July 4, 2011

• 31 Things About… Bubba

  

  1. Bubba’s real name was Tommy when I adopted him.  His name was changed to hide his identity.  By the end his name was fully Thomas ‘Bubblicious The Pooh’ Thompson… and sometimes Beauford!
  2. Bubba was pure black, including whiskers, lips, pads on his feet and all his fur.  Most black cats have a spot of white somewhere, but not Bubba.
  3. I’m 6’4’’ and when he would sleep on my legs while watching TV he would stretch out to the point that he could touch my stomach with his back feet and my feet with his front paws.
  4. Bubba always slept at the foot of my bed, right on the corner closest to the door.
  5. His favorite toy was a small stuffed Pumba from a McDonald’s Happy Meal.  He carried it with him like it was his baby, played with it and even slept with it.  Pumba now goes everywhere with me including over eight countries.
  6. Bubba would drink from the far side of his water dish and would end up with a wet chin and chest.  He would also pull the water dish out from the wall, sometimes spilling it so he could drink properly.
  7. Bubba was a breast man. Any chance he got he would always climb into a girls lap, act all cute and innocent, then push his face directly into their cleavage and start purring really loud.  I think it was his version of the motorboat.
  8. When Bubba lived with Koko (my sister’s cat) he protected her like she was his cat.  When Megan would cut Koko’s nails and she would fight, he would go up to Megan and growl at her, protecting Koko from her.
  9. Bubba always wanted to be outside, but was mostly an indoor cat.  When he did get to go out, he would go no more than about 2 meters from the door and just lay down.  He never strayed.
  10. Bubba was already fixed, declawed and was about 2 years old when I got him.
  11. Bubba was the youngest of all my cats when he passed away, He was just under 10 years old when he died.
  12. Bubba was obsessed with collecting and stealing dirty socks.  After being away for the day I would come home and find my socks all over the house, most at the front door as if they were gifts for me when I came home.  He would also walk around with them in his mouth meowing loud and sounding strange with the sock in his mouth.
  13. Bubba liked to watch TV, and one day we found that he not only watched, but reacted to The Jungle Book.  He would sit and watch the entire movie, meowing and talking to characters on the screen, especially Bagheera, the black panther.
  14. Bubba was given his name ‘Bubba’ one night when he was running all over the apartment like an idiot and I was trying to watch Forrest Gump.  He came into the room, stared at me for a minute and the second they yelled Run Forrest on the screen, he took off like a shot.  Since Bubba was big, black and a little slow at times ,I started yelling ‘Run Bubba’ when he went crazy. From then on the name stuck.
  15. Bubba was good in the car and usually did not need a carrier, but he always wanted to be on my lap when I was driving which made it difficult.
  16. From the time I was about 2.5 years old, I had always lived with a cat in the house.  When I went to my second year of university it only took me one weekend in my apartment without a cat to decide to go and adopt one from the Humane Society.
  17. Bubba’s adoption was a mess.  I got him, took him home and a week later they called me and said they needed him back.  His family had left for a two month vacation and left Bubba in the care of the grandmother.  When they returned home they found out she had put him up for adoption and wanted him back.  The grandmother claimed she thought she was putting him in a care facility, but she filled out all the adoption forms and never paid for boarding.  I almost returned him, but when I was told they traveled a lot and the next time they went away they made sure that the grandmother would not do it again, I decided it was better if he stayed with me.  The Humane Society was not too happy, but I had legally adopted him and they had no real right to take him away.  This began his time under an assumed name in the Feline Witness Protection Agency (my house).
  18. Bubba began having seizures when he was 8 years old.  After a short time it was discovered that he would only turn to his right hand side as the seizures had taken his ability to see properly to the left.
  19. I used to take catnip and make trails of it in the carpet of the apartment.  He would rub his face into the carpet and then follow the trail through the house with his nose to the floor like a bloodhound.  He was a total catnip addict.
  20. Unlike most cats, he seemed to like dry cat food more than the canned food. 
  21. I’m not sure if it was the action, the sounds or the breasts (his favorite), but whenever there was any kind of sex scene on the television (we had a cable crack box that got every channel) he would come running and watch.  He also watched wrestling with me, but he seemed way more interested in the porn.
  22. Bubba actually enjoyed having a bath (well, not near the end of his life) and would just sit or walk around in the water.  He would even have a small drink while in the water.
  23. Bubba was terrified of waterguns.  He was caught in the crossfire of a massive waterfight in my apartment and from that point on all you had to do was pick up a supersoaker and he would run.
  24. Bubba was placed on a very strong steroid when the vet figured out his illness was most likely due to a brain tumor or lesion.  The steroids eased the swelling and actually gave him about four more months where he was back to normal and in much less pain.  After time they did not work anymore. Without the steroids he was very confused and paranoid, sometimes attacking for no reason.  In the end I had many scars and cuts on my from him, but never punished or got angry at him for it.  I knew he was scared and in pain and I just tried to make everything as comfortable as I could for him.
  25. I could have a 30 minute discussion with Bubba, with his responding and talking to me the whole time.  He would respond every time I stopped talking and would follow me to other rooms to keep talking.
  26. At bedtime, he would run down the hall to the bedroom ahead of me and dive into the center of the bed.  Once I was in and settled he would curl in with me for a few minutes, then move to his position at the end of the bed.
  27. A girl I dated for a while took a pair of really soft, fuzzy socks (his favorite) and sewed catnip into them for him.  He pretty much stopped stealing my socks and would carry these socks everywhere with him.  I think this fed his catnip addiction even more.
  28. Even when he was almost 18 pounds at one point, the vet examined him and said he was really only a small bit overweight as he was just a very large male cat, much like a baby panther.
  29. The day Bubba was put down, I gave him valium so he could relax in the car on the way home.  He was very well sedated, but the second the vet took him out he was full of energy.  It took me, my father and the vet to try to hold him down, two needles and lots of blood (ours, not his) to finally put him down.  He scared the other animals at the vet’s so much that they ran to hide from him and the vet was shocked that a sedated cat with a massive brain tumor would put up such a fight before being put down.  I got to hold him and look into his eyes as he passed and it was the most calming moment I have ever felt seeing my Bubba finally go with no more pain.  He was purring as I stroked his head when he passed.
  30. Once when Koko was in the yard behind ours she was approached and cornered by another cat.  She let out a loud screech to try to get the cat to go away.  Megan and I ran outside to see what the problem was and Bubba ran past us, saw Koko and ran as fast as he could toward her to save her.  He was so set on saving her he didn’t see the chainlink fence between the two yards and ran, full force and full speed into the fence.  He bounced back about two feet and I swear I saw cartoon birds flying around his head when he stood up and looked at me.
  31. Bubba is buried with Tiger, Whiskey and George in my parent’s backyard.  Before burial we cast his footprints in plaster of paris and made footprints with ink for a tattoo I still plan to get.  I almost buried Pumba with him, but I know he would have wanted Pumba to stay with me and continue protecting me and to live the long life he never got…

  

    

  

  • 12:28 pm
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