The Cat Who Came (in time) for Christmas
After losing my dear little side-kick Mewer in late September, I found myself looking at my first cat-less Christmas in thirteen years — not a happy prospect.
While I’d actually allowed almost two years to pass between losing my great ginger cat Rumpkins and adopting Mewer, I was younger then and heavily invested in the day job and other stuff, so this time I decided I wasn’t up for waiting such a long stretch to find another little fur-fella.
As I began my search, amidst thoughts I might have been jumping in too soon after losing a little pal who was so special, I saw firsthand how difficult it was going to be to replace Mewer. No, that’s not exactly right. Mewer was not a cat one could — or would — be able to “replace,” as anyone who has read my many stories about him will understand. The mission would have to be finding a worthy “successor” to Mewer the WonderCat.
And it was not going to be easy, as several visits to one foster home and multiple shelters/adoption centers would prove. But, as friends and my veterinarian told me, “The right kitty will find you when the time is right.”
So…meet Scamper the Wookie-Cat, a mischievously playful — and very talkative — little boy of about two, who from above looks like a tiger-tabby and from below like a white kitty. The two color-schemes come together in his cute little face, which bespeaks pure-mischief followed by “Who, me?”
He has two speeds: Cuddly-Stretch-Out-Come-Rub-My-Tummy…and scampering hither, thither and yon like a whirling dervish. He also runs up stairs like a bunny rabbit, with hind legs in synch rather than alternating. Funny to watch, as the “hopping bunny” parts are pure white, attached to a tabby torso.
When I met him at a PetSmart store, which was temporary home for cats from a local rescue group, I found myself charmed by his insistence on my coming back to play with him each time I went to visit another kitty — and his near-continuous “purr-gurgles.”
Oh, yes, he has by now acquired another name, Wookie Monster, because of his gourmand-ish appetite
Thus, as Christmas morning approaches, Mewer Manor (No, I don’t think I’ll change that name for a while) now reverberates with the pitter-patter of scampering feet and an extensive repertoire of Wookie-Speak and Kitty-Squeak.
Merry Christmas, little Wookie Monster.
PS: If he looks a bit discombobulated in the photo up top, the shelter volunteer had just put him in his carrier for the ride to his new home (he had only arrived at the PetSmart the day before in another box!) before I asked her to take a pic of us for Wookie’s scrapbook.
PPS: Sorry ‘bout the low def pics, but he’s so new, I haven’t yet had the chance to shoot him with serious equipment ;-)
©2017 Steve Ember
You may view my more serious kitty-pix, including several of Mewer and Rumpkins and, by and by, better shots of Scamper the Wookie Cat here.
