The story of how Kitty Pop came to live with us is a favorite of mine. I tell it at every opportunity, and want to tell it here. Kitty Pop has been on the blog before; the 1/1/2015 post introduced her, and she's appeared occasionally since. This is her complete story, as I know it.
LIFE 1 (BIRTH TO COCONINO HUMANE ASSOCIATION)
This isn't her, but I'll bet she was this tiny.
LIFE 2 (JERRY)
Kitty Pop was adopted from the Coconino Humane Association on 1/1/2007 by Jerry, the college roommate of our neighbor Deb's nephew John. This isn't her either, but I'll bet she was this cute!
We can imagine all the experiences Kitty Pop had while living with young male college roommates. The upshot was that she was well socialized to people and dogs. Whatever the specific reasons, when John and Jerry parted ways, John told Jerry he didn't deserve Kitty Pop, and took her with him.
LIFE 3 (JOHN)
Kitty Pop lived with John until his living situation changed and he couldn't keep her. At that point, he appealed to his cousin Lindsay, neighbor Deb's daughter. Lindsay is a lover of both dogs and cats, and agreed to welcome Kitty Pop.
LIFE 4 (LINDSAY)
Kitty Pop lived with Lindsay until her living situation changed and she couldn't keep her. At that point, she appealed to her parents, our neighbors Deb and Peter. Peter and Deb love both dogs and cats, but Peter is violently allergic to cats. They agreed to welcome Kitty Pop, but she would have to be an outdoor-only cat.
LIFE 5 (DEB AND PETER)
Kitty Pop was provided with outdoor sleeping quarters in warmer months, and a heated bed in the garage in colder months. Every day Deb would sit out on their porch with a blanket on her lap to contain the cat hair, and she and Kitty Pop would have "sessions": plenty of petting and purring. Kitty Pop took full advantage of the forest directly behind the house to indulge in any kitty instincts.
Kitty Pop lived with Deb and Peter over one winter. The second winter, Kitty Pop wasn't quite so sanguine about her outdoor-only status. Ron and I had a 20 year old cat, Cinnamon. Clearly her time was winding up, and it had occurred to me that Kitty Pop could come live with us when that was resolved. As related in my earlier post, we lost Cinnamon while we were on vacation in Hawaii in December 2014. We came back to a catless house on December 23. On December 24, Peter or Deb approached me about the possibility of taking Kitty Pop to live with us. We had a mind meld, because I was on my way over to talk to them when they approached me! I told them I'd have to work on Ron a bit, as we had not yet talked about another cat. I brought it up in a mild way, and got a grumpy response, to the effect of "We don't need another cat!" Yeah, right, whatever, sure, uh huh. That evening I brought it up again. A snowstorm was coming in, and I said Kitty Pop didn't need to spend another storm in the garage, even with a heated bed. Still holding on to his negative stance, Ron apparently didn't realize the decision had already been made and I was just going through the motions of having him be part of the decision. I suggested we go over together and ask Kitty Pop if she wanted to come live with us. Grunt, no. So I said I'd go over and ask her myself.
Now for my favorite part: Ron and I had no particular relationship with Kitty Pop. She was a home and forest body, and didn't wander in the neighborhood at all. We'd fed her a few times when Deb and Peter were gone, done some minimal petting, and that was it. When I started walking up this driveway to ask her if she wanted to live with us, I'm not lyin', Kitty Pop ran halfway down this driveway to meet me!
I went to the door, knocked, and when Deb answered said, "Kitty Pop said she wants to come live with us." She said, "Okay, let us say our goodbyes and we'll bring her over!" I went home and told Ron Kitty Pop had accepted the invitation.
LIVES 6-9 (LUCKY US!)
Kitty Pop came to live with us the evening of December 24, 2014. She immediately understood her new situation and was never confused about where she lived (or ate). Now nearly 13 years old, she enjoys an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, staying primarily in our yard. She will still occasionally visit Deb for a "session". She's relaxed with the dogs, and enjoys sassing Gypsy with the occasional teasing swat. She sleeps where she likes, with numerous indoor and outdoor spots. In previous summers she spent the nights outside. This summer she's coming indoors to sleep. She loves a lap, but catlike, only on her terms. A certain amount of petting is allowed, then she wants to be left alone to sleep, gaining weight and emitting BTU's as she does so.
Here are some candid shots of her living life.
Climbing down from a perch atop the gate.
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| Stealing Gypsy's pillow in the bedroom. |
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| Surveying her queendom from the deck railing. |
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| Having a wash. |
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| Being a cat! |
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| Made famous in this spooky painting by Ron. |
Kitty Pop is an orange tabby. Some fun factoids about orange tabbies:
Our vet told us that anecdotally, female orange tabbies are very friendly and easy going. Male orange tabbies not so much. Kitty Pop is certainly both.
80%, of orange tabbies are males; only 20% female. (Various sources.) According to www.catster.com, this is because the color is genetically linked to the X chromosome. Females have 2 X's, males XY. As genetics go, females require both parents to pass on the orange gene, while males only need it from the mother.
Tabby is a color variation, not a breed. Orange (also called Red, Ginger and Marmalade) is a color variation of tabby. All orange cats are tabbies; not all tabbies are orange.
There are 4 tabby patterns: mackerel, classic, ticked and spotted. I'm calling Kitty Pop mackerel, though her markings aren't distinct.
Orange tabbies have big appetites. Yes, Kitty Pop is on the plump side!
As these things can go, Kitty Pop has done well. She's never been homeless or hungry. We're glad she's spending the rest of her lives with us.
“Time spent with cats is never wasted.” – Sigmund Freud
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