Tales of cats, kittens

Romney’s dog, Seimus, might have rid­den on the top of his vaca­tion­ing van, but my two kit­tens rode to Colum­bus in the hub of the wheel cap under my truck! My son helped get them out and they rode back to our Delaware County farm safely in a box in the bed of the truck.

These kit­tens were born here; how­ever, I have had three cats hitch rides to our farm, one in a pick-up truck and two on a hay wagon. Talk about a hay ride! Oth­ers walk or stalk or are dropped off here.

As long as I am talk­ing cats, I have to men­tion Sarah. Sarah’s “owner,” an older woman afraid she would fall from so many felines at her feet, asked if I wanted one. I scooped up three. While the oth­ers played and ate, Sarah lay list­less and limp in my hand. The vet cleared her of feline leukemia, but it wasn’t until I gave her some raw liver that she began to come around. She must have been ane­mic. She is now 12 and still loves liver.

I just buried Phyl­lis who was at least 20. With her death Charles is the sole sur­vivor of my move up here from Athens County in 1998. And he was seven then. I baby him with bet­ter food fed three times a day and a nice comb­ing though he is still an out­side cat. I doubt he will live for another winter.

Own­ing pets insures heart­break. It is a given. The only way I can live with such real­ity is to allow them the best life pos­si­ble while they are with me. Here on our farm we enter­tain a car­ni­val of cats, some get on the carousel, one way or another, and some get off. Regard­less, the music plays on.

Sylvia Zim­mer­man is the owner of Ful­ton Creek Jer­sey Cheese in Rich­wood. She holds two grad­u­ate degrees and, when not work­ing on her farm or pur­su­ing her inter­est in sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture, writes her own blog.

Posted by Sylvia Zimmerman on Oct 11 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.