A Tribute to Jake

We love our animals, obviously. Our oldest cat is Jake, a very dark tabby. We got him in Germany back in 2003. John felt like every little girl should have a kitty and Jake fit the bill to a certain point. I don't think any of us think of him as a sweet, gentle KITTY, but instead view him as the ultimate MAN CAT!!

Jake has provided us with many laughs over the years. In Germany, he once protected our house from a very big dog--it was hilarious and AWESOME at the same time. When we first moved to Pennsylvania, we saw him playing "mouse baseball" out in the fields. He loves to leave us mouse offerings on the back door mat. In fact, I'm laughing out loud even as I write, thinking of the fact that the kids used to have an actual chore of shoveling the dead mouse and throwing it out in the field across the street in Germany. Our neighbor told us that he has gotten rid of all of her moles in her backyard. Yes, he IS a killer, but he's also a lover--sometimes too much so. Every morning, he's all over our bathroom counters, meowing at us and getting in our way, trying to get loves. He's so happy at the moment to be around us that he purrs and stretches out his paws to us (we call it "big paws"). This can be frustrating when trying to get ready, especially when putting in contacts and getting shoved on the elbow by his big head! He loves to lay in the sun and especially loves to get his back scratched. He has some kind of shangri-la radar that let's him know the moment the door to my bedroom opens--he runs in from wherever he is in the house, and depending on my mood, I either let him stay or chase him out (this naturally involves getting him out from underneath the bed--he can sense my anger!) His favorite perch? On the top of our kitchen cabinets (watching him actually get up there is amazing and painful at the same time).


He has used up most of his nine lives. His back is permanently messed up because he got stuck in one of our German windows (trying to climb in through a hole in the screen through a second-floor window) and had to undergo cat physical therapy for a while. His tail was broken and now looks funny. The other day, he came home limping, probably from jumping down from somewhere too high.

Over the last few weeks, Jake has been showing a bit of his age. While he loves to be petted and is the friendliest thing to anybody, he has never been a lap cat. We have tried and tried, but he much prefers that you come to him, rather than him coming to you. This is changing though. Now, when we are watching TV late at night, he crawls up and lays down next to us. Unlike Scoutie who lays on top of us and drools, and unlike Ranger who loves to sink his claws into our shoulders when we hold him, Jake is just chill. Thinking about it, in cat years, he's in between John and me in age. Maybe, he too is recognizing the pains of getting older and is learning to value sitting on the couch at the end of the night and watching a good TV show. Doesn't he look like he's smiling?