T+T=C

I was recently talking with two people, one of which was dismayed because he wasn’t a cat person and his wife was actively seeking a pet cat for their child. He made a point that he didn’t want to get attached to something that would probably eventually get ill and die.

I mentioned that tragedy plus time equals comedy. I told him the sad story of a cat we once had. Nikki was a mackerel tabby that one day I found a mass on a rear leg. We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a strange cancer that grows from the cartilage. It was usually found in dogs, not cats. There was no treatment other than amputation. He was a good cat and we knew other animals survived amputation and still got around for years. Most people changed their names to “Tripod” or something like that. I called Nikki “Skippy.”

The funny thing was that when we brought Nikki home he would only hop backwards. Somehow he couldn’t go forward. I was nearly in tears of laughter as I was telling the story.

Nikki only lived another couple of weeks, but his strange affliction will always remain in my mind even though I now laugh about it.