Final cat lesson

World, this is Gigi. Gigi, this is the world.

There. Now you know each other. Gigi (sometimes called Gidget) is my oldest cat. She is also the cat with the most colors. And oddly enough, she is also the smallest cat.

I got Gigi through the actions of my mother’s crazy friend. I might have mentioned something like “yea, I like calico cats”. Next thing I know the crazy lady had captured a wild calico kitten using a butterfly net. So I got stuck with what seemed like a bobcat kitten.

Gigi was not too far from death when I got her. She had fleas, worms, and ear mites (the parasite trifecta). She had “gooey cat eyes” syndrome as well. Her eyes would glue themselves shut overnight. She was 100% wild, and malnourished. When I picked the runt up she was OK, but when you opened her eyes so she could see, she would start to hiss and spit and scratch and kick.

When she did not die after the first night, I took her to the vet. About $150 and a bag of drugs later, I had a new cat (and that was just to get the gooey cat eyes, fleas, and ear mites taken care of, along with ½ of the worming. I had to take her back for the second worming treatment and shots later. That was about $200). It took about one month to tame her to the point where she could be handled. About a year later she would sit in your lap and act like a normal house cat. She turned out to be the nicest cat I have (Sake hates being held, and Fat Fred will only hang out with you when he wants to – otherwise if you bother him he bites the crap out of you).

Gigi grew up with Shithead the dog (we can not learn anything from him, he is too dumb and pathetic. And yes, that really is the dog’s name) so she thought she was also a dog. She would chew up things like computer cords and TV antennas. She chewed through a keyboard cable, a serial cable, and a cable for one of my two way radios. She also bit into a set of “rabbit ears” METAL tv antennas, preventing them from collapsing all the way. She chipped two of her four fangs doing this. I had to replace the computer keyboard with a wireless keyboard, and I have also had to buy a wireless controller for my Playstation 2.

Anyway, the lesson that can be learned from Gigi is that sometimes sheer luck (or lack of it) is what it is all about. You can be the best, brightest, and most qualified – but the kiss ass idiot from accounting gets the promotion. You might never get that perfect job, simply because you fail to read the newspaper for one day. When you drive that brand new car you just bought off the lot, some uninsured just got off the raft 1984 Yugo driving moron might crash into you. You can go to Vegas and loose 50 hands of blackjack in a row. All sorts of rotten things can happen.

On the other hand, if luck is with you anything is possible. You might win the lottery. Bad decisions you make might work out for you. The boss might blame someone else when you spill a soda on the copy machine, causing it to catch fire and burn down the office. That someone else who gets blamed might be the kiss ass idiot from accounting that you can not stand. The good possibilities are unlimited!

As for Gigi, luck was most defiantly with her the day the crazy lady captured her in a butterfly net. She was at the most 2 or 3 days from death had she remained in the North Miami trailer park. She was the only kitten from the entire litter to survive.

So there we go. Put all three cats together, and a clear lesson emerges. It is usually best to go with the flow and be happy with what you have, but your ultimate happiness has a lot to do with luck. And watch out for the devious and untrustworthy, they will act like they are your friend, but then pee on your towels the first chance they get.

Tomorrow’s lesson will be from Greenie The Iguana.

Gigi slightly upset. She wanted to eat.