Prindle: My First Cat as an Adult

I got Prindle as a gift from a boyfriend's mother when I was seventeen years old. I had recently moved out on my own, and when I moved my father informed me that my cat (Hobie) was now his cat. Funny how he bitched and moaned when I brought Hobie home for the first time, but when it was time for me to take him with me, my dad decided Hobie belonged to him.

So, there I was, out on my own and CATLESS. My gift couldn't have come at a better time. Kitties make your life so much better, and to be without one is no fun, especially when you are seventeen and just learning to be on your own. So here comes little Prindle Cat, named after a catamaran as my Hobie was. Prindle was a gorgeous splotched calico with a black mask on her face. Just the cutest little kitten you have ever seen.

So, Prindle and I grew up together. She went with me to new apartments, moved back to my parents house a few times, and moved with me from Houston to Austin. She saw me through my first marriage, several roommates and my current husband. She taught me all about pet owner responsibility. At the age of seventeen, I knew nothing about it. Prindle got pregnant. She had her kittens in my bed. I woke up one morning to her on my chest, meowing loudly. She was scared to death. Her eyes were huge. I grabbed an old quilt and laid her down on it, and watched as she popped out 4 kittens. I kept one and named him Panda Bear. He was black and white and looked just like a little Panda Bear. He got run over. Poor kitty. Prindle got fixed (which is something I do with all my animals now-before they can get pregnant).

Prindle was such a little talker. I have learned it's a calico trait. We used to have entire conversations in cat language. She was so sweet. To me. I could pick her up and she would put her two little front paws around my neck and I could carry her all over the house this way. She would just relax against me comfortably. Sometimes we would dance around. She didn't seem to mind.

She did seem to mind my current husband and the Shepherd mix he brought into the family. She never did like my hubby. She would hiss and spit at him and bat at him with her little paws every time she saw him. For years. She could hold a grudge.

She had a drug problem. It was pretty severe. My stepson and I gave her some catnip to play with one afternoon, and she got so stoned from it she tried to run through the back of an entertainment section. She ran smack into the back of it and kept running in place trying to get through a keyhole opening. Poor little kitty.

The very maddest Prindle ever got was over our new kitten, Audrey. My father had recently past away, and we went to visit my brother. He had three cats and had just found this little stray dirt bag under a house. She was so dirty and matted she looked black. Turns out after a few baths, she was a beautiful siamese mix with gorgeous blue eyes. She was just a baby, and we brought her home hoping Prindle would fall in love with her, and think she was her baby. Oops! Not the way it went down at all.

We have a large backyard that backs up into a dry creek area. Prindle got so upset when she saw little Audrey that she literally ran away and wouldn't come home. I would see her lying under a tree in the dry creek, so I would climb the fence and go over to her to coax her home. I was bitten, spit on and told in no uncertain terms that my bringing home another cat was an unforgivable offense. Bad enough I brought in a man, and a dog, but another cat? Well, she was having none of that and she was just going to live out her life in the back alley if she had to, just to show me. I believe my relationship with little Audrey suffered irreparable harm from this situation, as she has never been MY cat. She follows my husband around the yard like a dog, and very seldom lets me pet her. I think this is from my having to placate Prindle so much that I was unable to give much attention to this beautiful little siamese stray.

Every day I would risk the wrath of Prindle by climbing that fence, and dragging her clawing and hissing and spitting back to the backyard. I would put her on a shelf in a large pecan tree and try to coax her back to me with treats and sweet talk. But as soon as she saw the chance, she would take off for the creek area again. This went on for over a month. It was horrible.

When she finally decided to come home and grace us with her presence, it took her a long time to forgive me. She never liked our little Audrey. At this point I would say she only liked one person in this household, and it was me. She didn't like my hubby, she didn't like the Shepherd, she tolerated our other dog Toto, and she barely tolerated Audrey. My poor stressed out little Prindle Kitty.

Not to say the last years of her life were all bad. She came home. She laid around in her tree house, or would come inside for our special talks and we would cuddle. She got to where she was at least tolerant of those around her, and life was again peaceful at my household.

Prindle was 17 years old when she had to be put to sleep. Even now, seven years later, it is very painful to think about. Her little body just started shutting down on her, and when I took her in to the vet's office, they told me it was time to put her to sleep. I was hysterical. This was my baby. I have no children, and this is the kitty cat that I had through the death of both my parents, a divorce, a new marriage. We grew up together, Prindle and I. She was my companion, my soft little kitty cat, my little child. I stood there with her as they injected her with drugs, and she purred. I petted her, she purred and went to sleep, never to awaken again. I now have my beautiful splotched calico Prindle's ashes in a box with her picture next to it in my living room.

No other kitty will ever replace my Prindle. She had a one of a kind little kitty personality, and I will forever miss her.