"Blue's Story"

Blue was born in a horse stable in early April 2001.

My friend's daughter had been handling the kittens of this litter for a couple of weeks, hoping to be able to adopt one when they were old enough to be away from their mother. The cats were at the stables as barn cats to keep down the population of rodents in grain and hay for the horses. No one actually owned the cats, but they were looked after by some of the people that had their horses stabled.

About the time the kittens were 4 weeks old, (May 2, 2001) someone had their dogs at the stables and had turned them loose to run free. One of the dogs attacked the mother cat and her kittens. Blue and his sister were the only 2 that survived .

My friend Jann and her daughter brought the kittens to her home and decided to keep the little female. Jann called me and said, "You won't believe what I have laying on my chest sound asleep." Of course my response to that was, "I'll be right over." I walked across the street and into her house and there was this tiny orange kitten sound asleep. She handed him to me and said, "He needs a home." That's all it took for me to fall totally in love with this kitten. I asked Jann if she had a blank card, she wanted to know why and I told her that the only way I was going to get this baby in the house was for her to give him to me as a gift. I told her that it just happened to be my wedding anniversery. So she laughed and went and got a card, filled it out and gave it to me. I went home with the kitten and gave the card to my husband and he just laughed and said, "Yeah, just what we need, another critter."

At that time, we already had 2 dogs, Bear and Gypsy and 2 cats, Bubba and Sissy. The dogs didn't like the cats I already had, nor did the cats like the dogs. I looked at this as a new challenge for me. Since the dogs were house dogs (for the most part), and the cats always stayed outside, I wanted this kitten to become comfortable in the house with the dogs and outside with the cats. Now I had to teach Bear and Gypsy to love the kitten. That was a lot easier than I had expected. I think we just don't always give animals the credit they deserve. Our dogs played a big part in raising 'Blue'. They played with him and he would cuddle up with them and take naps. Bear was a big dog, about 100 pounds, and a tail wager. Blue loved to grab onto his tail and go for a ride. It was so funny to watch Bear laying down, wagging his tail with this little kitten attached, just going all over the place. Blue even learned to bark, well it was sort of a bark. When he was outside stalking a bug or a bird, he would make this sound that was sort of like a bark. So what ever he was stalking would generally hear him and take off. When the dogs would go out to the pool yard to bark at the mail carrier truck, Blue would sit at the patio door and do his little bark, too. As you can tell, the dogs taught him well.

When I would take Blue outside to be with Bubba and Sissy, that was just funny to me. Bubba took right up with Blue and would play and nap with him. But Sissy on the other hand, had walked up to Blue, sniffed him over, then hissed and slapped him and she took off in another direction. She made it very plain she wanted nothing to do with this kitten. I would have thought with her being a female she would have taken up with him. Now and then I would catch her sitting off in an area of the yard watching him, but if he started to go in her direction, off she'd go in another direction. Bubba was always good to watch out for Blue when he was outside. If another cat came into the yard Bubba was quick to run it off. Sissy didn't care much for any cat except Bubba. Where you would see one, you were sure to see the other. Bubba and Sissy were adopted by another cat we had (Nikki) when they were babies and brought to me to take care of and the rest is history. Bubba and Sissy will be 6 years old in the summer of 2005.

Blue grew up to be twice the size of Bubba and Sissy. So Bubba pretty much stopped playing with him and of course riding the wagging tail of Bear stopped too. But Blue had a buddy that lived across the street and his name was Stripes. Stripes was almost the same age as Blue and they loved climbing trees and running across the roof together. So things were very good for Blue until he was 22 months old. Then in the summer of 2002 things in our neighborhood started to change.

Stripes and his sister were missing. Then a little later Blue's sister was missing. The word in the neighborhood was, we had a neighbor around the corner that didn't like cats and set out traps. Then haul the cats off to another town or dumped them on the desert that surrounds our town. Stripes was found by a friend of the owners of Stripes, they read his tag and called the number engraved on his tag. Stripes sister was never found nor was Blue's sister. Stripes had been missing for about 7 or 9 weeks before his homecoming. We all looked at this as a real blessing. As time went on my friends and I thought the trapping had stopped.

About 6 months passed and we were into late February 2003 when Blue was missing. He was 22 months old at that time. I knew right away something was wrong when he didn't come in when I called for him one evening. He always came in the house at night and would curl up and sleep with me. I called for him for days and nights for over 2 weeks. I was starting to feel like the old movie "Come Back Little Sheba" with Burt Lancaster and Shirley Booth, where she was always calling for a little dog that had died. Everyone was telling me he must have been trapped and taken to the desert. Everytime I thought of Blue the tears would come to my eyes, I missed him so much. Some people even told me it's no big deal, he's just a cat. But to me Blue was a very special cat. He came into my life during a time that I needed the distraction from problems and to just focus on this baby. He wasn't just a gift from Jann to me, he had made me laugh when I needed laughter in my life. I loved listening to him purr as he would lay on the back of my chair or in my lap. He also kept my hands and arms scratched up a lot, he was a stinker at times. But he always knew he was loved.

I prayed every night for his safe return and for him to be protected from all harm. I have no doubt some people would think me a little strange, but I have always believed that all of my pets that have passed away are in a safe place in Heaven. In mid March 2003, Bear (at almost 14 years old) had a stroke that left him unable to walk or eat, we took him to the vet and had to have him put to sleep. He had been our grandson's dog since he was a puppy and our grandson was just a few months old. We celebrated their birthdays together. We found a great place to lay him to rest that looks over the town. Now we only had Gypsy, Bubba and Sissy left and a pond full of fish. Bear was loved so much by us all and will always be greatly missed.

On our patio there is a chair with a blanket on it that Blue liked to sleep on during the day sometimes that was next to the door, everytime that Gypsy went out that door she would always stop and look for Blue and sniff the blanket. When she was in the house she layed by the patio door and would watch that chair to see if Blue would show up. She would do that for long periods of time. It was very sad to see her doing this. I know she understood about Bear not coming home, but she didn't understand Blue being gone. Blue was her baby, she helped to raise him. Everytime Blue came in the house after being outside, she would sniff him over from head to tail to make sure he was alright. She never gave up on Blue and neither did I. I always had a prayer for Blue.

In April 2003 we adopted a 4 month old Black Lab mix, from another neighbor down the street. Gypsy was depressed and I thought a puppy was just what she needed to keep her busy and this puppy needed a good home. Gypsy was missing Blue and Bear so much that I was getting concerned about her health. We named the puppy Raven. She's a real mama's baby too. She follows me everywhere in the house and is normally right at my feet when I'm sitting anywhere. Gypsy really loves her and they play great together. But Gypsy still checked the chair Blue slept on when she'd go out back, she did that for over 6 or 7 months.

One day about 11 months after Blue was missing, I had to pick my husband up at work. The drive there was 45 miles one way. While driving down the highway the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up, like a chill going through me, then I started see in my minds eyes some of my passed dogs. Bear was the first to show up, so I talked to him and then came Bitty, Misty, L.P., and Bo. I told all my babies to watch out for Blue, but for Bear to protect him and help guide him home safely. I prayed and cried half way to picking up my husband. I didn't want him to see tears or to think I was nuts, so I never said anything to him. I told my mom about what had happened and mom being mom was supportive of what I told her I had seen. I don't remember if I ever told anyone else.

Then a few days later the New Year 2004 came. On January 3, 2004, I went out to the garage where Bubba and Sissy slept. I have 2 very large dog houses I had built a long time ago, stacked. One dog house I call a doggy duplex, it was for the smaller dogs at one time and the other I had made for Bear. They are both built on wooden pallets. The cats come in through the doggy door at the back of the garage and sleep in and on the duplex. When I walked out to the garage that evening, I just started to cry from pure joy, because my prayers had been answered!!! There was Blue, eating some food. When he first saw me he jumped down off the porch of the duplex and was starting to find a place to hide. I started to talk to him and he came to me and I cried even more. He wasn't ready at that moment for me to pick him up and he hissed at me, but after about 30 seconds, he allowed me to pick him up and bring him in the house. My grandson was as surprised as I was and my husband couldn't believe it was Blue. He asked me several times if I was sure it was Blue and I just told him of course it was Blue, he has freckles on his nose and the bend on his tail.

Blue was finally home!! That's a miracle in my book!! He had been missing for 11 months. He was so skinny you could feel every bone, you could see his rib cage, backbone and hip and chest bones. I looked him over as much as he would allow, to see if there were any cuts or scars. I was very thankful there wasn't any and very surprised there wasn't any. Gypsy started sniffing him over from head to tail checking him out like she always did and he was rubbing against her like he always had in the past. She was so very happy to see him, you could see the sparkle come back into her eyes. When she was satisfied that he was alright then he was ready to eat. I opened a can of cat food and put it in his dish and he ate it as fast as he could and wanted more, so I opened another can and he ate it just as fast. After that I put his favorite pillow back in his favorite place on top of my desk. I held him for a little bit, telling him how much he was missed and loved. He got on his pillow, curled up and went right to sleep. Of course I had to take some pictures of this miraculous baby's first night home.

That night I sent an e-mail out to all my friends telling them Blue was home. I know everyone was surprised to say the least. After all, Blue had been missing for 11 months. I took him to the vet as soon as they could get us in, which was 10 days after his return and had him totally checked out, he weighed 11.5 pounds at the vets office, almost half his normal weight. I was told he'd be fine and that he would gain the weight back over time. I had made sure during our wait to see the vet that he was never outside without me right behind him. Within those 10 days I could already see him putting a little weight back on his so thin body. After a few months he was starting to look healthy and fit again. He looks great now and is at his full body weight, which is right at 20 pounds.

I have no idea where he was or how he survived without any harm coming to him, I just say God and Bear were taking care of him till he could make it home to me. He is my miracle cat!!

But Blue's story doesn't end there...

In the second week of August 2004, Blue found a little black long haired male kitten somewhere, that might have been 5 or 6 weeks old and brought him home to care for. Blue made sure he was fed and cuddled. The kitten was very afraid of people. Everytime he saw a human he would run and hide as fast as he could. After a week of trying to get close to the kitten I had to try another way. So every night for almost a week I would sit out on the front lawn and play with my other cats and talk softly to them and would watch the kitten hiding and watching what was going on. He started to come closer little by little. Then one evening as I was about to pick the kitten up, he took off running, Blue grabbed him and held him down with his front paws around him until I could pick him up. I thought that was so funny of Blue, but smart too. He wanted that kitten to know who I was and that it would be alright. I started bringing the kitten into the house and getting him to know Gypsy and Raven. They loved the kitten right away. He even sleeps with me once in a while. Well, the kitten is almost 6 months old now and he loves for me to cuddle him and hold him, he can really purr too. He's a real little sweetheart, he has a very gentle nature about him. I named him B.B. because after all, he is "Blue's Baby". Not by blood, but by love.

I still say my prayers for Blue, but they are prayers of thanks now. I will never know what happened to Blue during those 11 months he was missing, I'm not sure I would want to know. But to think that there are humans that show their true colors by doing harm to an animal will always make me very mad. Our pets are chosen members of our families (in our home it seems that the animals choose the pets), and should be treated with love and care. They always give unconditional love to us and are always happy we are there. I've had many animals over my life time and never one that ever went through what Blue went through. This very special cat absolutely knows he is loved. I feel that somewhere, somehow he knew I never gave up on him returning home and neither did Gypsy and even though Bear was not here to greet him, I know in my heart Bear knows he made it home safely.

And by the way if you are wondering how Blue got his name, well, he still had blue eyes when Jann gave him to me and I was really hoping they would stay blue, his eyes did change color as he grew up, but the name "Blue" stayed.

Just so everyone knows, I always have my animals neutered and spayed. Stripes and his family of 6 humans moved to Oregon in the summer of 2003, and they are all doing very well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoyed "Blue's Story"

Written By

Shirley Seeman ©WhisperingOwl

2003-2005

Update

On January 22, 2005 Gypsy was attacked by some coyotes out in the fields behind our house, we did all we could do to save her, she passed away January 23, 2005, early Sunday morning at my bedside. She will always be loved and missed by our family.

Copyright ©2006 WhisperingOwl. All rights reserved.