“A Cat Named Timmy” By:  Phalma Hobbs

Timmy came into our lives in the spring of 1970, my youngest daughter, four years old, wanted a kitten.  The neighbor’s cat had a brood of kittens they were trying to find homes for, so off she went with her older sister to pick one up.  I remember my last words to them were “tell Mrs. Wells we want a male, I don’t want a female who will be always having kittens”.  They brought the kitten home…”oh yes, it’s a male, Mrs. Wells said so”.  I don’t know why but I didn’t bother to check it out.  The kids named “him” Timmy which later got shortened to Tim.  The cat grew and matured, it was then we found out our male cat was a female.  I think there was a mix-up somewhere, between the one Mrs. Wells said was a male and the one they brought home…I don’t think it had a sex change.  Since there was no veterinarian in town, we didn’t get anything done to prevent her from having kittens.  We still called her Timmy or Tim.

Over the years she had numerous litters of kittens, her offspring is probably spread all over Green Bay.  The kids grew up and finally Carol, the youngest and owner of the cat, left home for university.  With my husband working from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Timmy and I were alone most of the day.  We kept each other company, by this time her kitten producing days were over; seem that all she wanted to do was sleep, eat and go outside when nature called.

She couldn’t tolerate children anymore, the grandchildren would try to pet or play with her, but she did not want it and would run away or hiss at them.  She had her favorite chair which she slept in most of the time; if someone sat in it she would sit there in front of them and stare as if to say “how dare you…that’s my chair”.  I remember friends dropping in and saying “why is your cat starring at me?”  I would smile and say “you are sitting in her chair”.  They would sort of give me a funny look.

The spring of 1987, she was 17 years old; I hear that is really old in cat years.  She was deaf, most of her teeth were gone, but to the family she was still beautiful.  One morning, about 4 a.m., she came to my bedroom door; I let her outside as that was what she wanted.  When I got up around 7 a.m. and opened the door to call her in she wasn’t there.  Then I saw her lying on the street in front of the lawn.  She had been hit by a vehicle, she was dead.

I still miss her today, it has been seven years.  We didn’t get another pet, the kids were grown.