a small domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout, and retractile claws. It is widely kept as a pet or for catching mice, and many breeds have been developed.
synonyms: feline, tomcat, tom, kitten, mouser;alley cat,puss, kitty, fur ball; archaic: grimalkin.
There you have it. Soft, furry, probably cute (at least for the first 6 months of it's life), and a silent killer. When I lived at home, we ALWAYS had cats. My mom has pictures of my sister and I, not even 2 and 3 years old, hauling kittens by their necks out of cardboard boxes. I, of course, do not remember those kittens. I do, however, recall my first encounters with one particular old "tom".
His name was Sprocket. He was a grey, grizzled old puss that definitely sharpened his claws hourly. We could pet him, as long as an adult held him. He was your typical farm cat. He had vicious battle scars, and from what I remember, half of his one ear may have been torn off. He probably wasn't that great of a mouser (anyone that knows cats, knows that the males are good for only two things: peeing on everything and anything, and impregnating the females) and I know he didn't really care for the over abundant affections of young humans. I don't remember where or when Sprocket left us for "kitty heaven", but I'm almost certain he didn't get there. Thus far in my life, my first impression of farm cats was a little jaded.
Our neighbours decided one day that "the girls need a nice kitty". So we were given a beautiful, gray, long-haired "China", along with a sleek black tom, who we named "Blackie". They were, indeed, nice kitties. We loved them. They didn't scratch us when we wanted to pet them. They were clean & stayed in the barn. They kept the mouse population down. China even had a litter of kittens for us to play with!!! And then my grandma's chicken population started declining. Now known as a chicken-killer, China's days were numbered. Blackie was spared, due to the fact that he hadn't been caught red-handed I suppose. We were left with 4 of China's litter, all female.
Did you know, that cats have quite the capabilities in reproduction? Most females come into heat once the days start getting longer. (January-September) They will come into heat every 2-3 weeks until they are bred, and are able to stay in heat anywhere from 3 to 16 days! Once bred, the female cat will pop those adorable little furballs out within 60 days, give or take. Most litters have 4-6 kittens, and the average mother cat is quite capable of bearing 3 litters per year.
At one point on the farm, we had a count of 27 cats. Astonishing and absolutely terrible, isn't it? But they were strictly barn cats, and had free reign of the barnyard and the entire farm (so to those of you animal activist readers who think you need to get your knickers in a twist, these cats were well taken care of). My sister and I would dress them up in doll clothes and place them, quite willingly, in the baskets of our pedal bikes for long rides up & down the driveway. The cats loved it. I think. When it was milking time, the feline chorus in the barn was exceptional. Some of them even danced on their hind legs, and were rewarded with squirts of milk shot across the centre lane of the barn. One tom, Stripes, was exceptionally good at this dance.
However; when the population gets as large as it inevitably did, my practical farmer dad cut back the population. I don't know for certain how he did it, but it doesn't matter anymore. Disease had overtaken some of the poor animals, and on a farm, disease of any kind is not welcome. I strongly believe that this is why most farm kids don't tend to argue with life & death circumstances. Some things are done the way they are done, and some things happen for the better of everything on the farm. However; it doesn't mean we are immune to the emotions that surface when your favourite pet gets sick and needs to be put down. I know that I cried about the cats that were suddenly gone, and I may have even been angry with my dad for a while, but I got over it. Such is life. In the end we ended up with only 3 cats, 2 males and one that was feral. This was the way it continued on the farm.
Until my sister left her half-siamese beast with us after a move to Fort McMurray, AB.
This little spit-fire "grimalkin" was CRAZY. The only person that could touch her was my mom. When walking past, we would make a wide berth around her. She would hiss and liked to attack people. Ankles and legs were free scratching posts for this little beast. Eventually, she ended up having ONE kitten with the host farm tomcat. This kitten was a beautiful, sleek & shiny, all black, female. And boy was she was a killer! She would sit beneath the bird feeders, and jump 4 feet into the air to deftly kill the fat grosbeaks that (stupidly) kept returning for birdseed. I named her Meeko (after the silly but cute raccoon in Pocahontas) and she was probably one of the best cats I ever had.
After my farmer and I were married, I managed to retain my beautiful Meeko. She came home to my house that very winter. She was a skilled cat. She killed birds, prairie dogs, mice, rats, you name it. She even helped train our new puppy (by training, I mean that she reminded him hourly of who exactly ran the place). She was loving (as much as smug cats can be), smart, and had amazing killer instincts. But she tended to have 2 litters of 4-5 kittens every year. Usually I managed to give away all of her kittens. I kept two from the first litter she ever had. After a few years, my Meeko disappeared one winter after my farmer and I took a week-long holiday (she was roughly 15 years old) and never returned.
To this day, I still have one of Meeko's first babies born here at our place. Her name is Minou and she is just your average, tabby farm cat. Totally unassuming- until you find a random JACK RABBIT in her cat house for you to be surprised by when you lift the lid.
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| proof of Minou's jack-rabbit catch |
Or the million and one mice she keeps bringing as peace offerings to me on the front step. The birds keep their perches high on the trees at our place. But she isn't very scary, I promise. She actually believes that my babies are HER babies, and she even loves to hop in the stroller or the wagon for rides sometimes too.
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| Minou with my baby girl |
She never sets her claws into anyone, other than my farmer. (they have a love/hate relationship). She is even kind of a "guard-cat". If the dog is gone to the in-laws with my farmer, she will sit near the kitchen window, or the front door. If a car happens to slow down past the drive-way, she'll stand up with her tail raised and "point" with her head. If a car drives in, she's there in a minute or two, investigating the new-comer. I think the protective Siamese bloodlines have come out in this totally unassuming farm cat.
Or... maybe I'm just a crazy cat lady after all?
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