Satin -My Big black tolerant cat

I’m sure at one time or another you will say that you have had the greatest pet in the world, but can you say that about a Cat? Let me introduce you to Satin, the most tolerant Cat I have ever known or even heard of.

He came into this world in February 1996, he was named while he was still wet. His Mother had him and his siblings under the head of my bed. He was solid black and wet and reminded me of black Satin, that is how he got his name. He quickly found his way into my heart with the things he did. When it was bedtime, he got in between me and my husband and would massage one of us, depending on how he laid. It actuality we both would get massages. He would put his paws on the back of the ‘massagie’ sans claws, and pat, with the patting came pushing. His back was against either my back of my husbands back and we would get a ‘soft’ massage, via fur. It was great, I knew I had to have this cat in my life.

As early as possible I had him neutered, I knew I didn’t want more kittens roaming the house and certainly didn’t want the spray that male cats do. He didn’t seem angry about this, but one never knows. As instructed I kept him in the house for a few days after the surgery. As soon as he was able to go outside that is exactly what he did. Within 3 weeks of his surgery, he disappeared. We were devastated.

It was close to Halloween when I began calling the shelters, they let me come look at the cats, but informed me that even if I found mine I wouldn’t be able to get him until after the big day.  They explained to me that people do the strangest things to black cats during this holiday, and none of them were pleasant.  I looked, and none of them were Satin, all were pretty, but I wanted my cat.

Word came to us that a little girl in our neighborhood got a new cat, I was curious I wanted to see this cat.  It was black, just like my Satin, all the markings were the same.  This was my cat, my cat had been ‘catnapped’.  What was I going to do?  The little girl insisted that it was her cat, she lied and said she had him since he was tiny.  Her mother was present during this I could tell by the look on her face, she knew it was my cat as well.  Reluctantly I handed him back to her.  She took him back into her apartment, I looked up at the windows and seen the blinds were drawn in one room.  Several times I went back by this apartment, in the hopes he would be outside.  I kept looking at the window with the blinds drawn, each time there was more shredding, the blinds were fast disappearing.  

The family moved after several weeks of missing my cat.  The blinds were shredded in the one window.  I was afraid they had taken my cat.  

My middle daughter was outside playing one day and she came running into the house yelling “Mommy, Mommy, I found Satin”, sure enough she brought Satin in.  He looked good, no starvation present, no signs of abuse.  His demeanor had changed, he was angry,  angry at the whole world it seemed.  I called my Vet and they explained to me that he was probably angry with me because I didn’t find him.  They said it may take some time for him to return to normal, after all he had been through a big ordeal.  He slept for 3 days on the porch, in the sun.  If anyone tried touching him he hissed and spit at them, this was the only time in his life he would ever do that.   I talked to him and tried stroking him in such a manner that he seemed to find soothing.  Very slowly he came back to us mentally.  He never did give us massages again, but would sleep in our bed.

As will happen with families, things change, time moves on.  It was time for us to move, I had many animals in my home and was moving to a much smaller house, with a lot less space.  We were living on 95 acres in an old farm house, and now were moving to a mobile home park.  I had to make some choices of which animals I could keep.  I had Satin, his mother Boots, his sisters Tommy two toes and Babe.  I put an ad in our local paper and found homes for the girls and Boots. I had decided to keep Satin, not only because he was neutered, but he had already been through one heck of a time in his life.

So with 1 dog and 1 cat I moved.  I kept Satin enclosed in the home for several days so he could get the ‘lay of the land’ as was recommended by all the books I had read regarding cats.  He seemed satisfied with his new home, and quickly adjusted.  He liked laying in the windows to look out, it didn’t take him long to figure out if he pushed hard enough the screens would pop out.  This was how he would go outside, frustrating indeed. 

Our new neighbor had a black cat as well, this was a female and she was spayed, they made fast friends.  She would come and ‘knock’ on our door (this was done in kitty fashion), by holding on to the screen and pulling at it.  Satin would go to the door, look at me so of course I had to let him out.  They played in between the two homes in the bushes and such, it was fun to watch. 

I was warned of a neighbor who loved to watch birds, as any cat lover will attest, birds are a delicacy for cats.  I promptly went out and bought a collar for Satin that had a bell, I was trying to be a good pet owner.  One day after several months had passed in our new home, my neighbor came over looking for her cat, asking if I had seen her.  No I had not.  She then explained to me that ’Lou-Lou’ our other neighbor (the bird lover) liked to trap cats and shoot them.  She was afraid her cat had went into Lou’s yard.  I told her that I would keep a watch for her cat, and let her know if I seen anything.   

After the disappearance of his friend, Satin started going outside at night rather than the day.  One evening about 11 pm my husband heard a horrific scream, he quickly went out side to see what was going on.  He heard rustling in the bushes and discovered Satin cowering in them.  Then he heard voices coming from a few doors down.  He put Satin in the house, noticing that his collar was missing.  He went to see what was going on.  Two men, one was Lou and the other Art, the park repairman, were behind the homes talking.  In Lou’s yard was a ‘live trap’, Lou was holding his arm, and there was blood.  My husband asked if they had heard the scream, neither one had, or so they said.  Quickly assessing the situation, my husband could glean that indeed they had trapped Satin and somehow he escaped, in the process he scratched Lou, in Lou‘s hand was my cats collar.  My husband gave a warning to these two men that our cat was to be left alone.  He then told them if he saw another ‘live trap’ he was taking it.  Only 1 time did my husband have to make good on that threat, Art came to him and asked if he had taken it, he admitted that he did and said he would continue to do so.  When visiting Lou, my husband noticed that he kept a collection of Cat’s collars nailed to his shed, as trophies.

Lou had used canned cat food to catch the cats, since that time Satin will not touch canned cat food, unless it is Christmas time, then he expects to see his favorite canned food wrapped under the tree.  As soon as it’s wrapped he will go to it and sniff it, waiting for Christmas to come.  The rest of the year he will not touch it.
 
When living in close surroundings with people, mice and other varmints also gather, having cats keeps them at bay. This incident left us with a bitter taste in our mouth, we wondered how people could be so cruel.  We needed to move.

We found some property and was able to put a home on it, I went through the same motions as I had before, keeping Satin inside until he was comfortable. We had acquired a new kitty “mini-mew’ was her name. Satin just accepted her as if she had been with us always. Over the years the kids brought in various animals and he took it in stride, giving them nothing more than a cursory sniff.

The first time letting Satin out of the house made me laugh. It was night time, and he went to the door, asking to be let out. Unlike most Siamese cats, his ‘meow’ is very quiet, almost inaudible. With his size, he is hard to miss, he is very long and all black and weighs about 18 lbs. I asked him “Are you sure you want to go out?” He gave me the quietest of ‘meows’ as if to answer. I opened the door, he gingerly stepped out, got about 5 feet from the door and began ducking, there were BATS!!! He very rapidly came back in. I couldn’t help but laugh, it was so funny seeing this large animal afraid of bats.

Satin has not been much of a ‘mouser’, Princess my dog made a better mouser than he did. One time I heard a commotion in my bathroom, I seen Princess go running, jumping into the tub. I went in to see what was going on, Princess had gotten the mouse killed it and let it go, Satin was sitting on the side of the tub looking at it, Mini-mew came running, jumped between the two of them snatched the mouse and took off with it.

Over the years as he has gotten older he doesn’t much care for company, so he spends his time sleeping in one of the bedrooms, coming out only when things are happening. Every now and then someone closes the door on him and I will hear a quiet scratching when he wants out, he never uses his claws, just the pads when he does this.  We have found 1 sure fire way of getting him to come out from whatever hidey hole he has hidden himself in.  Decide to have a bowl of cereal, I think he must have some sort of ESP going on, because just the decision alone is enough for him to come running.  Yes, it's funny to watch a fat man run!  He will sit patiently by the person eating the cereal, until all the cereal is gone, leaving only the milk. He has designated himself as the official 'cereal finisher-offer', and what a fine job he does!  

He takes bathing in stride, as if it’s an every day occurrence. He doesn’t particularly like them, but if I tell him he needs it, he is very good about it.

When Princess got sick and had to be released from earthly pain, Satin was there to comfort me. He sat on my kitchen island for several days so that every time I passed by I could stroke him and he could stroke me, it seemed we comforted each other. He appeared to be sad as well, he missed his friend who had been there since he was born.

He comes out when I sew, he likes to sit on my pattern pieces maybe it’s the crinkly sound they make. I’m not sure but I just pick him up and move him when necessary. The only thing that we have ever had a ‘problem’ with is his desire to drink from the fish tanks. He likes to precariously perch on the edge and drink. His weight has crumbled one tank and the new one seems to be on the brink as well.

As I said time marches on, and with it comes new animals. Satin seems to be tolerant of them all, even puppies. He never seems to get upset with their antics, just likes to watch them. When he goes outside and the dogs deem it necessary to chase him, he gives up and doesn’t run. He just sits there and lets them sniff him, never even batting at their noses. They quickly give up, leaving him alone.

My daughter brought rats home from school, Satin took that in stride as well. He sniffed them, were told they were pets, and he has left it at that. Never even bothering to attempt to hurt them. He even tolerates my daughter putting them on him to crawl around.

When the grand babies started arriving I wasn’t sure how he would react. Whenever we had little ones over prior to the grand babies, Satin would just leave the room, I figured he didn’t much care kids. We brought each baby home at their designated times, he gave them his cursory sniff and went on his way. We now have another baby, this one is learning to crawl and is fascinated by the animals. She likes to pat them, sometimes a bit roughly. Her only words that she uses are ‘Mum-mum’ and ‘bark-bark” (in reference to the dogs). At times I have observed her laying on Satin, licking his fur. When has had enough loving, he will go on his way.

This morning, the baby was crawling around trying to find things to get into, Satin deliberately walked into the room and laid down in front of her thumping his tail, drawing her attention. She was up for the game, she crawled to him and got his tail, I watched to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt, as usual, Satin just wanted to play with her. He allowed her to pull on his tail and even try to eat it, tolerating all of her attentions.

For an ordinary cat, he has made my life extraordinary, He’s my Champ!!