bad, just different. He was very gentle for such a big guy, and spoke very soothingly. Something about him made me hope he might take me with him. The lady asked him if I was the one he wanted, but he said it was up to me. Well, that was all I needed! I managed to get a good claw-hold on his shirt and climbed all the way up to his shoulder so I could talk right in his ear. He laughed a bit, and the two of them were talking about something I couldn't understand. I really didn't want to go back in that cage, so I managed to climb all the way up on top of his head. They laughed some more, and then those strong, gentle hands lifted me off his head and he held me close to his chest and he said everything would be OK.

We went out to the front desk and I got to explore the counter top while they did something called "paperwork". I found out later that this is something humans do a lot of and it really cuts into play time. While the doctor checked me over, the lady asked him what he would name me. He hesitated for just a moment and then said he wanted to name me Mauki, after a cat he had known in someplace called Germany. Oh well, I guess he couldn't pronounce my real name that Momma gave me.

After we finished the paperwork (I had to help them by walking all over the form), I found myself in a cardboard box about the same size as the cage I had been in. Not only that, but we were moving! I didn't like that very much, and kept trying to tell him so. He seemed to understand and kept telling me it would be OK, but it was still pretty scary.

When we finally stopped, those big hands lifted me out of the box and he held me close to his chest while he walked into another building. There was a great big recliner in the corner of the main room and we sat there for a while. He stroked my head very softly and told me he'd be my Daddy and take good care of me. Something about him reassured me. He really seemed to understand what cats are all about. I rubbed my face against his cheek and gave him a little kiss on the chin. He liked that, so I curled up in his lap for a short nap.

After my nap, we went exploring. Boy, there sure was a lot of neat stuff to explore! This place was huge! I really wore myself out trying to examine everything. Then Daddy put me in the bathroom and closed the door. That didn't seem like a very nice way to treat me, but after a while he came back and had some stuff to show me. There was a bowl that was bigger than I had in my cage at the other place. And a funny-looking ball made of wire with a bell inside. And a big bag of crunchy food like the nice lady had given me every day. Best of all, there was this thing Daddy called "Mousie" and it had something in it that smelled really neat and made me all woozy. Daddy always laughed when he saw me rolling around on the floor with Mousie.

Life settled into a nice routine. Every morning, Daddy would get up and check on me. He let me sleep in his chair, but not in his bed. He kept saying something about not wanting to roll over on me in his sleep. Silly Daddy! Doesn't he know we cats are smart enough to get out of the way? Where do these humans get their ideas? Fortunately, he'd let me curl up on his lap while he watched the morning news and ate his breakfast. Then he'd get ready to go to work and would always pick me up and cuddle me a bit before he left. That helped ease the anxiety.

Some mornings, Daddy didn't get up as usual and I'd have to go in and wake him up. It usually didn't take much more than getting up on the headboard of his bed and playing with his hair. He'd laugh and ask me what I was doing, then he'd pick me up and set me down by his chest so I could curl up there and take a nap with him. Those were my favorite mornings.

Daddy's roommate worked nights and slept most of the morning, so I didn't really have much to do except explore the place and play with stuff I found. And take naps. When the sun was low in the sky, Daddy would come home. It took a while to train him, but I finally managed to teach him that the very first thing he was supposed to do when he came home was to sit in his chair and let me crawl up on his lap and purr at him. I'm not sure if he realized that that did him as much good as it did me.

Humans aren't all that easy to train, you know. It takes diligence and patience. Fortunately, Daddy seemed either smarter than the average human, or just experienced with cats. I managed to teach him most of my language and after a while, I could get him to give me fresh water or clean out my box or play with me or just pick me up and cuddle me -- all without too much difficulty. Sometimes, he had a hard time understanding whether I wanted to play or cuddle, but he always managed to figure it out. I discovered that Daddy speaks another language, too. Probably whatever he spoke in that place called Germany where he knew that other cat named Mauki. It wasn't hard for me to understand, me being a cat and all.

Sometimes, Daddy would come home later than usual and I would have to scold him. He'd be a little extra nice to me and give me one of those treats out of that little can. He never forgot the rest of the routine, though. Unless I was asleep back on his bed or in his chair, I would come out and sit in the middle of the big room and wait until he put all his stuff down. Then he'd take a soda out of the refrigerator and put it on the table next to the TV remote. Then he'd let me get up in his lap and we'd talk about our day. Some days, he'd seem really stressed out and I'd just curl up on his lap and purr until I fell asleep. When the evening news was over, we'd get down on the floor and play.

One day, another man came by and he and Daddy talked for a long time about cats and dogs. The other man had a dog. I know, because I could smell it on him. He seemed to think that dogs were smarter than cats, but Daddy asked him when was the last time he had seen eight cats pulling a sled through the snow. Daddy and the man laughed, but we all knew Daddy was right.

Life was really adventurous with Daddy. Once in a while, he'd take me around the corner to the post office and put me on the package scale to see how much I weighed. Then he'd tell me I hadn't grown a nickel's worth and he'd carry me back home, holding me close to his chest so I wouldn't be afraid of all the traffic. Once, he took me across the street to the church, where they were having a picnic. There were too many people there, though, and I really did get rather scared. Daddy kept telling the kids not to crowd me, but they didn't listen very well. Later, Daddy said he wished that kids were as well-behaved as I was.

One day, something terrible happened. I knew things hadn't been going well for Daddy, and he seemed really stressed out. His roommate had gotten married and moved out, so it was just the two of us. Another friend of his came by and they talked about what Daddy was going to do. Daddy said something about a placed called "Denver" and I had a really bad feeling about it. It wasn't long after that that Daddy took me to the doctor and got some medicine for me. He and his friend took everything out of the apartment and put it all in a big truck. The next morning, Daddy gave me the medicine and I got all sleepy. When I woke up, we were in another place. I guess it must have been that "Denver" place. I didn't like it much, because it was smaller than home.

We didn't stay there long. Daddy told me one day that things hadn't worked out and that we were going home. But he said he didn't know what was going to happen to us or what he'd do with me. Once again, everything got loaded on a truck and I had to take some more medicine. When we got back home, it was a different place. Daddy took me to stay with some friends of his who spoke both of his languages. They were nice people and I liked them, but they already had another cat and we didn't get along all that well.

One day, their grandson came by and he seemed as nice as Daddy. He let me play with him and curl up on his lap. When Daddy came by to visit, there was talk of a new home. It was all very confusing, but I wound up going to someplace called "Tucson" with this nice man. It was a long trip, but he let me curl up on his lap for most of it and I didn't mind the travel.

The new place was OK, but I really missed Daddy. This new guy was nice to me, too, and gave me a good home. We had a lot of fun together, but he didn't like to let me go outside. Daddy had told him I was the smartest cat in the world and wouldn't be any trouble. When I did go outside, sometimes I'd be gone for a long time and when I got back, my new human wasn't very pleased. One day, he said that if I ever did that again, he was going to take me to the doctor and have me "fixed" -- which sounded pretty scary. So I left.

It's been a long time now and I really miss Daddy and all the fun we had. He used to tell me that there's a place called "heaven" where all cats go and that if he was good, maybe he'd get to go there, too. I hope he's being good so we can go to this heaven place together. Meanwhile, I hope he can find another cat to take care of him.

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