THE NEWEST INMATE

Yesterday, I came home from the barn where I board my horse with a cat. One that I felt compelled to rescue (with the barn owner's full consent... just don't tell her daughters - they figure they have to keep EVERYTHING) because she (the cat, that is) didn't seem to have much in the way of self-preservation instincts.

The barn owner's dogs, two poodle crosses (need I say more?) would pounce on this poor little cat, tugging at her hair, chewing on her head, pulling on her ears..... and the cat would cry but just lie there and get mauled! She's got medium length hair so all this poodle chomping matted her hair something awful. So the barn owner took her in and had her body shaved. Needless to say, she's been having a bad hair 'day' for about three weeks now!

When I was out to see Thunder about a week and a half ago, it was still quite cool out and when I picked the cat up (she's very cuddly), she was shivering. That's when the discussion of me taking her home started. But I couldn't that day as I had to do errands after leaving the barn and also didn't have a kennel with me, so we decided I would get her the next time I was out.

Except that every time I was at the barn, the cat was gone.... off hunting, gallivanting about the countryside with gleeful abandon, I would imagine, heedless of the dangers lurking in the great outdoors. Such as coyotes, eagles, hawks.... all of which have been known to snack on little, poorly coiffed kitties.



I would wander around the place, calling her and making all the kissy noises that cats seem to come running to. I'd look in the barn, in the arena, out back in the paddocks, in the haystack, across the road in the bush. All to no avail. So each time I would leave empty handed.

On Friday, I was at the barn with my girlfriend from Texas, who is up visiting her mum. We hung around and visited with Thunder, went for lunch with my friend, the horse trainer, and then came back to the barn to find that cat. Again.... no luck. So I asked my trainer friend to call me the next time she was at the barn (she just works there) and she saw the cat. My Texas friend and I jumped in the truck and drove off.

About 6 miles down the road, my cellphone rang - the cat came back (isn't that a song?.....) so I turned around to go pick her up. I wasn't taking any chances on her disappearing again and possibly getting hurt before I could take her home.

She may be a little thing, but MAN can she holler! What a huge voice in that little 7.5 lb body! She didn't shut up the whole drive home. But you couldn't blame her..... she'd been stuffed unceremoniously into a cage and plopped onto the back seat of a vehicle, which then sped her away from everything she knew.



I have named her Pips, which is short for Pipsqueak, because she is the smallest cat I have ever had! My old guy, BB, weighs 9.9 lbs (officially as of yesterday, because he went to the vet's for his annual checkup and shots) and up until now, he was the second smallest cat that had lived with me. The previous record holder had been a mere 8 lbs.

Pips is extremely friendly and loves to rub her face all over you, get scratches all over, be rubbed and hugged and generally loved up lots. She purrs like an outboard motor and chirps and meows when spoken to. She's not at all perturbed about Zoe and the first evening was sleeping on the loveseat with the dog.

There's no love lost between the two black and whites at this point in time. And no, I was not trying for a matched set.... But whereas yesterday they hissed and growled from across the room, today they are down to about 2 feet between them before they begin the pleasantries. I am confident that in a couple of weeks they will be snuggling together on the bed for naps and cleaning each other's faces, as only a cat can.