I was strictly a dog person until Tyka's persistence and sweet nature won me over. How could I not love this cat? How could anyone not?!
On Easter Day 2003, my family and I got back from church to find Tyka on our lanai railing, meowing and scratching and looking like the most miserable and pitiful creature I’d ever seen. Both my boys asked if we couldn't bring Tyka inside? Ren, my youngest was particularly persuasive. My beloved Chocolate Lab, Keahi didn’t seem to mind and it was Easter ::sigh:: so I gave in. My brave sister Connie volunteered to bathe the fleas off of Tyka while I ran to the store to get some cat food and litter. Three hours later, after having lathered and rinsed and scraped layers upon layers of fleas off, Tyka and my sister emerged from the bathroom. My poor sister was damp and disheveled but Tyka! Tyka was beautiful! His grimy, dull orange coat actually glittered in the Easter Day sun! And so happy! What an elegant, proud, almost prissy, bearing he had! And he had the grace to come up to each one of us humans and by stroking our legs with his silken body and caressing us with his tail he seemed to be saying thank you.
And so, Tyka the cat moved in. Keahi the dog and Tyka the cat coexisted by giving each other their “space.” Tyka lived on top of the furniture and Keahi lived on the floor. Every so often, when they got too close to each other, Tyka would reach down from his perch and take a swipe at Keahi with his clawless paw. Keahi, in turn would polish off whatever food Tyka had left in his supper dish.
Keahi died on Sunday, August 17, 2003 after a difficult night. Tyka, after giving Keahi--what looked to me--like an affectionate kiss, kept vigil with me at Keahi's side all that night.
In the almost two years since Keahi's death, Tyka and I have become the best of friends. He is the most affectionate cat I have ever known. He waits for me outside as I shower. He sits on my lap while I read. He comes and sleeps with me for a while at night. I go to lie down for a nap and Tyka comes and lies down on top of me. You'd think that would be irritating but it is such a loving gesture! And he weighs nothing.
Oh how Tyka loved company! When friends would come to visit he would greet everyone as they walked in the door. Once everyone was settled, he would work the room: caressing a calf with his tail here, sitting in a lap there, waiting to be offered a taste of whatever treats were being eaten at the party but knowing better than to help himself.
He was very independent, as I'd been warned that cats were. But he was also the most thoughtful, respectful and affectionate cat I’ve ever met.
He still went out at night to party with his feral friends but checked back in frequently. Some nights, when I went out too, he would greet me as I opened my car door on my return and after saying hello by brushing his tail around my leg (are all cats this expressive with their tail?) he would race me to the door. Gosh, that cat was fast! But being sympathetic to my human limitations he would sometimes pause, loll on the pavement scratching his back, seeming to smile at my slowness, wait for me to catch-up, and then race off again towards the front door.
You made me love you Tyka! If only we could have had more time. Well, my "sweetie-cat," you and Keahi have fun till it’s time to cross the Rainbow Bridge…all of us…together!.