Sassy cats — Old Jake memories

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Jake as a young cat

Next week will be ten years since I lost Jake, my infamous last black indoor-outdoor cat. I still think of him. I’ve had a few cats that are truly memorable and he is one of them. He was diabetic the last nine years of his life and allowed me to test his glucose and inject insulin. Other than that he was feisty. As the mancat of the house, he called the shots. I have a few posts to run remembering him. This one was a month before his death and was his last family reunion. As always, he found a way to bugger up the event!

It’s the family reunion of 2015 and I’m hosting. Every reunion has its story. Sometimes it’s about people and sometimes not. This year it’s about my old cat Jake.

Jake is over 18 and that’s old for a cat. He is an indoor/outdoor cat but his outdoor time is very little and usually involves lying on the warm brick patio.

Usually.

This past Sunday I hosted my family reunion. That means I’m slightly (ok, maybe more than slightly) neurotic. Getting things ready. Is everything set up? Do we have enough? (I don’t know why I ever worry about that!)

Jake went out after breakfast like he always does. He smells the perimeter bushes and if there was an offending critter that came in during the night, he will pee on the bush to establish territory. It’s exhausting work keeping the yard safe. Sometimes he can spend over an hour peeing on bushes with his old bladder.

Around noon I realized he never came back in. The plan was to keep the cats upstairs through the festivities. I had until 4 p.m. to find him and get him back inside.

I went walking his favorite spots around 2:30 p.m. but couldn’t find him. It’s ok. I have another hour and a half. Or so I thought.

My brother showed up an hour early with his family. It’s not a problem except there is no way Jake will come in. Strangers! Lots of them (anything more than one is lots)!

By the time everyone left it would be dark and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast so I didn’t think it would be too hard to get him back in.

Ha!

The last folks left before 9 p.m. A perimeter walk came up cat less. We cleaned up. Made sure all the food was put away. I walked the yard again. No Jake.

I walked the yard calling for him every half hour until midnight when my weary bones were exhausted so I went to sleep.

Since he hadn’t eaten and he only has three teeth (hard to gum something to death) I was afraid he’d be hungry. I left a small dish of dry cat food with some water in the screened porch which has a cat door. In a moment of brilliance I put the lock on the cat door so he could only come in and couldn’t go back out. (Que scary music here!)

At 3:30 a.m. (my first pee break) I decided to check the screened porch. I would let him back in if he was sleeping on the chair. There was a critter in the porch all right but it wasn’t Jake.

There was a raccoon happily dining on cat food. He was taking a nice long drink of water. He’s trapped on the porch because he can’t get out the cat door which is how he came in.

How do I know that? When he was done he went over to the cat door to get out. He acts like he’s done this before although we never leave food out there.

All day long the exterior people door to the screened porch would stick and would not close unless you pushed it. All I had to do was run around the back; push the door open; and run like hell back into the house.

Yeah, that’s all.

By the time I got back to the house I heard the damn door slam shut. First time it did that all day.

So far the raccoon isn’t agitated although I thought about waking up the beloved husband in case I was attacked. In the end I thought it wise to let sleeping husbands sleep.

I took a long stick I use for the pond to push open the door again and jammed it between the door and the sash.

The damn door again closed but not all the way. There was a 2” opening. I wisely went inside the house to watch the raccoon through a nice safe window.

He calmly opened the door and scurried on his way delighted that he had such a great supper. He would have to tell his friends about this restaurant.

I called for Jake but chose not to walk the yard in case other critters were lurking but again no Jake.

Now I was wide awake. From 3:30 on, every 20 to 30 minutes I checked for him. At 5:30 a.m. I heard him howling at the back door.

I let him in. He was looking for the wait staff (that would be me) to open the restaurant and feed him. Not surprisingly, the other three cats showed up from nowhere. They must have heard that the cat diner opened early.

He slept the entire day except for a vet visit and he had no interest in going outside again.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I won’t have another cat that goes outdoors. When you invest yourself in a pet, the anguish runs too deep when they can’t be found.

This story had a good end. Most of the reunion stories do although some have surprise, tragedy or heartache along the way.

And that was the reunion story for 2015!

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Hi Cupcake! Want some ‘nip? (This was his last picture.)

57 thoughts on “Sassy cats — Old Jake memories”

    • He was beautiful when he was younger. Silky soft black coat and sleek physique. He always smelled good. I could bury my nose in his fur and inhale! He wasn’t perfect (Morgan is the perfect cat). He didn’t always respond to getting called in. He was really good about his insulin shots.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Jake was a handsome boy. My husband had an indoor/outdoor cat when we got married. I saw her almost get run over and made her stay in after that and will never allow one outside.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I get it about missing pets. We had a parakeet who was only let out of his cage to sit on a shoulder and he was also finger-trained. He was never let out when food or dishes were out. One time Mom was washing dishes after dinner – dishes, pots, etc. were all over the place. My father went over to the cage and tapped the bars to say “hi” to Joey, the cage door accidently dropped down and Joey flew out. He always used to sit on my mom’s shoulder or finger, so he flew to her – she moved from the sink afraid he’d fall into the water, but he flew away and we couldn’t find him. Mom and I were in tears, afraid he’d fallen behind the fridge, afraid to move the fridge for fear of rolling over him. We called him, pleaded with him to come to us, looked everywhere – we knew he did not go downstairs as we quickly shut the cellar door. We were about to move the fridge, when we heard a chirp and he was sitting on the ladderback chair in the living room, probably enjoying the fanfare over him and hearing how important he was to us. Little bugger! 🙂

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  8. He looks like one of his larger brethren. Good looking cat. Sorry for your loss. My kitty, Feebee, came strolling up our long dirt driveway and fortunately adopted us. At the time the runt weighed maybe 6 pounds. One of the best things to have ever happened to us.

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    • Jake showed up in my friend’s yard yelling his head off (he was hungry). We estimated him to be around 3 months. She stopped by my house on the way to the shelter and the rest is history. No cat comes in my house and leaves, especially to go to a shelter.

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  9. WOW….that’s quite a story and quite a fun memory of Jake. I’m sure there were LOTS of them. Memories are like a favorite sweater you put on for extra comfort – your time with Jake made for some wonderful memories. I have great memories of my other cats – I STILL think of them often.

    Hugs, Pam

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    • The last six months were trying. He would get scared in the middle of the night and I would have to get up with him. I didn’t sleep through a single night. After he passed I slept three days straight. We still missed him though. Aging pets, like aging people, are difficult to watch.

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  12. Thanks for sharing this heartwarming story. I am so glad Jake finally returned home so you had some more time with him before he passed. If he had never returned, it would have been so tragic, and that does happen sometimes.

    This makes me want to snuggle all my kitties right now!

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    • I wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t return. At this point, he never went far. I was more worried that he’d have a diabetic issue or get scared by a predator. I was sure glad to see him even if it was at 5:30 a.m.

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  13. Oh my gosh…that was some story! So glad it was a happy ending one (well if you don’t count the anxiety his absence caused). He sounds like quite the character. Thanks for sharing-I can see why you no longer feel compelled to have and indoor/outdoor kitty. 🐈‍⬛

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    • He was the last and even then, he spent nights inside. It was his last harrah! I had 3 other cats at that time and none of them went out or showed interest in it. The cat door was operational. They watched him go in and out and not one of them tried it. I was lucky. Or they knew a good gig when they had one! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Ack, a racoon! Not good. I had a friend who had a cat door to her house (not a porch). Her cat came running in with a racoon following it. My friend had to fight off the racoon IN HER HOUSE and got bit. And so did her cat. I don’t remember the story how she got the racoon out, but in the end, she and her cat needed rabies shots after that incident. I worry about racoons out in our yard at night when we let the dog out. Those things are nasty. Glad Jake and you were safe that night.

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    • They aren’t aggressive unless you frighten them. I would guess that cat went after it (or one of it’s kits) and the raccoon went after the cat. Jake had some near incidents with foxes but he was always the aggressor. He could be as dumb as a box of hammers.

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      • Yeah, my dog might just be dumb enough to go after a racoon if he saw it. At night I don’t take the chance and I leash him in our fenced yard, but my husband doesn’t always follow that protocol. 😕

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        • Today, if I had a pet that went out, I’d have some sort of gps tracker on it. I was looking into it for Jake but at that time they were bulky and more for large dogs. Now they have all sorts of options. The good thing about Jake is that he was very vocal when he needed help. I chased a few critters out of the yard for him.

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  17. Those cats put us through the wringer. I wasn’t ever going to allow my cats outdoors, but some just refuse to be contained. And it gives me such anxiety when they escape. We installed a “pet window” for those times–that way Boss Cat could get back in at 1 AM. Which she did, covered in grass and dirt, after 19 hours on the loose and me convinced she was dead until I heard her thump down inside the house. She ate all the food and slept for the next day.

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  20. Oh Kate, such great lines in this. The waitstaff, the raccoon’s fine dining. And I remember Jake so well, Gus’s predecessor. I always thought Jake and Hazel were a couple. It’s the romantic in me. This is one of your very best pieces. Hi Jake, who I just know thinks so too. 🙂

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