October Fourth is a special date for our family, both in positive and negative ways. For many it is the day of their birthday, for others it is not an important date because nothing happens that is memorable. With us it is.

October Fourth is the day my sister, Marianne, died, seven years ago now. She had just turned fifty. So we remember her every year. This is not what we are going to talk about in this blog.

October fourth is also the day sixteen years ago, our oldest cat Sukie was born. Sukie had a very special birth. In 2002, we adopted a cat named Hershey, a red-and-white, very affectionate cat. She grew up in an apartment, and when we later moved to our first home, of course she just came with us. Hershey turned out to be a hunter who preferred to go out for as long and as much as possible. She gave birth to a litter of six kittens, four red-and-white, and two spotted, in our closet on October 4, 2003. Because for some reason, she had to and would give birth in that closet (which, of course, we had prepared).

The delivery went well, but Sukie was the worry child from birth. She was very small, was pushed aside by her siblings and barely got any nutrition from her mother. We got her through with extra feeding, but she always remained our "little rat." The other kittens grew up faster and firmer, but Sukie was the smartest, and often managed to amass her meals in devious ways. By the time the kittens were fully grown, we had become so attached to her that we kept her. Her only sister went to live with a good friend; the pink kittens all got warm homes. 

Today, sixteen years later, Sukie is still with us. Still our "little rat" who decides for herself when she comes to lie on your lap. Her favorite spot is the television decorder. When we still had a large model, she lay on it day and night - we had to replace the thing several times because of the hair that slipped between the electronics - and now that we have a much smaller model, she just lies down next to it, with her head on it. 

Sukie has her own will, but she is also very easy to get along with. She was all fine with more cats arriving in our home, and generally gets along well with everyone, as long as they stay away from her 😉 . During the lockdown, she lay with our son Michiel day and night, whose room we reorganized. She has her own pillow there, right next to his computer, as it naturally gives off heat. 

Meanwhile, our cat household has grown considerably. Hershey sadly passed away a year after giving birth. Her hunting parties became fatal to her. We have not had our cat Binky, the second in our family, since 2003. After Hershey's death, we adopted Smarty (age 15), a gray tiger, also the darling of our oldest son, since they are the same age. A few years later came Bailey (age 13), another rose-with-white, who loves laptops and keyboards. Six years ago we adopted Mickey (gray-with-white) and Hamley (black), who were found as kittens in Buggenhout Forest, and are both very affectionate. Four years ago, a kitten suddenly appeared in our yard who was very skittish and needed a lot of attention. We were able to catch and tame her. Lexie is an American shorthair with beautiful markings in her fur. 

We thought it was now complete, but two years ago two stowaways suddenly turned up in our yard, cats who had previously been living with our neighbors down the street, but could no longer settle there. Circumstances prevented them from staying there either. They chose this place as home, and in consultation with the neighbors, we adopted them. Mellie and Mango are very attached to each other and usually stay together.

We also had bunnies, both from adoption and temporarily, because we were host families for dumped animals. And then there were our two chickens, Witteke and Bruintje, wonderfully sweet chickens who ran loose in the garden and behaved like dogs. They ran after us whenever we were in the garden, and they ate with the cats. Sometimes they came inside to sleep. Witteke lived to be six, and Bruintje passed away at the blessed age of seven a few months ago. Currently we still have a hedgehog family in the garden, and the neighbor's cats visit frequently.

Cats choose their slaves, people sometimes say, and that is the case here. I don't think we will ever run out of animals. Spoil your animals extra on this day! 

Author:
Sandra J. Paul - Hamley Books