Adulting Part Ten: Perseverance

I have a large orange cat who wanted to be a cool kid.

Collette Greystone

May 22, 2023

I have a large orange cat who wanted to be a cool kid.

He’s beautiful, don’t you think?

The original story:

Its All About the Cool Kids

Collette Greystone

October 10, 2022

Have you ever been lucky enough to be a cool kid? Then you know how some form of power feels. In the last ten years, I’ve had 13 cats come and go. Strays all of them. Well taken care of. Currently there are 6 cats here. Three of these cats consider themselves the “cool cats”, with one trying very hard to be the fourth.

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perseverance

pûr″sə-vîr′əns

noun

Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.

I used to be a dog person until he died and now, I have seven cats.

I have a large coffee mug that has a cartoon picture of a cat and “I do what I want,” printed on it.

I am not that crazy cat person. Really. Though some days it feels like that.

When I retired to the country several years back, I thought it would be the quiet country life, doing what I want, when I want.

Retirement is like being in your twenties except that you can’t count on your body as much and if you did it right, you don’t have to rush off somewhere to make more money.

You can sleep until you get up.

You can stay up as late as you want.

You can eat chocolate cake for breakfast if you want.

Living in the country, you soon find out, is that city people come and abandon unwanted critters, mainly cats, at the end of your driveway.

Our first cat was a cute female whom we didn’t get spayed fast enough. She produced five kittens. After spending a fortune spaying, neutering and on vaccinations, the coyotes starting picking them off one at a time.

We still have one from that litter. A back porch cat. Not a cool kid.

Then someone dumped a very pretty, orange and white cat, FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus) positive. The vet asked if we wanted to “put him down” because of the FIV status.

FIV, it was explained, is like HIV - AIDS in humans.

We declined “putting him down”.

We live in the country. He’s not going to “spread it” to anyone.

He’s our gentle giant. Also, as dumb as dumb can be, but very sweet.

He has crossed eyes.

He’s healthy and weighs twelve pounds now and prefers to live in the barn, though he willingly comes in the house on very cold nights.

He is still part of the gang today, but a back porch cat. Not a cool kid.

The following summer, in June (2018), we were having one of those cooling rain showers and out of the woods crawled a starving and what looked like a waterlogged kitten. At that time, he had weird coloring and was trying to put on a good show for us so we’d take pity.

We did.

At the vet’s office, we found he weighed three pounds, had had his teeth kicked in and they were infected and about three inches of his tail had been cut off. He also had a severe respiratory illness and carried “Cat Scratch Fever” an infectious bacterial disease that can be transmitted to humans. We had to administer antibiotics for around fourteen days and we had to fatten him up so he could have nine of his damaged teeth removed. That also involved a special puréed diet that he could easily consume.

We also had him neutered and vaccinated.

It turned out, he was a seven-year old that after that summer weighed ten pounds and is a very fluffy, long hair, gray and white cat with henna colored highlights and beautiful green eyes.

He now weighs fifteen pounds.

He’s the coolest cat and the “godfather” (aka “the sheriff”) of the clan.

They all look to him to set the tone of any situation.

Between my coolest cat and “the girls” was another, “the deputy”, I wrote about him and “the sheriff” here.

He died, tragically. It still brings tears. Some day I will be able to write about that.

The “godfather” hasn’t been the same since then…

“The girls” showed up on halloween.

We named them after characters in the original Bewitched series. They are/were our best mousers. One disappeared (we always assume taken by coyotes) in broad daylight.

Sometimes coyotes are awake at dawn.

Critics will say don’t ever, ever, ever let them out. I think it’s cruel to keep them inside all day, especially in the country.

They have a ball all day and then come in at night.

Next to come to us, my subject for today, was Rusty, but he was followed by two others, who quickly surpassed him in cool kid status and they matter to this story.

The first was a very skinny orange striped older kitten. He had been poisoned and required much attention as he was first diagnosed with a heart murmur (due to the poisoning). Much money and time spent.

The second was a very skinny, jet-black, older kitten with an injury to his paw, he was limping, we took pity. More money and time.

The reason they surpassed Rusty in “cool kid” status was because together they are “Lenny and Squiggy”, or “Ron White and Jeff Foxworthy”, and at times “Spy vs Spy”. I recently had to break them up with a broom and a pitcher of water, as little boys will sometimes escalate wrestling to fighting. Not mean, necessary. They are hilarious, genuine, grateful.

Now, if you have been wondering why I’ve outlined all of these cats, and if you have been counting, I’ve described eight of them, not including Rusty, six of those eight are, or have been “cool kids”.

I haven’t given the names of the other cats because I wanted you to focus on Rusty.

It took perseverance for you to read this far…

If you recall, the cool cats sit on the front porch in the afternoon sun. There are other perks as well, but that’s the big one.

The “godfather” chases non-cool cats off that front porch.

Originally I described Rusty in this way:

The fourth is a big orange Maine coon, new to my collection of strays, who reminds me of the Frankenstein monster in Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein. He’s bigger than the other cats, he makes strange grumbling noises to talk, and boy does he talk, unlike my resident gray Maine coon.
The orange Maine coon is the sweetest guy and to quote my significant other, using a line from king Julian in the movie Madagascar, “he’s just a giant pansy”.
He wants to be friends, but the cool cats won’t let him. Much hissing, frequently a growl, no big fur flying fights. He wants what the other cool cats get and he definitely doesn’t want to be one of the back porch cats (not the cool cats).

Rusty is a “cool kid” now.

How did that happen?

Perseverance.

We took a trip to Florida recently, the cool kids got to go to a “pet resort”. For them I wrote this about Rusty:

Our gentle giant. A stray that wasn’t so humanized. Whatever happened to him was bad. He’ll cower for no reason. We think he has some sort of hearing issue, the Vet wasn’t sure, but she said there’s something not right about his hearing. He does not like loud noises or surprises. He’ll run or cower before he comes to you. Once he gets to know you he’ll trust. It didn’t used to be like that. He was a lot of work to get him where he is today. We’ve had him maybe 2 1/2 years, he’s a lot better than he was. He’s not as smart as the rest of them, but is sweet as can be. He likes to be held and if he likes what you’re doing he’ll purr loudly. Is a cuddler if he trusts you. Is an indoor/outdoor cat. Is outside all day and comes in at night. Gets along with everybody. Will cower if you use “no” with him, but sometimes you have to tell him “no”. He doesn’t groom himself so he eventually gets a little dirty. He had a bath before coming to you. Needs to be brushed every other day. He’s a Maine Coon. His fur easily gets matted because he rarely cleans himself. He likes being brushed. Sitting on the floor or on a table, he’ll sit in your lap if you invite him. He will let you brush his belly if you stand him up on his hind legs. He defends our girl if she gets into trouble playing with one of the others.

Rusty is an all-around good guy.

He is generous. He spends time with the back porch cats.

He is accountable. If something gets knocked over, the rest will scamper, he’ll sit there and blink at me.

Exhibits patience. He will play endlessly with our girl.

The rest will loudly meow or scratch at the door to be let in or out, he’ll sit there and wait patiently until he’s let in or out.

He’s respectful. He yields to the godfather no matter what. Some would say sucking up, but I don’t think so. He “gets” that the godfather is the big kahuna.

He is a diplomat. He has brokered a peace deal with “Lenny and Squiggy”.

He is a teacher. We’re trying to leash train all of the cool kids so they don’t have to go to a pet resort when we travel.

Rusty is the one leading that effort. They all watch these exercises, they’re like kids, they get jealous when Rusty prances along on the leash with one of us. They’re all more interested in leash walking now…