Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

When I was 8 years old we lived about four houses away from Mrs. Davis, the school crossing guard. Mrs. Davis' cat had kittens and I was allowed to take one home. I picked a calico and named her Tinkerbelle. One night, Tinkerbelle didn't come home. The next day she didn't come home either. After she was missing for two days, I went to Mrs. Davis' house and told her my kitty was missing. She began calling in a powerful voice, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty" over and over again. You see, Mrs. David knew the importance of teaching felines to come to "kitty, kitty, kitty".

We walked all around the area, calling out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" and finally we heard a cat meowing. It was obviously in distress, stuck someplace. We followed the mewing and finally found my Tinkerbelle. She was stuck in an old evaporative cooler. Somehow she had wedged herself in between the sides and the squirrel cage and she kept pawing and scratching at the squirrel cage, trying to get out, but all that happened was the squirrel cage would turn round and round. Her white belly fur was covered with grease and dirt. The pads on her paws were sore with cuts from desperately trying to free herself.

Ever since then, I've trained my cats to come to "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty". It is very helpful when you are looking for them and you have searched every nook and cranny in the house. They bolt awake from a sound sleep to the call and come racing to find out what I have for them.

It's very easy to do. Just sing out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" every single time you are placing a can of newly opened tuna on the floor, or a bowl of warm goat's milk fresh from the udder. ;-) It doesn't take too many times to train them in this manner.

You'll thank me someday for this little piece of advice.

Until next time.