A Magic Cat Named Pyewacket

posted in: Mindfulness, Motherhood 2
In honour of Halloween coming up, I promised to tell the mystical yet, true tale of how a cat named Pyewacket magically appeared in my life.

I still miss Silver
(but not the pee on the beds and leather sofas)
Pyewacket crying high in the pine tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

I used to have a cat. A gorgeous purebred silver-tipped persian. But Persians don’t like little kids and dogs. Silver hid or peed on the kids beds and leather sofa daily and pooped everywhere but his box (and yes I tried every box in the world and litter types too–spent over $100 on an automatic variety too). After six years of trying to make Silver happy, in a house with 3 kids and a dog, I decided it was time to find him an adult only home. I found him a single woman whose dream it was to own such a beautiful Persian.
Before Silver, my entire life has been filled with cats. I always had a cat growing up and as an adult too. After Silver left, it was

the first time in my life I’d been without a pet cat.

I’ve been catless for about three years.They’ve been long years. I love cats. But then I adopted Pablo, my Boston Bull dog–a breed fond of killing small animals. Pablo sealed the deal–no more cats as long as he’s my boy.

And then one day, last month, I took my girls to a pet store to buy dog supplies. My daughter Mist, insisted I walk over to the cat adoption centre to look at the kittens. I said no, it would be too painful as I really long to have a cat again. I continued on, remembering fondly–cat kisses and the precious smell of their little foreheads.

Pyewacket desperate for someone to hear his calls and help him get down.

It was painful, I truly wanted nothing more than a cat in my life, right there and then. So over to the centre I walked, to look at the kittens in the window. Seeing their precious faces made me long for a cat of my own even more. I told my daughters how much it hurt to be there, because I wanted one so badly. We left the store but the feeling of longing for a kitty to love, did not leave me.

We drove home and my girls immediately joined the neighbor girls on a hike on the mountain behind our home. Within a half an hour they were back. They’d discovered a cat, high in a skinny pine tree, howling.  The cat was at least forty feet up in the tree.
A neighbor told the girls it had been howling since before the weekend (that would be a week). No one had been able to coax it down and the fire department wouldn’t help.

I headed out with the girls to investigate (upper right pictures). There he was all right, unable to come down because the pine had no lower branches. The wilderness park is teaming with coyotes–he must have been chased up too high to get back down. Each night the coyotes must have visited the tree, making an evening escape impossible too. We called and called to Pyewacket and he called back but could not get down.

Pyewacket, my daughter Mist and me, an hour after his rescue.

I rushed home to make a few calls. A neighbor-friend agreed to meet us there with his ladder. By the time we got back to the forest Pyewacket was gone. Our calls had finally gotten to him. He could not take the tree any longer and in his weakened state, he’d attempted to climb down but fallen. Our friend Dave, suggested we look in the grass, as he’d be too weak to get very far. Dave found him. His body was emaciated but he seemed to be alert and friendly. I took him home to my garage where I nursed him back to health with water in a syringe and wet cat food.The neighbor who lived directly behind the tree where Pyewacket was stranded, stopped by to say she’d been hearing the cat howl for a week but could not find any way to  rescue him. Pyewacket is magic. How can a cat survive for a week high in a tree? 

 

I (over the course of two hours) had wanted nothing more than a cat in my life, and then suddenly I had a cat in my home. Pyewacket was mine. Pyewacket was the most friendly, gentle boy ever. I fell instantly in love. It was as though I’d conjured him up and he appeared in a tree behind my house. I enjoyed every moment with Pyewacket, knowing I’d have to give him up eventually as my dog would most likely kill him instantly and Pyewacket could not live our garage forever.

Pyewacket has found a good home where I can visit him often. My sister is a vet. She said she’d take him and try to find him a good home with some of her favorite clients. So Pyewacket went to live in the Kootneys. But Pyewacket is magic–Pyewacket wrapped his tail around my sister’s finger and she could not part with the dear boy. He is now officially the clinic cat of Cottonwood Falls Animal Clinic.

For more unusual and fascinating animal stories read Black Widow Totem–True Story or Wolves Don’t Bark.

2 Responses

  1. ritch
    | Reply

    He looks like my guy JR. love tabbies, the all-purpose cat…

  2. Mix Hart
    | Reply

    Me too. The tabby pattern is the original, dominant cat patterning of the coat–ancient pre-human cats had this pattern.

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