Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ode to Daisy

In continuing this week’s pet theme, I found myself struggling to choose which pet to write about this morning. When I finally picked one, I could not get started because I was thinking about the pet that preceded our two current kittens. That would be Daisy. Although Daisy was only with us about ten months before she was struck by a car on our very busy road, she will forever live in our family’s memory as the best cat ever. Unfortunately, this little Tonkinese was camera shy and I do not have any pictures of her.

When our family moved from California to Florida we left all our pets behind and I promised both kids when we moved into a house we would get Ryann a kitten and Kyle a puppy. We picked Daisy up at the local Petsmart’s cat adoption event. Going in our daughter had said she wanted a tabby or black-and-white, fluffy, big cuddly cat. What she latched on thirty seconds after entering the store was a skinny, Siamese looking half-grown kitten. Within five minutes I realized Ray had made her mind up when she told me the kitten’s name was Daisy. Having two dogs, Max the elderly Springer Spaniel and Lucky the rambunctious chocolate lab puppy, I asked the lady about this cat with dogs. She laughed and said Daisy would have no trouble. Evidently, this lady had adopted Daisy the month before from Petsmart, but the lady’s long-term cat had spent that entire month under her bed, refusing to come out. This lady wanted to have her cat back, so chose to put Daisy up for adoption.

Daisy was a hunter, primal, diligent, and lethal. One morning as the kids and I were getting ready to pull out of the driveway to go to school, we saw Daisy on the prowl. Talk about fascinating! I felt like I was watching one of those Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom segments about lionesses hunting on the African savannah. Needless to say, we were a little tardy that day! In the months following Daisy’s death, we noticed wildlife returning to our big open backyard (about 1/2 acre of unfenced open grass), we realized that during Daisy’s short reign we had no squirrels, rabbits or birds loitering in the area. We also found many of Daisy’s trophies in the corners of our garage…skeletons or desiccated carcasses of all types of critters, mainly mice, moles and bunnies. Daisy was not a large cat, but some of those rabbit remains appeared to be much larger than that little kitty.

Aside from being an amazing hunter, Daisy had a huge personality. She was unlike any cat I have ever known. When we researched her breed, we discovered Tonkinese are called the dogs of the cat world. When someone would come in, Daisy would bound in to greet them. She was very social and enjoyed being part of the collective, the pack, but she wasn’t overly cuddly, except with Ryann. Those two had a bond that was so special. It broke my heart to tell her that her cat had died.

To this day, I still tear up thinking about that awful awful summer. Ryann and her brother had just left a couple of days earlier to spend the summer with their father in California. Clark was on the road with his salesman so I was home alone. I am not normally a hysterical person, but I completely lost my mind when I walked out on the front porch and there saw Daisy’s corpse. Evidently she had been hit on the road and crawled back down to the house. The worst part was contacting my ex to explain Ryann’s cat had been killed and him telling me that he would not break the news to her, that it was my responsibility. Well, there was no way I was telling my ten-year-old daughter about her cat’s demise *over the phone* so the only option was to wait until they returned in ten weeks. For the rest of the summer, whenever I spoke to the kids Ryann would talk about her cat and how much she missed Daisy. When they did return and I broke the news, Ryann was so devastated. Never before and only three times since have I seen my girl break down and sob so hard.

So here’s to Daisy, the best cat ever! If there is a heaven for cats, I’m sure she is keeping it clear of mice, moles, rabbits, squirrels and birds.

¡Hasta pronto, mis amigos!

~N

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