I thought I would take a break from my usual blog topics, and share a few stories about my beloved studio cat, Aster, sometimes makes an appearance on my social media or in my product photos. Aster had to have a couple of teeth out this week, which is a common surgery for cats, but it made me worry about her. Especially with the things I have seen this year, it felt like just about anything could go wrong. So, here is a blog about my cat, I hope you enjoy.
Kitten Story
Aster, or “Aster the Disaster Master” as we have playfully dubbed her, joined my family several years ago when I was still living in Memphis, Tennessee. At the time we were living in a small one bedroom, concrete walled apartment that was often infested with cockroaches. I had several unpleasant cockroach related experiences during my first several months living in Memphis, but the incidents became fewer and fewer after we adopted our new kitten, Aster.
At the time, I had not connected the lapse in cockroach experiences with the arrival of our new kitten. Like the gradual disappearance of anything unpleasant, I simply stopped thinking about cockroaches all together. It wasn’t until we moved out of the apartment and pulled the refrigerator out from its place, that I realized what had been happened to the beetles. There was a collection of cockroach heads, dozens of them, littering the floor under the spot where the refrigerator had been. Our playful kitten had been dispatching roaches for us. Presumably, eating the bodies and swiping the heads, hockey puck style under the refrigerator to keep as trophies.
Traveling Kitty
Aster has had the unique experience of becoming a very well traveled cat. She has journeyed with me from Tennessee to California, then from Central California to Southern California and from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. The only constant in my in my poor kitty’s life, seems to be me and also change.
Over the years, Aster has become more and more comfortable with traveling in the car. Instead of rinding in a carrier, Aster sleeps on the seat next to me, or looks out the window. She enjoys holding her face up to the air conditioning vents and bobbing up and down as if she is surfing on a breeze. When we are stopped in traffic, she likes to watch the people in the cars next to us. They always get a kick out of seeing a traveling cat.
Fuzzy Explorer
I think that Aster’s experience with travel and constant change has shaped her personality, because she is quite the little explorer. Anytime she finds herself in a new location, she immediately begins cautiously exploring the new environment. I have seen her stand on her back paws to open cupboard doors. She wraps her two front paws over the lip of the door and walks backward taking the door with her, once she is satisfied that it is open, she will duck around the door and investigate the goings on within the cupboard. If there is nothing exciting inside, she moves on the the next cupboard door. It is not uncommon for me to return to a place where we are staying, only to find all the cupboard doors wide open like the Sixth Sense.
Cozy Hiding Spots
At the beginning of the pandemic, Aster and I stayed with my brother for a few days on our trip back to California. During our stay, Aster made herself suspiciously scarce. We searched what we believed to be the entire apartment, top to bottom. We knew that none of the doors or windows had been opened since we had seen her last, but we still could not find her. My poor brother was becoming distressed, worried that his apartment might not be as cat proof as he had thought. Was there some cat sized hole that he had forgotten about?
After a time, I convinced my brother to sit down and resume dinner. I explained that my cat had a knack for finding the most elusive hiding spaces and that she would turn up soon. After all, she could not have gotten out. After about twenty minutes of tension while we sat and ate, we heard a cat sized thud on the kitchen counter. Aster had climbed up into the space above the refrigerator, but under the cupboards and had been hanging out behind a discarded wine box. The sneaky little cat was so please with her cozy hiding spot and had refused to come out, despite our frantic searching.
Missing Cat
I had a much worse scare when I moved to Fullerton for college. I was living in a three story condominium with three other women, who were each renting rooms. Most of the time, Aster stayed in my third story bedroom, because another cat who had lived there longer had run of the living room and she was not a fan of Aster. The idea of Aster making it all the way down to the ground floor and then out the front door into the world, seemed very unlikely, but it did happen one day.
Quick cat tip: If your are going to put two strange cats together, a male and female works a lot better than two females.
I spent hours circling our complex, calling her name, shaking a bowl of kibble, and gradually turning into a crying mess of a cat mom. I refused to go to class, I called in sick to work and in the end I just sat on the porch willing her to come home. That is when I saw a man in coveralls carrying a cat sized cage and heading for my neighbors condo. I jumped to my feet and accosted the man. I wanted to know where he was going with that cage. He explained that someone had a crazy cat in their condo and could not get them out from between the washer and dryer. I knew it was my cat.
They did not let me in right away, and I stood on my neighbor’s front porch while that man from animal control “assessed” the situation. Apparently, he determined that retrieving the cat would be a pain, because he came back downstairs and asked me what my cat looked like. Once I was allowed inside, I ran upstairs. The floorpan of this condo was identical to ours, and it made sense that Aster ran straight to the third floor. She probably thought she would find our room up there, but when she arrived it did not look right. She hid in the nearest place she could find, the laundry closet.
My neighbor helped me pull the washer and dryer apart and I reached in and scooped up my cat. She did not scratch or bite, she knew it was me and remained clutched in a tight ball even after I got her back into our own condo and up to our room. The poor girl had been traumatized, and swore to never go for another adventure, at least not for a while.
Comfort Cat
I can not tell you how relieved I am, that Aster has consistency returned to me after her kitty walkabouts and that she has stayed in good health over the years. She has always been such a great source of comfort and companionship, from cuddling with me when I am sad, to being my only company when I move to a new city. I am very thankful for this little cat.
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