By Elisa Black-Taylor
Why doesn’t my cat Coral meow? I ask myself that question every night as Coral jumps into my lap for some quality petting time. I’d like to tell her story, and then I hope some of you may have some answers for my non-vocal cat.
Coral has been with us for over two years now. She was rescued from Greenville County Animal Care Services back in 2011 at the same time we rescued a cat named Jane. One of my friends from New York who’s very involved with GCACS asked me if I could take both cats. Jane went on to find her own family, but Coral has decided to stay with us on a permanent basis.
Coral’s paperwork at the shelter listed her as a stray. My daughter and I believe she was a stray, mainly because of her ears. Her ears were full of ear mites. We took her to the vet and got the medicine to treat her. She passed her physical as far as being healthy, other than the infestation of the mites. It took a good month to get all the gunk cleaned out where she’d have pretty ears.
Laura and I often wonder why anyone would turn her into the shelter. She never meows, always uses the litter box and isn’t fussy about her cat food. In other words, Coral is the perfect cat. Except she’s quiet. We’ve heard a hiss or two out of her when one of the other cats try to intrude upon her petting time in Laura’s lap.
Coral was often called our cat with no personality. That was before she let us know how much she enjoys chasing a laser light. It’s the first toy she’s ever played with. And she loves to drink out of a faucet. I’m more likely to see her taking a drink from the tub faucet than from the water bowl.
Coral is also beautiful. Not that beautiful will keep a cat off of death row. You all may remember Coral from the comment I made on Michael’s article here about being able to pick your cat out of an I.D. parade.
I commented on confusing Furby with Coral all the time. From the rear, they look identical to me. Laura says Coral is a slightly lighter color. And if I pet her I can tell the difference. She’s our softest cat. Her name should have been Cashmere.
I wonder whether Coral could have been feral at one time, since feral cats are known for keeping silent. Her ears were certainly dirty enough for her to have lived outside for a long period of time. Perhaps someone who just enjoys trapping cats and turning them in to the shelter caught her. We’ll never know. And Coral refuses to give up secrets about her past.
We’ve only had one other cat who kept silent for a very long time. That was Sealy. We pretty much know he was a feral. He still has feral-like behavior, such as he enjoys prowling for food. It was close to eight months before he ever meowed, and that was when he wanted out of my bedroom and the door was closed. He’ll also jump on top of Laura and meow for his breakfast. For the record, Sealy has the LOUDEST meow of any of our cats. He just doesn’t “talk” very often.
Any ideas on why Coral doesn’t meow? She’s healthy and friendly otherwise. I’ve never had such a quiet cat.
Articles need to be researched. Though there are a few things that I could just write down knowing all I need to know about the subject already, even if I did that, I’d still need to site studies and sources to back up what I’m saying. Blech. It sounds like doing a research paper and I always hated those. I will never get a Master’s or Doctorate because both degrees consist basically of writing a huge paper, which is then peer reviewed.
I wouldn’t mind being a humor writer like Dave Barry, but he’s kind of got that market cornered I think. I wonder how he even got started?
You got that right. I was just going by what one of my high school friends said about retiring 20 years after joining the Air Force and how he doesn’t have to work anymore.
My what-ifs are played with my first love, who committed suicide in 1998. He’d been begging me to be with him since we were in college and I turned my back on him. That’s really the only thing that haunts me to this day. Biggest what if game ever. He never realized how many people loved him and now he’s gone.
The Yappers and the Sonic Boom. That could be a name for a new rock group, but I don’t think it would take off. Or perhaps “Sonic Boom and da Yappers” as a name for a rap group. Probably still wouldn’t catch on.
Even had you retired from the Air Force, you don’t collect that pension until, I think, age 65, so you’d still be working. My cousin retired from the Navy, but he’s still working at the VA Hospital here.
It’s very hard to play the what if game, Elisa. Who knows where you would have been deployed or what might have happened? Things work out how they are supposed to, I think.
Ruth might be a good story teller (fiction) but that is difficult. I do agree with her that it is completely different writing comments to articles. The latter has to formulated and thought through and be coherent and have a point whereas a comment is reactive and off-the-cuff.
Your comment made me think of how I could have done much more if I had started correctly. I had a messy start to my working life really and even before that. Regrets? Yes. I can’t complain though.