FOR PURR…An American Bobtail Cat
It was evening and a strange noise caught my ear at the back of the house. I was alone and not excited about strange sounds at night in the country. What was out there? There was scratching and some sort of odd crying sounds. I decided it was not wise to try and determine the source of the noise in the dark, so I locked the doors and went to bed hoping I would hear no more. I soon fell asleep in spite of my unrest.
In the morning I went outside to investigate and found the evidence of a small worn path going underneath the side of the house. Faint cries were coming from under the room. I hurried to get my nephew (who was a whole lot smaller and skinnier) to investigate.
Cautiously with a flashlight, Gabe crawled part way under the house and started chuckling. In a minute his arm came back out holding a newborn kitten. Then another and another until there were four. Two fuzzy gray and two velvet black. We were amazed to see two of them were bobtail and had only tiny fluff balls for tails.
I took the babies and their pretty little bobtail Momma into my bathroom and made them a large box nest where they lived till they were old enough to be adopted. I fell in love with the soft gray bobtail kitten with the loudest motor and he became my beloved Purr. (I later learned that he was the offspring of an American Bobtail Cat).
Purr was one of the smartest, most loyal cats I have ever shared my life with. He was my shy, beautiful shadow. He hunted with his Mom in the woods and then came home to crawl in my lap and cuddle. When something happened to his Mom a few years later, Purr and I became even closer. We experienced one of those rare and precious relationships of purrrrfect communication.
I would laugh when Purr stalked my canine child, a small mixed breed dog named Hugs and the 3 of us often took hikes together in the woods where I lived. I often worried when Purr was out hunting and did not come home at night (I would NEVER let our cats outdoors now that I know the risks). I once almost had heart failure when my sister (who lived just down the lane) called to say 2 big red foxes had cornered him in a drainage pipe. (The foxes were gone by the time I got there or I would have taken them on with my bare hands.)
Purr and I were family for 12 years before he went back to the One who gave him life and allowed him to share mine. In January of 2009 he died in my arms due to unknown causes. There will never be another Purr and I will always miss him. However, it was in my search for another American Bobtail that I found my beloved Highland Lynx Cats (which likely have some American Bobtail Heritage)…..so loving my Purr led me to more special and amazing felines!
THIS SITE IS DEDICATED to The Shepherd…..and to my sweet American Bobtail Cat, PURR. (It is his sweet face in the clouds on the home page.)