In memory of Rusty, a very sweet cat

                            This is the photo I took the first time I saw Rusty in our yard.


Rusty, a handsome male cat, wandered into our backyard in the spring of 2005. His eyes exactly matched his yellow fur. I ran for my cell phone to take his photo.  I really didn't expect him to visit again, but he did . . . almost daily, for about ten years.  

At first, he was a community cat, visiting different houses.  Everyone fed him and many gave him a name.  We called him Rusty because of his color.  The children down the street named him Milo after a movie cat.  Another little girl called him Buttercup, probably because of his color.  We learned that his family had moved away and left him.  

He was, however, a survivor.  He knew where the sheltered places were when it rained and when it was cold.  He knew how to make it on his own. Once or twice, I found a dead, partially eaten rat or squirrel in the shrubbery. He was a big cat, once weighing in at 17 pounds during a vet check-up.  He had a sweet face with very expressive eyes.

Gradually, he started stopping by our house morning and night. He liked to sleep on our patio in a cushioned lawn chair, but we brought him in when it was cold or raining.  Our very young, black cat Bella loved him and he was like a mother cat with her, licking her head, playing with her, tolerating her kittenish antics.  We began taking him to the vet for check-ups and immunizations. We considered him our cat.  Still, there was something a bit unreachable about him.  His early lonely life made him stand-offish.  

Last week, he seemed sick.  He sat with his eyes closed.  HIs breath came in heaves.  We took him to the vet where an x-ray showed his lungs and body cavity filled with fluid.  The vet said his condition was critical.  Finally, after much agonizing, we agreed to have him euthanized.  

We miss him very much.  I still look for him on the patio and at the door. He was a strong presence in our family. Bella especially misses him.  He was a good, sweet cat.
RIP, Rusty.  

Rusty was very motherly with our cat Bella, often

licking her as a mother would.

It was a stretch,but he could drink from a small

birdbath in our yard.

Playing with Bella on the porch.

Stalking a lizard

The cat as dilettante

Bella and Rusty have diverse interests in many areas,

yet their attention can quickly change.  They dabble in

the arts, but are masters of none.  By definition they are

true dilettantes.

Rusty is an expert at sleeping and eating.  His sleep

takes many unconventional forms.

Bella also enjoys sleeping and often prefers high places.

Bella likes gifts and their bright paper wrappings.

She's not materialistic, however.  She likes the novelty

of crinkling paper and boxes most of all.

Both Bella and Rusty are into games and play.

Rusty is a bird watcher.  He often uses the bird bath

as his private drinking fountain.          

                                       
                                           Bella's preference is to curl up in an old bird bath on
                                           the porch.  She likes it because it is just her size.

Bella enjoys flowers and especially likes

the taste of the water they stand in.

Bella also likes nature and playing among the plants.

Both cats enjoy life and all it has to offer a cat, and in turn they are a source of joy to their 

servant and keeper.

Literary cats I have loved

                                              

Rusty

      No animal is as suitable for the dilettante as the cat.  Cats are intelligent, entertaining, and independent.  These characteristics also make them the favorite of many writers:

"I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course." ~ Mark Twain

      Many writers have included cats in their writings and some have made them the main character.  Following is a list of seven literary cats that I love and admire.  There are many others.  

Look for more literary cats in the future on this site. For more about cats including videos, quotations, pictures, gifts and just about everything cat, go to Cat Lover's Guide. 


1.  The Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is one of the most famous literary cats.  He sits on a tree limb and taunts Alice with his wide smile and his wit.  Finally, his body fades away and only his smile gleams down at her from the tree. ". . . All right, said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone."
2.   Rum Tum Tugger, Old Deuteronomy, Macavity, Jennyanydots are some of the cats T.S. Eliot describes in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. These cats appear in poems and the poems were the inspiration for the long-running , Broadway musical "Cats."
3.  Mehitabel, currently in her ninth life, says she is the reincarnation of Cleopatra.  She is a cat who enjoys a good time.  Her motto is toujours gai. Her main confidante is Archy, a cockroach who in another life was a poet. He lives in a newspaper office where he types Mehitabel's stories and exploits.  Unfortunately, he can't reach the shift key and can't type capital letters or punctuation marks.  Archy is a philosopher, For example, " An optimist is a guy who has never had much experience."  Archy and Mehitabel tells their story.  It is a compilation of the newspaper columns of Don Marquis who wrote for several New York newspapers.  I have loved this book since high school.
4.  Dewey the Cat is the true story of Dewey, a yellow cat that appeared on the Book Return on a cold winter night in the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa.  Dewey became the library resident cat and a local celebrity. Vicki Myron wrote his biography and the book was a best seller in 2009.  It is possibly scheduled to become a movie. Isn't Dewey the perfect name for a library cat.
5.  Koko and Yum Yum are two Siamese cats belonging to detective James Qwilleran, the hero of mystery books by Lillian Jackson Braun.  The cats travel with Qwilleran, are fed delicacies, and frequently provide inspiration for crime solving.  
6.  Mrs. Murphy is another crime solving cat.  She appears in a series of novels by Rita Mae Brown and with another cat and a corgi often finds the clues to solve murders.  Rita Mae Brown's cat, Sneaky Pie Brown is credited as co-author of the books. 
7.  Hodge, a cat owned by Samuel Johnson, was immortalized by James Boswell in his extensive biography Life of Johnson.  A statue of Hodge was placed outside Johnson's London residence.

                                                    Bella, the sweetest cat!