Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tabitha and I’m the infamous black cat diva that you’ve been hearing about. Now that this computer is in control of my little black paws, (Mmwhahahaha…) now I can tell you what’s really important to the world-ME! (Meow!)
I suppose I’ll start by talking about my humble beginnings. My mother was a poor unfortunate stray cat, forced to wander the cruel streets of NY. (Okay, Queens more like it) Misty as she was called, was a pretty but sad-eyed kitty with colorings of gray and white. Starving as usual, she took a peek into someone’s bedroom window. It was just her luck that the human behind the window had wanted to get a breath of early spring weather. Good thing that Misty didn’t jump up and run away; for the human who was of the female species had tons of left over lasagna. (Yummy!)
The human was in mourning for her own long time feline companion Tiger. Tiger had recently passed away just prior by a few months. When the human laid her eyes upon the little gray waif, she wasn’t about to shoo Misty away. The human did a Garfield offering and Misty happily obliged. Then the human quickly disappeared and re-appeared with leftover cat food that had been sitting around gathering dust. Finally, Misty had some nutritional feed in which to feast on.
In place of Misty’s hunger and thirst was a new friendship. Soon Misty started to make weekly visits to this redheaded human. During one of these visits, I met the human’s mom. The human’s mother had only one thing to say about Misty;
"Is that cat pregnant?"
The next day, Misty went into a corner in the human’s backyard and proceeded to give birth to a litter of seven kittens. Poor Misty. Not only was she a homeless stray, but now she was an unwed teenage mother to boot! To make matters worst, it was going to rain any second, which meant that the kitties were going to drown.
The human and her mom took pity upon Misty. They moved swiftly as they offered me cover. Usually momma cats don’t like humans touching their newborns, but Misty knew she had no choice. She handed over her trust to two strangers in order to do what was best for her new brood.
As you probably have figured it out, I was one of those kitties saved on that fateful day. The rest of my brothers and sisters have found good homes, with the exception of Champ.
This is Champ otherwise known as a ball of fluff. She was the runt of the litter. She also had something wrong with her eye, which lessen the chance of Champ ever finding a compassionate home. We had inquired the vet about chances of her eye being fixed, but he advised against it. As the others flew the coop, Champ and me stayed behind.
Champ doesn’t come across as outgoing at first. Being the shy kitty-kat that she is, it usually takes a while to get to know her. Once she does get to know you, she’s your "cutie-pie" pal for life! She loves cheese and getting petted for long periods of time. She enjoys rolling around behind you on the couch; she'll even nibble on your hair as you're napping. Champ is also the first to remind you that 'tis is feeding time! She’s a little sad about her left eye but she’s living proof that pure sweetness comes from the inside and not the outside.
This is Leo. He’s my annoying half brother. A year later after us, a strange man came a knocking on our door. When our human greets him, the strange man asks my human if this was her cat. When the answer was no, the strange man then replied that since he had no ideal where this poor boy cat came from, so he had no choice but to throw the kitten into the street. My human’s heart started breaking once again, which means yes, she got suckered into taking yet another feline mouth to feed.
There are times when I have to put that pesky Leo in his place! MEOW! When he gets on my nerves I smack him around a bit with my black paws, take his food and chase him about. Sometimes I'll shoot him a dirty look from the corner of my eye...grrrr, how he annoys me when he yeows about, showing off. He seems to be under the impression that he's somehow "handsome." (Oh please) His nickname from my human is "Fuzzy" and "Fuzzball"...and he certainly seems to be fuzzy in the head! Plus, he really is rather pathetic when he begs for treats. Hey, I’m no bully; I just have to show him whose boss! BAH!
Hmmm...Well enough about them. Let’s talk about something more important-ME! (MEOW!) Tee hee hee. No other cat is as divine as I am! I like to sit next to my human while she eats her dinner. She likes it when I greet her at the door when she comes in from the outside world, but I don’t like it when she goes away for long periods of time. I mean, she likes to travel and everything, but I let her know that the best place for her to be is to be by my side! (Puuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…)
However, then she gets on that damn computer and forgets all about me! She doesn’t know that I’ve been watching her…I observe who she’s talking to on the Internet and if she starts getting chummy with someone then I have to go over and investigate! What she also doesn’t know is that I’ve secretly watched her make up those silly webpages for the whole world to see. She thinks that I’m sleeping on her bed like a good kitty kat, but what she doesn’t know is that I’ve had one eye open spying, watching, waiting...
Other than that, I like to dream of catnap and dream of fresh catnip and treats. Yum! Sometimes my human wakes me up when she starts playing something that she calls "music", or whatever she calls it. People have started to tell me that I’m getting on in years, but I like to think that I’ve "matured". I also have to remind people that I’m not "fat" but "voluptuous"...A-HEM!
My human takes good care of me, Champ and (groan) Leo. She has also made sure that we don’t fall into the same trap as my mother Misty. She takes us to the vet regularly. We have all of our shots, and we can’t reproduce because the vet man went snip-snip a few times. The vet man also remembers me because he insists that my claws get trimmed and tells me that I’m accident-prone. (Hey, I like my claws being nice and long!)
It’s early in the morning and I need feeding so I’m going to stop here. I had enough entertaining you anyway. (YAWN) It’s time to tend to MY needs, because I always come first! Besides, if I don’t wake my human up, she will sleep in all day and will get into this decadent way of thinking that she’s a rock star or something. That’s when I become her feline reality check. MEOW!
Me and my human Michele...taken Fall 2001.