I’m finally getting a handle on the fact that my cat is gone. As my reader knows, we don’t have children (except children-by-proxy, one of whom is the mother of our “grandson”), so for us, the cats are our kids. I cannot imagine what it must be like to lose a child, but I know what it’s like to lose a cat who has become a member of the family. Maybe we Americans do treat our pets too much like family, but to anyone who says so, I say fuck you. Tiggr was my friend and buddy and companion and his absence hurts my heart more than I can express. When the vet asked if we wanted a footprint cast for him, I said no; his footprints are right here on my heart.*
Meantime, as noted in an earlier post, we brought Tux home on Saturday. Unfortunately he and Tiggr never got to meet, because we were concerned that Tiggr might not take well to being pestered by a kitten in his condition. But I imagine Tiggr and Tux communicated through the door of the room where we were keeping Tux, because Tux is exhibiting some of the same habits I remember from when Tiggr was a kitten.**
When I got home last night, I told the lady wife that I thought it was time to let Tux out. We had let Frankie into the room a couple of times just so they could meet, but the first time Tux hissed and growled at Frankie, and the second time Tux had a complete change of heart and charged at Frankie (playfully, so far as I could tell), and Frankie backed up and hissed. I said I thought that Frankie might be more likely to chill if he knew he had the whole house to back up into, and she agreed; so we opened the door and let matters take their course.
So far they got along just fine all night, and this morning as well. Frankie is napping back in the radio shack and Tux is nosing around in the hellhole I call my office, and all seems well in the world.
I still miss my Tiggr, but knowing that Frankie is not rejecting Tux out of hand is helping me cope with that.
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* And there is enough of his fur around this house to make another cat. See, my sense of humor is recovering.
** Although he did not get up on the bed last night and snuggle up to me, with me thinking “If I roll over, I will crush this cat.” Which is what Tiggr did the first night he came home with us. So far Tux does not seem to be a climber, although there is certainly plenty of floor space in this house for him to explore first.