A Llittle Llove Story

Love, Beth, Jim & Catsby is how I signed a batch of Valentine’s Day cards this year. Two things were unusual about this: 1. that I even sent Valentine’s Day cards; and 2. that I included our nearly sixteen-year-old cat in the closing. My friend, Nedra, commented on Catsby’s inclusion in a recent call and suggested that we see him as a member of the family. We do – and I know we aren’t alone in that feeling. According to the Pew Research Center in 2023, 57% of women pet owners say their pets are just as much a part of their family as a human member. However, Nedra’s observation sparked me to reflect on just what this 8-pound bag of striped fur means to me – and Jim – and us as a couple.

I’ve had cats about as long as I’ve been alive, give or take a few years. This is thanks to my father, a cat lover, and from great tolerance courtesy of my mother, not a cat lover. The longest stretch I’ve not been a “childless, cat lady” was for seven weeks after Hawthorne died in late 2005 and before Cody joined us in February of 2006. Both were extremely handsome tawny cats. Here’s Cody and Jim after an emergency vet visit to treat a wound to his paw.

However, this post is focused on Catsby – and the Llama Valentine’s Day card from him to me this year. Prepare yourself for what you’re going to read. It may be nausea-inducing.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

I’m so llucky that many years ago you picked me to be in your llife. I know I ALWAYS have not exactly been a no-drama llama (after llosing my llunch), but thank you for taking such good care of me. I know I am slowing down and can’t play llike I used to. But I’m happy and I can still jump up and llounge on your llap when we watch TV.

Llove,

Catsby

Catsby (originally named “Freeway” since he was rescued as a stray running along I-95 in Florida) has indeed not been a no-drama cat. He’s had food issues from the get-go. He wins the award for barfiest Lambdin/Henze cat – usually making his “deposit” on a bed or a rug and rarely on the easy-to-clean tile floor.

However, we prefer barf, if it means he’s eating. Catsby stopped eating in early July 2017 which put him in the hospital over the fourth of July while we tried to figure out what was going on. Three days later, we brought him home with a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease, which meant a steady regimen of medications every other day, probably for the rest of his life. Okay, we thought, we can do that. And we have. Most of the time, it’s no big deal. But it is a challenge to travel because he’s an absolute wizard at disappearing within the house (he’s indoor only) and the cat sitter can’t find him to administer the pills. Therefore, the cat goes without his meds while we’re gone and that usually means he either stops eating or eats less, a lot less.

We’ve worked it out with our vet that he can miss up to two doses without life-threatening effects so we limit our travel to five days away. Still, after we return, it can take weeks to get the cat back to normal eating. Meanwhile, Jim and I have not been able to turn back time, and I wonder sometimes if we’ll ever travel internationally while we’re still spry enough to enjoy it. I recently heard Amy and David Sedaris talk to Anderson Cooper on his fabulous podcast, “All There Is,” and their father described Amy’s pet rabbits as holding her hostage (https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/all-there-is-with-anderson-cooper). We know the feeling.

However, on a day-to-day basis, Catsby is just no-drama Catsby. He starts his morning by playing with his favorite toy, a red straw, or batting a teensy black and white ball around with Jim. He delights in sending it soaring off the side of the bed and I have to think he takes some pleasure in forcing Jim to play fetch and retrieve the ball.

Then comes lounging in the sun on top of the pillow on the bed. Since we live in a place that averages over 230 days of sunshine a year, rays of sunlight are pretty much a given.

After Jim’s bike ride and shower, Catsby jumps up on Jim’s desk with a little “urp” to either sit inches from his face and stare at him while he eats a bowl of fruit, or lies down in the crook of his arm with his head on the mouse. Regardless of the positioning, he has a talent for being maximally in the way of completing the desired task at hand.

Throughout the day he rouses himself from naps to amble to two different feeding stations, one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen, to eat or disdain three types of dry food or four types of wet food. “Good boy,” we tell him whenever we see him eating.

I come in from a walk on the beach and Jim is reading in the recliner with the cat on his lap. When it’s time for his pills, Jim picks him up, tucks him under his arm, and says, “We’re going for a little ride, Bubby” before setting him down on the bathroom counter. We have to pry his clenched mouth open to push the pills down his threat but the cat tolerates our ministrations and holds no grudges. At the vet, Jim opens the top of the carrier and Catsby pops his head out and up like the meerkats we see at the Brevard Zoo, always on the alert for danger. A dog walks in and down his head goes, only to pop up again a few seconds later.

After the sun flares a brilliant yellow as it slides into the Banana River calling it quits for the day, the click of the TV turning on is Catsby’s cue to come sit on my lap. He jumps up on the table next to the recliner, (there’s that “urp” again), walks across me to nestle over my upper chest (the ophthalmologist once told me I have cat hair in my eyes), extends his front legs on either side of my neck, and purrs away until…in his own time, he walks down my body to plop on my lap to snooze away the evening.

At night’s end, the TV clicks off, and the cat heeds the cue once again, and off he goes for a snack before retiring for the evening.

You get the idea: we fawn over this little cat. He softens our hearts and lifts our moods. He, clearly, is a vessel for our love and goodness. Who doesn’t need that these days?

Reader Questions: What gives you joy and solace these days? What are your vessels for love and goodness?