Hector Kitty

Here is a picture of Hector, my kitty who recently passed away. He's giving some love to an elephant. A friend recently remind me that for a while I called him a cat dog because his personality was definitely not all cat. He was much more easy going, less self absorbed and self righteous than most cats. He didn't outright beg but he sure had the persistence of many begging dogs. He was quite silly, very sweet, and, well honestly a bit dense. When he was young he did many dorky silly "un-cat like" things. So in honor of Hector, I'll share a few stories...

He once was sitting in an the sill of an open window, probably watching a bird. Suddenly something startled him and he jumped... high enough to bang his head hard on the top of the window sill. Freaked out he went streaking from the room and ran right into my other cat... which only freaked him out further. My other cat (110% princess cat) just looked at him in disgust.... she practically shook her head and said "Hector you are a disgrace to the feline race!"

Another time he and my other kitty were chasing each other around the apartment. They both skidded to a stop right by me. My other kitty had slightly bumped a broom that was standing up against the wall, which Hector was just around the corner from. She and I both watched as the broom slooowly slid off the corner wall (while Hector intently watched us). The broom had been bumped perfectly so that the top of its handle landed smack on top of Hector's head causing him to jump 3 feet in the air -in that way only young agile cats can! He didn't even see it coming.

When I and my boyfriend at the time had decided to get Hector we were in the middle of moving so we bought him at the pet store but left him there for a couple weeks until he could be brought home (wow, OK that was almost 16 years ago!) I'd go visit Hector from time to time at the pet store. One time I stopped by he was in the kennel with a new batch of kittens. He had one of them cornered... not viciously, oh no, not my Hector kitty. He was desperately trying to bat a little fluffy ball to the cornered kitty. His efforts were only mildly successful and just managed to freak both of them out. Each time he'd try to pass the ball to the kitten s/he would hiss, causing Hector to jump up and hiss in that grunty way kittens do. This went on for quite some time. He was special.

Oh and a video! I'll attempt to attach a little 1 and a 1/2 minute video of Jack "chasing" Hector when he was 1st learning to walk with a push car. At first I felt bad that Hector was being "chased" but after a while it was clear that it was a fun game for him. As I said previously I feel bad about how his role in the family changed so much after Jack was born. We just didn't have much left to give Hector at the end of the day. But my Hector kitty, he was definitely still part of the family.

I no longer have the video but just a link to it on Photobucket so hopefully this will work. You might have to cut and paste it..... OK I'll have to try to get this to work later!