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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

“I” is for Igor -- but not the hurricane!

Below, Igor had made himself a nest in our bed. "Up? You want me to get up? Why? I'm a cat. Don't you know cats sleep most of the time?"

Below: Igor doing what we called his "cute thing". I could never resist rubbing that pink and white tummy.

Below: Igor ate some of his food, then walked away, leaving behind this smiley-face in his yellow plastic bowl. This is just as he left it. Dick grabbed a camera immediately, to record his cat's artistic ability (for posterity, of course).

And finally, Dick's favorite photo of his boy. Dick had this old, dusty, broken toy on a shelf and I tried to convince him to throw it out. "Maybe Igor will like it," he said, so he gave it to the cat, dust and all. (Men! LOL)

Like the hurricane, our Igor was a force to be reckoned with.

He was my husband Dick’s old grey tabby cat, who chased dogs out of his yard, dragged home a frozen seagull (for his lunch or as a gift to his humans) and thought he was bigger and tougher than any man, dog or bird on the planet.

Igor led a long and eventful life: once hitching a ride on top of a car without asking the driver; once disappearing for 6 months before one of Dick’s daughters found him at the SPCA.

After that, he was moved here to live with us. My big old white kitty, Ava, was so happy to see another cat, she rushed up to rub noses with him. However, Igor had been the terror of his old neighborhood, and no cat had ever rubbed noses with him before, so he fled, yowling.

Ava calmly trotted after him, caught up with him under a table and, sheltered behind the tablecloth, tried once more to be friendly. Igor hissed and ran again. From then on, rejected and hurt, Ava wanted nothing more to do with him.

Igor lived to be 20 years old and, when he died, we built a mound of rocks and planted trees over his grave in the back yard. We call it Mount Igor.


Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies.

Posted by Kay Davies for ABC Wednesday.

47 comments:

photowannabe said...

Igor sounds like a fascinating cat. What an amazing personality. Mount Igor is the perfect name for his resting place.

Carver said...

Great tribute to Igor who was clearly and intelligent cat. Great shots.

Sylvia K said...

What a beautiful cat! And I love his name -- and, yes, Mount Igor is the perfect name for his resting place! Always hard to lose a beloved pet! Have a great week, Kay!

Sylvia

Cezar and Léia said...

Igor is such a lovely cat.We also have little LUNA, she came from Brazil with all family to live in Luxembourg last year.
Your I post with the story and pictures of Igor is very beautiful, well done!
purrs and love from LUNA - We love LUNA
and hugs from Léia

Kay L. Davies said...

Give Luna a hug from me, please, Leia.
-- K

Unknown said...

What a wonderful tribute to a very special cat. Love it! Igor must have been quite an impressive cat to behold.
Great post!
Best wishes,
Anna
Anna's abcWed rnd 7 post-'I'

EG CameraGirl said...

I'm impressed with Igor's artistic ability! I'm sure you were very, very sad when he passed on,

Rune Eide said...

A formidable Tsar!!

Mara said...

What a great name for a cat! I think it's always best to give cats (and dogs) proper names, no Fluffy or some such nonsense!

Gattina said...

What a special cat ! sounds like my first cat who went with me everywhere on holidays and shopping and also lived 20 years ! I never had such special cat after her neither. She also chased all dogs away.
You should visit my Cat Blog if you have time.

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

this is so cute,
beautiful i post.

Ebie said...

What a sweet post in memory for Igor. I have 2 rescued cats, and one is like my alarm clock. This morning I did not hear my alarm go off.

Hahaha, I was late for work....

Gigi Ann said...

I loved the pictures and the story about Igor. He was such a handsome fellow. My cat Miss Molly sleeps most of the day and night. I don't know how they do it.

Julie said...

A lovely 'In memoriam' to your feline friend, Kay. I adore cats, they are so full of love and soooo intelligent.

I is for Igor.

Tumblewords: said...

Wonderful kitty tribute!

Roberto Machado Alves said...

The sequence of pictures with the cat is very interesting and creative.

greetings

Cheryl said...

What an awesome tribute to a well-loved pet that had such a funny way about him.

Carol said...

What a fun cat Igor was. I love the first shot of Igor...so cute.

Roger Owen Green said...

he was a force to be reckoned with. and an artist!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

The Chair Speaks said...

Igor certainly had a full life. A lovely tribute and I like the idea of Mount Igor! :)

Leslie: said...

Aaaah, even though I'm more of a dog person, Igor sounds like he was a real personality! I'm sure he was well loved during his long life. :D

Anonymous said...

what a cool cat! I just love the smiley face he left in the bowl...

Verns said...

I love the name ... Igor.. so mighty! pretty cat...

Hildred said...

Wonderful post Kay, - love to hear Igor's life story.

Thank you for visiting, - I enjoyed hearing about your introduction to Istanbul, - I read that when the Turks came to Constantinople they were so impressed with the lights that they called it Istanbul, which means City of Light.

LisaF said...

A least Ava tried to be friends! I'm sure Igor was a much more interesting post than an iguana!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

What nice memories of a sweet and smart cat!

I'd rather read about your Igor than the storm, which I hope doesn't become bigger news.

Gayle said...

What a heartwarming story about Igor and what a personality he had! The smiley face in the cat bowl is classic! So cute.

Carolyn Ford said...

Your kitty looks so much like mine...and, mine likes crawling under the covers of our bed too! hmmm...must be related!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I just taught my student's about Ancient Eygpt. I know Cat's language. Igor is telling you," Thank you very much for a yummy lunch," LOL

Thanks for visiting.

Jo said...

Oh beautiful, Kay. What a lovely cat and what a lovely tribute.The artistic flair in the cookie bowl says it all. And the fact that your husband gave his toy to Igo instead of throwing it out. I LOVE that you and your husband both love cats. This is like me and my dh. Not often this happens. Thanks for all your visits to my blog and kind comments. I tried to visit her last week and struggled with Blogger. Seems to be a universal problem these days! HAve a wonderful day, Greetings from Jo, North Africa

anthonynorth said...

That's a great tribute.

Kay said...

Oh my! This is such a beautiful story about your cat. Igor sure was lucky to have you both as his friends.

MaR said...

Beautiful tribute to Igor, he was some special cat!!

PJ said...

Kaye, that's a lovely story and really touches my heart. Very soon we'll have to put down our elderly girl cat and we have a spot picked out for her. I'll have to come up with a name for it...

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

I adore cats and loved reading about Igor. A fitting tribute to a wonderful friend and a purrfect choice for I.

Thank you for your comment at my place. I was lucky enough to visit Canada earlier this year, hence the photo opportunity in Calgary. A

Joy said...

What a lovely fluffy cat and quite a character. Strangely enough I was just talking to a friend today about the amount of sleep cat gets, she doesn't get as much as she likes because the cats wake her up, one by tapping her cheek with his paw and the other by sitting and staring at her until she gets up.
Glad you worked out where my post was without the aid of Google. You were a long way from Canada (although my Grandmothers sisters set off from the Morecambe side of the bay when they emigrated:-) By coincidence I used pictures of Morecambe for the B post of this round of ABC

Wanda said...

I love your story of Igor.

When I was young, we had a dog that died, and my dad buried him in our back yard. My girlfriend and I had a little service and put a cross and flowers. After that incident, I buried a gold fish, a bird, and a tin full of rocks (don't know why)! I hadn't thought of the memory in years.... Thanks for the flash back!

John (@bookdreamer) said...

A deserved blessed life Thanks for reading and commenting on my poem. Hope your week goes well.

Jay said...

Wasn't he handsome!! A great name, too. I bet you miss him. I love the Newton's Cradle picture!

They are such great characters, aren't they? Poor Ava ... she must have been so disappointed that he didn't want to be friendly, but I imagine they worked out an agreement, and she would have enjoyed his company, even if they were never close.

Kay L. Davies said...

Yes, Jay, we still miss Igor, but I'm not sure Ava ever really enjoyed his company. She never exactly forgave him, but she did eventually allow him to come within three feet of her without having a hissy fit.
-- K

magiceye said...

that was such a heartwarming tale!

Barb said...

What a wonderful story about Igor! He was artistic and somewhat of a cat genius, if I must say so myself. Lovely that he has a "mound" named in his honor.

Francisca said...

What a sweet story, Kaye... now I see you belong to the legion of cat-lovers. I have a friend here who has adopted 31 stray cats! My own pussycat is the human kind... a gentle Leo. :-)

Kay L. Davies said...

31 seems a bit excessive to me, Francisca! We had our hands full with two elderly felines.
I'm glad your human Leo is a gentle pussycat!
-- K

Jama said...

Cute cat!

ChrisJ said...

What a great story about a great cat, and I love his name. So glad there are so many cat lovers in blogland.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful cat! Love those pics - especially the one of him in bed!