T-Cat

A sad day.

Last night a car hit our family cat. His name was Timothy and he meant the world to my daughter Kira.

Timothy’s story begins with two rabbits last July. At the time, Holly was working in an office and one of her co-workers had accepted a one-year contract working in Kuwait. The only problem was, she didn’t have anyone to take care of her rabbits. Holly volunteered because she saw a friend in need. None of us knew anything about caring for rabbits, but we figured it was better for us to try than to have them put to sleep.

We soon discovered that rabbits need hay as part of their diet. Holly called around and found a local feed and grain store. They told us Timothy Hay is the best kind, so we bought a bundle. The store also had a cage with several cats and a ‘free to good home’ sign.

Kira had wanted a cat for months, but it was just never the right time. On that day, she convinced the store clerk to let her take a tiny black kitten out to the car to show me. The cat was only several weeks old and the size of my hand. As soon as I held him his whole body rumbled with purrs. We had a new cat. It seemed obvious to name him Timothy.

We kept him inside for months until he grew. Even after we let him go outside, we watched to make sure he knew how to find his way home. As time passed, we gave him several nick-names “Tim”, “Timmers”, and “T-Cat”.

Eventually, he became a full-grown cat and came and went as cats do. He never lost his playfulness. Given half a chance, he’d always attack a passing ankle. He also loved playing with rubber bands. Most of all, he loved printers. Every time we printed a page on the laser printer or inkjet printer, he’d leap on the table, stare intently as the printer made noises, and then try to shred the paper as it emerged. Many pages had to be printed more than once. We would joke that Hewlett-Packard needed to develop a cat guard for its printers.

RIP T-Cat.