New New

In Memory of New New
December 10, 2009

New New was a stray my son, Danny, and I trapped in December 1992. He was so small with the cutest little ears sticking out the side of his little head. They remained on the small side throughout his life.

After a couple weeks living with the under-the-bed dust bunnies, I towed him out to show him the litter box in the basement. It took fifteen minutes to walk down the set of 12 steps for at each step, he shook with fear and pressed against me. That was it – I was hooked. I put a found ad in the local paper and prayed no one would phone. One night, Danny answered a call saying it was a woman calling about the kitten. My heart froze – how much should I offer to pay for my new friend? The caller was from People for Animals who offered to try to find a home for this little guy if need be. Can you imagine my relief?

We had adopted another cat a week before New New came into our lives, and Danny and I hadn’t yet selected a name for the first cat. We started to use the terms “New cat” and “New New cat” to distinguish the two. By the time we agreed upon a name for the first kitty, the name New New had stuck.

New New was always shy. He never showed up when company arrived, instead choosing to hurtle down the stairs in record time. Nor was he a mean cat. He got along well with everybody, and soon became good friends with the dog, even walking under her from time to time. He spent some of the time outdoors, and loved to sit on the deck or in the flowers along the perimeters of the yard.

He was a huge talker. And he asked for food all the time. He had a nasally, two-part meow. He couldn’t take a step without a meow-ow to accompany it. One day, he had me laughing so hard I ached for weeks. He beat me downstairs to the feeding table thinking I may give him a morsel or two. I told him he didn’t need any more food, and that he was fat. “Meow-ow!" he said. “No, you’re fat,” I repeated. “Meow-ow!" he repeated. This went on for so long, I couldn’t continue as I was laughing too hard and in too much pain.

The absolute best thing about New New was his gentleness. He would wait until I was asleep, and then, so carefully and so slowly, so as not to disturb me, and ever so gently, lie down over my neck and purr softly. This never failed to make me happy – never. And, in the mornings, every day for all his life, he would lie on my lap while I did my hair. I would then hold him up over my shoulder and we would rub cheeks for a minute while I told him he was mommy’s little buddy. These were our special times together.

He took me by surprise one day. I had been feeding a large feral stray male named Guest Cat. Guest Cat came by one beautiful spring afternoon when New New and a gentle tortie named Blossoms were sunning on the deck. For some reason, Guest Cat attacked Blossoms. Before I could process what was happening, New New had flown over and took on the big Tom. Guest Cat left with far less fur than he arrived with, and I was picking up chunks of it days later. I was very proud of New New.

New New loved loved loved to be brushed. No matter whom I was brushing or how far away we were, New New would appear demanding his share of the attention. He was so reliable that way.

At 13 years of age, he went missing from a friend’s house in Govan, Saskatchewan. New New and the two dogs were spending the weekend there while I attended a family reunion. This home had a cat door, but New New had never used one before, and showed no indication of understanding its functionality at this time. But he was nowhere to be found. I was terrified. Hundreds of posters and six weeks later, New New walks into the yard from where he went missing. He was about five pounds lighter and his paws were slightly worn, but otherwise, was in great condition. We had a wonderful reunion. He rubbed and purred and rubbed and purred into my face. Now, New New didn’t travel well and on every trip so far, he spent the entire time on the floor of the car, meow-owing from seven to 30 times a minute. This time, however, he sat on my lap the entire trip back to Regina and only meow-owed seven times in total. I took the next day off work so we could spend more time together. I still think I was happier than he was, but how will I ever know? I often wonder if he went on tour or if he landed in the back of pickup truck and went for a ride. Whatever the situation, I was proud and so happy he made it home.

New New developed kidney failure at the age of 16. For the next seven months he was given at-home treatments, and he held on as long as he could. He became very skinny and frail. One lovely fall day in October 2009, he asked to go. Danny and I and New New went to the clinic together. As I held him up close to my shoulder as I had done so many times before, we rubbed faces for the last time, and he peacefully and willingly passed away.

New New, I called you mommy’s little buddy, but you know you were so much more than that. You were my very best feline friend of all time.

Love,
Paulette