Kimball and I got a shock last Wednesday evening. I had rushed home after work to take a quick nap before we went to prayer meeting. I laid down at 5:30 and set my alarm for 6:45. When I sat up, I could see Caddeaux’s tail down by the cedar chest at the foot of the bed. Odd place for him, but no big deal. He has the run of the house and sleeps where he wants usually changing places once a week.
About then, Kimball came into the bedroom and started looking at Caddeaux. It looked like he had tried to crawl under the cedar chest but it was too close to the floor. I moved him back a few inches so his face wasn’t smushed up against the cedar chest.
About then, Kimball made the original pronouncement, “Kenny, he’s dead.” He was born June 5, 2010, so he wasn’t an old cat.
The last time I took him to the vet for his itching, she told me his coughing was caused by a heart condition and prescribed a baby aspirin every three days. Other than that, we hadn’t seen any change in his activity.
I think I know where he was headed. If I took a nap in the afternoon, he would usually jump on the bed above of my head, chirp to me, I’d pet him and he would walk the length of the bed and jump off.
Whenever I ate supper in the popular easy chair (Kimball likes it, too) with the TV tray pulled up close, he’d sit between my feet. He usually slept on the floor on my side of the bed so I had to watch about stepping on him when I got up during the night.
He never sat on my lap, but he liked to sit on the sofa with Kimball on the next cushion and sometimes on her lap.
He liked the grandkids and tolerated their petting. Davis’ dog, Caddee, and he were buddies. He even tried to clean her ear last week.
He’d sit on the coffee table totally ignoring me until I started to get up out of my chair, then he’d streak to the kitchen to check his food dish for fresh cat food. He never ate table scraps or drank milk.
Appliance repairmen or installers were obviously there to pet him.
It’s lonesome around the house without him and Kimball’s snuggle cat, Bella, we lost over a year ago. Davis and Erica have a stray they want us to adopt. Shawn Abele has him and just lost his cage buddy. Might look into that.
-Oh, at the chicken and noodle fundraiser Friday evening, I saw a guy with a blue T-shirt that said something like, “Your pets are important to your life, but you are their WHOLE world.” Of course, I thought of Caddeaux when I saw that.
– I knew you wouldn’t be interested in the MDC report about lakes in the Kansas City area they had stocked with channel cats, but I thought you’d like to know what they recommend for bait.
“Two baits tend to rise to the top of the favorite list – shrimp and pepperoni,” said Cpl. Derek Cole, an MDC agent in Jackson County.
“With pepperoni, some people use cubes of pepperoni,” Cole said. “Others fold sliced pepperoni and thread it onto the hook, and often put a piece of earthworm on last to help hold the pepperoni on the hook.”
“I don’t know if it is the oil in the pepperoni that they like,” he said, “but it does not take long for fish to hit it. I’ve seen people catch fish with this plenty of times.” KL
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