JinJin and Curious

JinJin and Curious lived together with me. They were related.

Curious' mother moved into my back yard as a feral cat. She brought kittens - six of them. Curious was totally white, all the others were dark. Her named siblings were Fred, Princess and Misty. Fred took after his mother, short haired tabby. Misty was long haired, gray and her hair was very airy. She went crazy and had to be put down. Fred contined to live there with my roommate after I moved out, a couple of years later.

JinJin was the son of PrincessI. PrincessI was a tortie. She was the first to be tamed. She stepped on something and her paw got injured. I caught her and nursed her hurt with compassion, and caused no further pain. After that, she helped the other kittens befriend me.

PrincessI was shot with a BB-Gun by a neighbor boy while she was pregnant with JinJin and his littermates. The vet cleaned her up, but couldn't remove the pellet. It lodged next to her heart. When the three kits were born, it finished PrincessI. She turned back to feral and was uncontrollable. She died shortly after she weaned them. JinJin was a color point flame. He had blue eyes and thick medium fur. His litter mate Faccia, was close in coloring to Fred. Fred and Faccia were inseparable for years.

There were at one time, 7 cats in the backyard. One by one, they were tamed and given homes. Curious was the most skittish. Since she was light colored, she stayed hidden most of the time. She had the most beautiful blue eyes. During the birth of her first litter of kittens was the first time she ever came near me. She was obviously scared. I would put her in the prepared box, talk to her gently, and she would come waddling out to me with a kitten hanging out. I would get her back into the box, finish midwiving the kitten, get it cleaned and nursing, and she would follow me back out to the living room. I finally stayed with her. She had four kittens. All healthy. They found great homes, but once they were weaned, she kept her distance from me again. She would sit and watch me from no closer than 4 feet.

I moved a few doors down, and took JinJin and Curious with me. JinJin would sit in my lap, while Curious would hide under the couch and watch. Finally, she started to come out and even would come to me in bed. The move was obviously traumatic for her. She was suddenly an indoor cat! Her coloring slowly changed to a pale lavender point pattern. I added Pearl to her name because her body color was different in different lights. She was now Curious Pearl.

The inevitable happened, and they mated. I thought it would be a good thing, because of their coloring. They both had recessive, light, color-point genes. I was excited to think we might be starting a new breed with them. Her bones were a little more robust than the oriental cat, and his fur was so thick. His bones were stocky, and his legs short. Her head was so angled and so sharp, while his was wide and flat.

She was very pregnant, about 2 weeks from delivery, and my house burned down while I was at work. One of my neighbors broke down the door, and they got out. They ran in opposite directions. A day later, she was found dead. She'd been run over.

JinJin had a different fate. He was cared for by a neighbor. When I tried to find him, I could hear him meowing for me, but he couldn't get out of the house to come to me.

While JinJin didn't die, he was a loss. I loved them both. I think they thought I was a cat. Curious was so very gentle and loving. JinJin was so possessive. If anyone came to visit, he would sit proudly on my lap and let my guests know who I belonged to.

I learned a lot from both of them. From Curious I learned to be patient and let things unfold. From JinJin, I learned that play could be serious. I was also reminded by both of them that cats choose their people, not the other way around. They both chose me. I was honored to have been their person.