One day, the black cat didn’t show up. He remained missing for several weeks, and Mom wondered what had happened to him. Dad thought that he had seen the cat near the old warehouse next to their apartment building.
So one cold, snowy day, Mom went into the warehouse and called for the kitty. After a few minutes of this, she heard a little “Meow” and some rustling from the top of a large stack of boxes. The black cat came bounding down, apparently excited at the prospect of food. It appeared he was staying in the warehouse to keep warm. He was a very friendly cat, and not at all afraid to be petted by Mom.
Mom decided that she was going to rescue this poor, freezing cat. She went back to the apartment to fetch our cat-carrier and some tuna. She placed the tuna in a bowl inside the carrier, and the cat walked right into it. Daddy wasn’t keen on keeping another cat, so Mom took him to the local Humane Society in hopes that he would get adopted.
A few days later, she and Dad went back to see if the cat had been adopted by anyone. When they searched the cages, they couldn’t find him anywhere, and figured that perhaps he had. But then they saw him, in the “death row” section. The Humane Society said that he was “un-adoptable” because he was too old, and appeared too sick. Mom and Dad didn’t want to see him put down for those reasons, so they paid the fee to take him back.
They took the cat to their vet to get him checked out. The vet said that he was actually quite young, about 2 years old. He wasn’t sick, but because he was a long-haired cat, his fur was terribly matted and couldn’t be combed out. The vet shaved all of the matted spots. Somewhere around our house we have a picture—that I can’t find at the moment—of Panther after he was shaved. He looked pretty comical with huge bald patches mixed in with his long black fur!
Mom and Dad brought him home, planning on keeping him JUST UNTIL HIS FUR GREW OUT and he could be put back up for adoption. Well, by the time his fur grew back, he was part of the family—and a gorgeous part at that! J
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| They named him Panther because he panted just like a dog, and was black as a panther. He was a very large cat, and looked very regal with his long, black coat. |
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| Panther got along quite well with our other cats. He and Novella were best-buddies. |
Panther also got along exceptionally well with our dog, Noah (more on him next week!) Noah and Panther would lie down right next to each other and clean one another! It wasn’t uncommon to walk into a room and find the cat and dog curled up next to each other.
They may have gotten along so well because Panther seemed to think he was a dog. In fact, Panther played fetch better than Noah did! You could throw a cat toy down the stairs for Panther and he would run after it, and bring it back up to you!
Panther was the perfect cat for a family with lots of little kids. He was very laid back, docile, and social. Roma and Rubia were very physical in their affections toward Panther. Whenever he would enter the room, they would quickly be upon him, smothering him with hugs and kisses that only 3-year-olds are capable of giving. J
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| One of Panther’s quirks was that he had a split tongue. One day shortly after Mom and Dad decided to keep him, Mom pulled out a coat hanger from the closet while Panther was in the room. He suddenly bolted at the sight of the hanger. We always wondered if he may have been abused at one time, resulting in that split tongue. But that didn’t seem to affect his temperament towards us. |
When Panther was about 12 years old, our Grandparents came to visit from Pennsylvania. Grandma was holding Panther on her lap and commented that he seemed to have lost weight. We hadn’t really noticed since he was so fluffy from his long hair, but we took him to the vet. Sadly, our dear kitty was experiencing kidney failure.
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| Saying good-bye was hard. He was the very first pet that we had to put down. |
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| Daddy with Panther on his last day with us. |
We loved Panther a lot! And we were thankful that he didn’t have to be in pain before he died. We will always have such fond memories of our cat/dog! J
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