PATCHES: AN ODD LITTLE STORY
Patches joined our family nine years ago as a kitten. He was the kitten of a feral cat I had befriended at work. He was an odd little guy right from the get go. His mom had had three kittens and she kept them in a burnt out van in our wrecking yard. When I would go to check on them, the other two would run and hide but he would stop what he was doing and sit and just stare at me. At the time I wasn’t interested in any more pets. We had two dogs at home and had a couple years before had lost their mother to sever epilepsy. But there was something about this little guy. It was almost like he was staring at me saying “Give it up lady. I’m coming home with you” LOL. So come home with me he eventually did.
Right from the moment I brought him home he was completely at comfortable here. Sounds kinda dumb but it was almost like he already knew the place. Even with the dogs he was totally comfortable with. There was absolutely no fear there. This tiny little kitten and these two big dogs. Right from day one he would curl up on their backs to sleep and he quickly created a strong bond with our female dog Shasta. He even started to “nurse” on her to the point (and Shasta had never had pups) that she began to produce milk for him. Crazy eh?
He was a very playful cat, not unusual, and I have video of him and Shasta rough housing together. They were the best of friends for a long time. Patches has always been very conscientious of his claws but I don’t know if he accidently caught Shasta with them at some point while playing or what happened but suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, Shasta wanted nothing to do with him anymore and would get cranky when he tried to encourage her to play. We always felt bad for the little guy cuz he so desperately wanted to play but suddenly had no one to play with. A few years later Shasta’s brother died and shortly after we adopted another cat so Patches would have a proper companion.
He adored this new family member right from their first meeting. She was full grown but still very playful once she settled in. Problem was, Patches had gone for so long without a playmate he didn’t have a clue what to do with her when she got rowdy. We’ve had her now for 5 years and they have rarely truly played together. Cleo gets rowdy and Patches, for the most part, would just sit and watch. Two years ago, Shasta passed away.
Now Patches has always been a very strong cat in that he never startles easily, is very laid back and can be tough when he wants to be. I remember him getting mad at our male dog several times and one time even chasing him out of the house. So he definitely isn’t one for getting scared so when he disappeared for almost 24 hours (he is an indoor cat) and we finally found him cowering in a dark corner in our basement it was quite a shock to say the least! Especially since we had been home all day and knew nothing out of the ordinary had happened. We hadn’t even had any visitors. (Initially we thought he had somehow gotten out because we had scoured the house umpteen times and couldn`t find him). He was a wreck for weeks afterwards. He was constantly nervous and would suddenly get a look of panic on his face and run as if the devil were after him and hide some place for hours where it was difficult to get him out. We had no clue what was going. Saying it was SO not like him is an understatement. Finally, at my wits end, I decided to break down and try a `pet communicator`. I was rather dubious but figured it was worth a shot. It was actually quite interesting and I was impressed but in the end it didn`t really give me much I could work with. One thing that was interesting (but seemed irrelevant) was the weekend Patchy had his `nervous breakdown`` was the same weekend my dogs` mom had died. It had been playing on me when he disappeared (especially since we thought he had gotten out and if so, chances are he was dead as we live in the country and there are coyotes) because I had had a very strong bond with that dog (Spirit was her name) like I had with him. So when the pet communicator said she sensed the spirit of a dog around upsetting him (among other things) naturally I thought of her. But Spirit had been a very gentle and loving dog and I had a hard time imagining her as being `mean` and Patches wasn`t afraid of dogs anyway. Right the opposite.
So a few weeks went by and every time we started to see Patches coming around a little bit, suddenly he`d be a mess again. We were spoiling him rotten but nothing seemed to help. Then one day I was sitting outside relaxing when I suddenly saw Shasta in my mind`s eye. I suddenly realized something. The weekend Patches had had his nervous breakdown wasn`t the weekend Spirit had died. It was the second anniversary of the weekend Shasta had died. Shasta who had been inclined to be jealous. Shasta who got to the point where she didn`t like Patches much. Hmmmm. Seemed crazy but was worth a shot. So I `talked` to Shasta. Said if she wanted to hang around she was more than welcome but she needed to stop bothering Patches. As soon as I did that, he started to change back almost instantly! He was great for a few days – totally back to himself but suddenly it happened again! He got this look of panic on his face and ran downstairs like the devil was on his tail and hid. Now like I said, when he hid like this he would be there for hours! More often than not we would end up having to find a way to drag him out because he wasn`t eating or drinking. This time I found him and immediately started giving `Shasta shit``, told her it was enough and she had to leave. Well I said more than that but that was the gist of it. As soon as I had done that, Patches casually came out of his hiding spot, trotted back upstairs and has been fine ever since! It`s been about 6 weeks or so now. And the amazing thing is, not only is he back to himself but it is like he has entered his second `kitty-hood`! I still can`t get over how playful he is all of a sudden with no sign of it letting up. Very bizarre!
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