Pet stories.

[Raptorman]

I will assume that most of us have had pets during our lives. And pets have a way of doing some interesting stuff. With all the negativity in the world, I thought it might be fun to share some of our pet stories.

When I was young, we had a Persian cat which was named "Mommy Kitty". Don't ask, I have no idea how that name came about. Well, MK was not fixed. So every once in a while she would pop out a litter of kittens, who we as kids, were responsible for finding homes for. So our neighborhood was full of cats that came from MK. One day she had another litter. Now, from the previous liter, we had kept one of the male cats. "Sam". The other 5 were spread out amongst our friends and other relatives. Well, MK had this new liter, after about 3 weeks someone came up with the great idea to bring one of the cats from her previous liter to "visit". Well, the cat that came into our house was one of Sam's sisters. Her name was "Bikini", because she was all black except for three triangles of white on her belly right where a bikini would be. This was going to be a neighborhood event. And about 15 kids came over to see it.

Well, the kittens were in the basement. They brought Bikini into the house. MK heard her meow and came upstairs. Sam came from I don't know where. But all of a sudden we had three cats in my mother's living room and they started to fight. These cats were fighting in what was basically a big circle. Flying around the living room. Now, if you don't know it, cats do one thing when they fight. They empty their bowels. Yup. I did not know this at the time. None of us did. So we have three cats flying around my mom's living room sh*tting all over the place. Cat sh*t flying. And once the kids realized this we all took off. Someone went out the front door and the cats followed. The rest of us scattered chasing the cats. And my poor mother who walked into the room about the time the door opened is standing there looking at her living room full of cat sh*t wondering what the hell had just gone down. Now, this whole "event" lasted a total of about 20 seconds from the time the cats were introduced to each other to the time the door was opened. But it is etched in my mind forever.

 

[Selassie I]

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more action.... so let me bump this thread back up and add one of my pet stories.

Some of you have seen pics of my eclectus parrot named Rasta. I've had him since he broke himself out of his egg shell 14 years ago. These parrots have the same level of vocabulary as an African Grey... so the highest level.

Anyway, many years ago my wife and I were watching a slasher horror movie. Rasta was hanging out on the perch I have for him on our bar. From our bar, Rasta can clearly see our TV screen.

So a slasher scene comes up in the movie. Blood and guts everywhere. Soon after the blood bath scene we hear this from Rasta - "Oh my God. OUCH!!!". That was the 1st time we had ever heard Rasta say any of those words. My wife and I looked at each other in disbelief and started laughing so hard we had to turn off the movie.

That's when we fully realized just how intelligent Rasta is. We're still getting surprised by his understanding of things and his self awareness. It's kinda creepy for people who visit and experience him for the 1st time. Our friends and family are used to it by now though and aren't surprised one bit if he chimes right into a conversation you're having or starts laughing at you when you do something stupid or funny. It's always something new too. He can say literally anything he wants. Somethings we hear him say a word or phrase one time and never hear it again. But he knows what he's saying... there's no doubt about it.

Something else that I discovered about him that apparently sets him apart on the IQ level of parrots is pretty cool. There used to be a message board that existed just for eclectus parrot owners. I joined it when I first got Rasta and learned a tremendous amount of information that was extremely important. But the board also had threads just about funny things Eccies do.

So one thread had something talking about their Eccie never danced like their other species of parrots. I chimed in and said that mine does it all the time. Many of the members found that to be very unusual. So, I told them that I'd post a video of him dancing the next chance that I got. Several days later I had put Rasta out on our screened porch to dry off after his shower. I close the blinds on the doors when I put him out there or he will just bang on the glass like a wood pecker to be let inside if he can see in. So a few minutes after I put him out there, I could see him dancing while perched up on his jungle net as I peaked through the blinds. I grabbed my phone and shot a video of him to post on that message board.

When members of that board saw it... I couldn't believe the reactions and PMs I received. One was from a place in Australia who specializes in these parrots and another from a zoo in the Netherlands where these parrots are apparently extremely popular. These people couldn't believe what they were seeing.

I didn't pay it any attention... but Rasta was not only dancing in the video. He was making up his own song and singing it to himself to dance to. I forget exactly how they were describing this... but it amazed the complete fuck out of them. They tried explaining the level of self awareness that that behavior requires... let's put it this way... they wanted my Rasta and were willing to pay a fortune for him. Let's just say he's very special. That's what those experts were screaming. Pretty crazy now that they've pointed it out to me.

I never parted with him of course... and unfortunately, that message board went away many years ago for good. Lately... I'd pay those people to come get this demanding mother fucker out of my house. LOL. They require a high amount of special care... high fucking level maintenance.

 

[Memento]

Oh, have I got a pet story for y’all:

My mom had this male Russisn Blue named Mist. He was a warrior if there ever was one; he survived getting hit by a car at age two, survived cancer when he was seventeen. He was a part of my life since I was born; he ended up living to twenty-one, but sadly had to be put down before we moved to our new house.

Anyway, one month after we moved in, one night my mom wakes up...to meowing from the basement. She wakes up my dad to come with her. They opened the door, and saw a cat that looked exactly like Mist.

My mom’s screams woke me up, and I fly down the stairs, to hear my dad ask if he had to check the urn where Mist’s ashes were. Naturally, I’m shocked to see thid starving cat who looked exactly like the cat who had been a part of my entire life. We got tuna for the cat, not expecting to keep
it.

We check the gender, and it turns out to be a girl. And we checked for missing pets, and when it turned out there weren’t any, we kept her and named her “Misty”.

Was that the end? Of course not: she was carrying kittens. Only two of her litter survived: a female who looked like her, and a tom who had to have some Maine Coon in him; he had tabby markings and was absolutely huge when full grown. We named the tom “Phoenix” (my choice) and the female “Valkyrie” (dad’s choice). Unfortunately, we didn’t keep Valkyrie; it remains one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t press harder to keep her.

Now, both cats lived long and happy lives...until Phoenix passed away from mouth cancer before Christmas three years ago, I believe. Misty grew quite senile in her later years and had health problems. Do you think that’s the end of the story, though? You bet your ass it’s not!

My friend, Sarah, and I were headed out to dinner at Red Lobstertwo years ago and we hear meowing near our car where we parked. We saw this beautiful gray tabby kitten, huddling underneath another car, and we both decide that we couldn’t leave it out; it was in January, bitterly cold out. I held her the entire way to her parents’ house first, and then to my mom’s, and I had to ask if she could keep a cat for a while until we found its owner.

Well, after finding out her gender, nobody came calling, and I got the feeling she was dumped at the parking lot. So we kept her and named her “Destiny” because it was destiny that we found her.

And that’s the end of the story...thus far.

 

[Raptorman]

I never parted with him of course... and unfortunately, that message board went away many years ago for good. Lately... I'd pay those people to come get this demanding mother fucker out of my house. LOL. They require a high amount of special care... high fucking level maintenance.

Great story. As to this. Just like a spouse.