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Jeff Dorris

Deliberations from Dorris

Jeff Dorris is the Editor of the Delta Dunklin Democrat

Editorial

That darn cat

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Jeff Dorris

jdorris@dddnews.com

I never liked cats.

I’m a dog person.

I’d had some bad experiences with felines throughout the years and never really desired their company.

When I married my wife she had a cat.

A big cat.

Nugget.

He was black with white spots sprinkled on his face and nose.

He was huge.

To me he looked like a black panther as he prowled the house.

We kept our distance and just tolerated each other.

One night I woke up with a pain in my arm and glancing down saw Nugget with his mouth buried in my forearm looking up at me.

Of course my wife laughed and said he was probably just playing with me.

I was not so sure.

Is that how cats show affection?

They bite you?

Nugget and I continued for quite awhile like that until I believed I had found a way to bond with him.

I’d make him a dog.

He was as big as one anyway.

So that’s what I did.

Nugget learned to fetch. I’d throw a little felt ball and he run and bring it back to me.

He’d roll on his back like a dog and let me scratch his stomach. He only allowed this for a short time before he awarded me with one of his affectionate bites. After all, my wife said that’s how cats show love.

I admit I encouraged bad behavior by feeding him little bites of pizza or cheeseburgers. I let him drink from the sink.

He became my buddy.

In the mornings he would jump up on the bathroom sink while I got my shaving kit out.

I would turn the water on and he’d place his paw under the faucet checking the water temperature.

When he believed the water was hot enough he would look at me and meow.

It’s time to shave.

Nugget was 18 years old and in the last few months he started having troubles.

He’d miss his litter box and I swear if a cat could look embarrassed he did.

In the last month he wouldn’t eat or drink much and this cat never turned down a morsel of food.

Then the seizures came.

We were told it was probably a slow growing cancer that had moved to his brain.

We said goodbye to Nugget this week.

He’s buried in our back yard by the flowerbed where he would have devoured every flower if we’d let him.

That darn cat.

I’ll miss him.

Thank you Nugget for showing me that not only could I like a cat, but I could love one.

See you out there.

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