This happened earlier enjoying a perfect morning in Phoenix, Arizona. I looked over to see Buttons swatting at a couple flies. It was pretty cute only lasting 4 shots. Neither cat was really interested in having their photo taken, so it was time to review the pictures. I started going through the files and saw she had a bee right above her eye. No animals were harmed. Well, I can’t be sure for the bee, but Buttons will get over the bees trying to poke her eye. Hope the GIF was funny!
Update:
Buttons passed away last week. My neighbor was kind enough to inform me. I’m not sure how she died, but I know it wasn’t from this event after inspecting her multiple times through the day. I wanted to inspect her body more, but I didn’t want the mental picture. She was gone long before I was informed.
Jokingly I said this meme was her 8th life swatting at bees. I think she came to me with maybe 3 left. I remember seeing her at Petsmart and found out she was rescued by the MASH unit from a hoarder. She used all of her claws for everything and I think that was met by humans with a lot of force just purely out of reaction to the pain. I can only imagine her journey up to the point we met.
She was an inbred, oily, dirty, fat, smelly, kitty that didn’t like being picked up and resisted bonding. It started making sense why she was housed separate from her kin and the look the Petsmart employee gave me when I picked her.
After she became more comfortable, she started challenging and stalking my other cat and exhibited destructive behavior when I wasn’t watching. It’s hard to love a cat like that, but she’s a cat and there were a lot of differences in her personality. A good test was the difference in her reaction to catnip versus the older cat.
She would impulsively kneed into the air and had a quite chirpy purr when she was happy. Most of the time it was while standing and it looked like she was doing a little happy dance. She liked being touched, but even with myself was leary. It took months for her to let me pick her up without having a panic attack. She still frowned and licked her nose in disdain. Until I gave her neck rubs, then she would start bathing herself.
The first time she got out I was worried sick. Even though we hadn’t bonded I still felt responsible for her safety. 3 days went by and she finally came back after I stopped putting food out. She was dirty and lost a bunch of weight. We started to bond more after that. The bogavia in the cover picture is where I found her and it remained her outside safe place.
She eventually started coming around and it became evident when she would bath herself without intervention. Part of that turnaround was exercise and the other was basic needs food, shelter, loving attention.
I truly believe cats need to go outdoors along with the basics. When it cooled down enough I cracked the window and let them outside. I kept a close watch with both cats at first. They both understood when it was time to come in. It also, became a choke point in cat quarrels, but for the most part a quick exit from whatever creature lurks outdoors to indoor safety. They are cats. They explore, hunt, soak up the sun, roll in dirt, drag in presents, and do cat things.
The day before she passed we were caught having our first bully up lap petting session by the older cat. Her fur was soft, well kept now. She was rolling, purring, chirping with her front paws splaying open and closed as if kneading her mother’s teats for milk.
There we were as the older cat walked through doorway shaking her head in disbelief and immediately saunter over to attempt an attack from behind. It was time to let them outside. The older cat made claim to the yard and knew the areas that were safe. Buttons had figured out some of those areas too. Unfortunately she still had a penchant for getting herself into trouble.
Buttons had a lot going on with her short life. Half of it spent in conditions that were traumatic and unhealthy. It’s sad that I wasn’t able to protect her from whatever got her, but she lived several months like a cat should. She was a loving cat and will be missed.
