Our Little Cat Bastet

Our beautiful little Manx Bastet is the fourth addition to our feline family! It is a rather interesting story how we acquired Bastet. Last summer Bastet’s brother Max was paying my parents a visit from time to time and they thought that he was such a beautiful and unique cat that they started feeding him. Big mistake because as time passed they grew more and more attached to him. (LOL at this time his name wasn’t officially Max) They suspected that he belonged to someone because he seemed to be pretty well cared for. The weather started to get cooler so they made a bed for him in the rafters of the car port. They were starting to get concerned about how cold it would get for him in the winter. Then one day mom called me and said that she saw an ad in the paper for two Manx cats to give away. She wondered if one of them was Max. She ended up calling the number and to her surprise it was Max and it turned out that he had a sister. The really funny part is that the owner lived just down the street from them. She told him that they had the cat and he said well you might as well just keep him. He asked if they wanted the sister and they said that they could only take one cat. David and I weren’t ready to get a fourth cat yet but I was feeling so bad when I heard that she was living in a shed that I went and saw her. Needless to say it was love at first sight!!!! There was no way I could say no to taking the poor little creature. The lady let me take her immediately, which made me very happy! I got on my cell phone and called my husband at work and left a message on his voice mail telling him about Bastet and that I was bringing her home! Bastet’s original name was Poof and I can see why they called her this because she looks just like a puffball of fur!!! I thought that she was like a little goddess so she deserved to have a goddess name so we named her after the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

Mom and I brought Bastet to our place I wanted to have her cleaned up a bit before David came home. After a year of living in a shed she wasn’t very clean she smelled like feces and her back smelled a bit like motor oil, probably from walking under cars. After a somewhat traumatic bath we managed to get her pretty clean. We didn’t want to upset her too much because everything was still so new to her. So I gave her and all the other cats some catnip to calm them all down. It seemed to work quite well and from her reaction to the catnip I don’t think that she has ever eaten it before she was quite entertaining! Bastet’s fur was still a bit dirty so I put one of our many cat blankets on the bed and she fell fast asleep. When David got home we gave her another bath and that cleaned her fur up perfectly.

Now Bastet is a member of our family and we love her very much and are so happy to have her in our lives. Both she and her brother Max are living good lives now. Luna and Mandu get along with Bastet but she and Karman still have a ways to go yet. Karmen is our first baby and she has been with us for many years and I think that she is a bit jealous of Bastet, so we make sure we give Karmen and the other cats lots of attention to.

We don’t let our cats run free outside. We live in town and there are many dangers here. I know of many people who have lost their beloved cats for many reasons. Sadly one of our neighbors’ cats was poisoned and someone deliberately ran over another ladies cat. We put very safe body harnesses on our little babies and tether them to the clothesline. Of course we keep a VERY close eye on them. On the clothesline they have a lot of freedom and we know that they are safe in our yard. Some people think that it is inhumane but I think it would be far more inhumane if one of our precious babies disappeared and we didn’t know what happened to them. We know that our neighbors appreciate that our cats don’t go to their flowerbeds and use them for a litter box or sit under their bird feeders and wait for dinner. Even with her body harness on our skillful little Karman has caught an occasional bird. We don’t like it but know that this is the nature of cats.

The Cheetah is the only member of the cat family that does not stalk its prey; they are the fastest land mammal and can reach speeds up to 60 mph. so it relies on its speed for hunting. The Cheetah is the only member of the cat family who can not completely retract its claws.

To the Egyptians cats were very sacred. To kill a cat, even by accident, was punishable by death. When the family cat died every member of the household would shave off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning and respect.

Cats were one of the last animals to be domesticated by men. (Now cats are trying to domesticate man, ha ha!)

Lions are associated with the sun and domestic cats (Little lions) are associated with the moon (Little sun).

To different cultures the cat symbolizes femininity, fertility, eternity, death, watchfulness, freedom and stealth. It is quite amazing, our house is filled with many precariously placed nick nacks and our cats walk everywhere but never knock anything over.

According to some superstitions you should never let a cat sleep near a baby because it will suck the life from the child. Of course we know that this is not true. This superstition originated from an old Hebrew story about Lilith taking the form of a cat and killing sleeping babies.

Cats can sense changes in the weather. There have been reports of cats actually taking their young out of the paths of tornadoes. It has also been documented all over the world that cats have predicted earthquakes and volcanoes by behaving strangely before the incident would occur.

Cats, especially black ones, have been associated with witchcraft. They were often suspected of being a witches familiar. Black cats were put in wicker cages and burned alive because they were thought to be transformed witches. (No wonder my little Luna is so afraid!)

In the United States black cats are considered bad luck and in England they are considered good luck!

Do you believe in ghosts? There have been many cases of cats being able to see the spirits of people who have passed on. Boo!

You know what they say; "Curiosity killed the cat". Good thing they have nine lives!

If I could be reincarnated into an animal I would be a cat in a heartbeat. Meow!

In Memory of Leo

This is in memory of my little baby Leo, often referred to as Witto Woo Woo Puff Puff. My mom called him P.T. that is short for putty tat. In the early 80’s one of my sisters had to move and couldn’t take Leo with her so she gave him to us. Leo grew up around children and was use to being handled so he was very gentle. I know for many people even those who really love cats a Siamese cat wouldn’t always be their first choice. Leo was such an intelligent and amazing cat. We would roll a ball down the hallway and Leo would run after it and bring it back. Leo didn’t like the cold and in the winter he would sit right on the heat vent. It would get so hot that you could sometimes smell singed fur. The one thing that Leo did like was mint toothpaste. We had to make sure to leave the lid on the tube otherwise Leo would stand on it and eat the toothpaste, which I am sure is not very good for him.

Sadly our beautiful little Leo got asthma and became very sick. We gave him medication that helped but at any time he would get an attack and couldn’t breathe. It got so bad that we were afraid to go anywhere and couldn’t always take him with us. Eventually we had to send him to cat heaven. Even the vet fell in love with Leo and found it very difficult to put him down. All of us were in tears over Leo’s passing. It was so heart breaking and took a long time for the sadness to go away. Today I just remember what a special cat he was and this is my memorial to him! Here’s to you Leo!!!

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