Typo, sweet Typo, was one of the first kitties I had had since I was a child. Feeling very lonely after the loss of my elderly Australian Shepherd, Chow, I decided to get a cat now that I lived in the small condo rather than a dog. So I start checking the bookstores and newspapers to find someone who needed to give away a cat.
In my local women’s bookstore I found a posting by a woman who was moving and had to give away her two cats. I only wanted one but decided to check it out anyway. I was hesitant about adopting her older cat since I had just lost my aging dog and couldn’t bear the thought of losing another animal in the near future. As it turned out, I was in love with both of them.
The younger, Typo (short for typographical error) was a gorgeous three year old, mottled, black, tan and, white Torti. Octagon, the elder thirteen year old, cat, was a black and white, polydactyly tuxedo kitty with six toes on all four paws which splayed out like a fan. My son, who worked for a vet, told me that he thought Octagon looked pretty healthy. I couldn’t resist and took both of them home. As it turned out, Octagon lived to the ripe old age of twenty one.
But getting back to Typo. She was a sweet, twitty little kitty who had endless energy, always checking things out. Of course, I had no problems introducing her to other pets, because she had grown up with Octagon. The two of them got along just fine in my condo, because they had been indoor cats.
When I moved to the Northwest, they did have to acclimate to the two other kitties in the household. Gigi, a tan and white, calico, Maine Coon kitty was a sweet girl and they all got along just fine with her. Boodles was a beautiful grey Persian with ideas of his own. While they all learned to get along, Boodles would sometimes harass Typo. This was when I learned that Octagon was very protective of his little sister. He would jump forward to protect her from the sometimes bully, Boodles. Then the two of them would have words. This was when we started referring to him as the Noble Oc.
One day we discovered that the beautiful, sweet Gigi had passed away in the night, so there were now only three kitties. Then I lost Octagon at the wonderfully old age of twenty one. Who would have believed that I would get to have this wonderful boy for as long as I did, a good eight years after I had gotten him at thirteen.
The following year we moved into a nice condo overlooking the Green River which had a very nice upper deck overlooking the river and a small back yard. The kitties could go out on the deck and watch all the birdies that came to our feeders. Then we lost the beautiful Persian, Boodles. I don’t remember whether this was before or after we got Esther, but it was very sad to see another one of the original four go to cross over the Rainbow Bridge.
This left us with just Typo and Esther. And I think I told you all how Typo would mother Esther. This lessened as Esther got older, but they were close both before and after we moved into a house in another town.
The house was wonderful. It was new and the kitties could go outdoors. At first there was only dirt in the back yard, but we put in a lawn, some shrubs and a veggie garden. They loved playing In the back, and didn’t even try to get out of the yard. But one day Typo did learn to jump the fence. Of course this was on Thanksgiving when I had company. It was scary, because we had raccoons and other critters around. I tried keeping her in the yard after that to no avail and ultimately gave up. She would go where she would go, but pretty much stayed in the yard.
Of course, Typo was now getting older and slowing down. She intimately mostly stayed indoors sleeping on the couch or on the bed. She became really sick while I was overseas visiting my son. I hoped I could make it home to see her. She lasted until after I got home, but we knew it was time and took that dreaded visit to the vet to say farewell as she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge at the ripe old age of eighteen. I had had her for fifteen years and was very sad losing her, since she had been the first kitty I had had since I was a kid. Typo, I will always love you!
Playing In Catnip 