Saturday, September 2

Piper and I

I live in an apartment in Florence, Kentucky circa 2011/2012 where I worked for a proprietary college just across the river from Cincinatti, Ohio.


My apartment was more like a condo with two bedrooms, two baths, a foyer, a living room, dining room, kitchen, office, and balcony.  There was an HOA but the fees were not all that much as a recall.


I came home on the weekends (about a 4 hour drive) and we planned to rent out the condo or sell it if the job did not work out.  The job did not work out and I left after a year.  We rented the condo for about 3 years before selling it at a profit.


With I was there, we decided to get a pet for me and since a dog was too much maintenance, we decided on a cat.  We found a Siamese cat for sale for $100 that was pure-bred but it cost $500 to get those papers, which we declined.


I named the cat Piper but the cat had not been socialized, so for several weeks, the cat would hide from me.  I had a food bowl and water bowl, and a liter box.  He ate the food and drank the water and used the box but would not show himself.  At night I would feel him walking on my back.


He eventually came out and we became the best of friends.  He did not like me being away during the day but when I returned, he sat with me on couch for the rest of the night and then slept with me in the bed.


When I moved back down to our home in East TN, he easily became friends with the other cats since the other two had visited me every other weekend.  He never got close to my wife even though, she gave all three cats treats twice a day.  Piper would lay in her lap until I appeared then he wanted to just be with me.


A couple of years ago, a mast cell cancer was removed from his tail but the surgeon said that she did not get it all and it could come back.  So far it has not returned to his tail, although he could have metastasized to other parts of his body.  All three of our cats are over 10 years old and cats don't usually live longer than 15 years or so...  there are always exceptions.


A pure Siamese has totally black paws on the bottom with not splotches which Piper has.  The Vet spotted this right away.  Siamese cats are very vocal and this one is no exception.  Piper hurt his eye outside a while back and lost it but that does not slow him down any.


Right now, Piper is laying against my leg as I sit on the couch.  Tippy a yellow cat is on the top of the seat of that same couch and Chazy another yellow cat is sleeping at the same location on another couch.  My wife is outside in the sunroom but these cats prefer inside with the AC like me.


Piper is the second animal that has ever gotten close to me.  The first was a dachshund when I was a child.  One might say, animals are my weakness.

 

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