by Vickie Carter

Created on: June 29, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I got him at the veternarian's office when I had to put another cat to sleep. I was crying, and so was the vet. She told me that I was used to having a cat, and brought in a cute little grey striped kitten with white feet, and white on his chest. She told me that someone had left the mother cat and kittens there, and I was welcome to one of the kittens.
We both cried all the way home. I was crying over my cat that had just been put to sleep, and he was crying because he was probably scared of being away from his mother and the other kittens. Once I got him home, he quit crying. I named him Tiger because of his stripes. Little did I know that when he got older, the stripes on his back disappeared.

I fell in love with him in a couple of days. I held him at every opportunity. I bought him all kinds of toys, which included his own bird video. That video would entertain us both. He would smack at the tv to get to them.
He didn't like to be held or hugged. If you hugged him, he would get off your lap, and in a hurry. He was content to just sit beside you or at least in the same room where you were. If I was on the computer, he wanted to lay in a chair beside me. He often tried to get my attention by sticking his claws in my behind when I wasn't expecting it. Ouch!
If I had a bad day at work, I could come home and talk to him. His big green eyes always let you know that he cared about whatever you were telling him. He also acted like he knew what you were saying to him, and he understood why you were so upset.
If I went shopping and bought something with an electrical cord, he would steal the plastic tie the cord was wrapped in. It became a game with us. I would throw it, and he would go get it and bring it back. If I ignored him, he would take his head and butt my hand to get me to play fetch with him.
I will never forget the day that I regretted teaching him to fetch. I was in the bed watching television when my Mom called me on the phone. Tiger kept romping and ripping through the bedroom. I just thought that he was playing with one of his toys. He jumped up on the bed with something in his mouth, and I saw that that something was alive. As soon as I saw it, he turned it loose, and it headed straight towards me. It was a silver lizzard! I jumped out of the bed and screamed. Unfortunately, it was in my mom's ear. She asked me why I was screaming, and all I could say was, "Lizzard".
He helped me find the lizzard in my bed covers. He would point at it, and meow. I scooped the lizzard up into an empty jar, and threw him outside. I was so creeped out by it all, I washed sheets, bedcovering and all in the washer.
When my alarm would go off, I had a bad habit of hitting the snooze button. Tiger would make sure that I got up. He would sit and stare at me. Cats don't blink, so it would drive me crazy until I got up. When I started putting on my shoes to leave for work, he would hover over them, like he was telling me not to leave him.
We had nine wonderful years together, and to this day, I still miss him. I won't even let my other cats lay in his spot on the bed.

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