My darling, smart little kitty Bianco unexpectedly bounced into my life in 2006 and just as unexpectedly left it in 2014. I put his photo in a white ceramic frame that has on it, “Who rescued who?” That aptly describes our relationship. A few months after my beloved cat, Filbert died, while suffering through a divorce in 2006, a co-worker mentioned that her teenager found a kitten in the woods behind the house where they were living. Because it was a rental house, they were not allowed to have pets. I wasn’t ready to get a new cat yet, but took my carrier along anyway. This sweet little kitten was so affectionate and the house they were living in was so filthy, the deal was made quickly. I brought home what I thought was a female kitten in late September 2006. The name Bianca (white in Italian) quickly changed to Bianco as I discovered he was a boy after his first vet visit a couple days later. I gave him a middle name of Czarny, the word for black in Polish as a further nod to my ethnicity. He was predominately white with black markings on his head, some black fur on his body and the most interesting tail, all black with a white tip. In memory of my friend Betty Jo’s late son, I gave him a birth date of July 2 as he was about 3 months old.
Bianco was very intelligent, but never-the-less it took him more than a year to learn the house rules in order to be free in the house. He started out living in a large crate with several perches while I was at work and at night. Gradually, he was allowed to stay free in the spare bedroom upstairs while I was at work or asleep at night. Objects crashing and breaking was the norm, especially the plants on my window seat that he pushed over. He destroyed my peace lily and favorite Ficus plant. Eventually all that remained of the many plants that adorned my home were the spider plants hanging in the living room. He was allowed to play with them and chew on the leaf tips as they are not poisonous.
As he got older he did not want to be put in his cat room and I wondered if I could ever trust him enough to give him the run of the house. Obviously, he was happier on the weekends when I was home and he could be free. Eventually the spare bedroom was remodeled to a cat theme and it became his daytime haven, complete with a window perch for him to nap while I was away working to pay the bills. I put a video camera on his collar and much to my delight saw how in the morning he sat on the window seat watching my car leave for work and then made his way upstairs to the cat room for his nap on the bed until Mommy got home. Of course, most days he was watching for me from the window seat as I drove into the cul-de-sac and always at the door when I entered the house.
Bianco and Sienna, my red miniature poodle were not the best of playmates. She tolerated him. They would wrestle some. He wanted to play with her, but got too rough with his batting and I had to have his front paws declawed to protect her. When I was in the kitchen, each would occupy a chair on either side of me. In my home office, they had donut beds next to each other under a table near me as I sat at my computer. Sienna liked to be held like a baby and Bianco wanted the same. I would put up my feet on another kitchen chair in order to have enough lap space to hold them both and yet keep enough distance between them to placate Sienna. Like a baby, my Bianco and Sienna wanted to lay on my chest and rest their little heads on my shoulder.
As a young cat, Bianco was wild and destructive, yet extremely affectionate and delightful. One minute he was bouncing off the walls and the next leaping onto my chest to cuddle, rubbing his little face on mine, nuzzling my neck, wrapping his paws around my neck and refusing to be put down. On many a Monday, I would arrive home from work to find every kitchen cabinet door open. And if I got up from the kitchen table during dinner, in a split second he was drinking out of my coffee cup or tasting my dinner. His play interests seem to change often but getting into the kitchen cabinets was a favorite pursuit. Then it happened. I discovered that he liked to chase a laser light beam. I bought an expensive laser pointer at an office supply store. He loved to chase it so much that he became a nuisance pestering me to play, especially at dinner time.
Then instead of watching the squirrels at the patio door, he would plop on the newspaper as I was reading it expecting me any minute to say, “Bianco, do you want to see the light?” He was so motivated to get me to oblige that I taught him to touch my thigh or forearm when he wanted to chase the light instead of his persistent in your face attitude. I was so pleased at how quickly he learned it. I meant to test his cat IQ using a book I had for that purpose, but sadly never got to it. I knew he was smart because when Sienna went deaf and I tried to teach her hand signals like my other poodle, Tammy, the dog didn’t learn them, but Bianco did. He would come when I waved my hand for Sienna.
Before he was a year old, both he and Sienna had a scare when the Iams canned food they were eating was part of a major recall due to pet poisoning. As a result of his tests and because he was so young, he was harmed and had to be put on a special renal diet. It’s hard not to wonder if that poisoning shortened his life.
My favorite story to tell about Bianco happened in the fall, a year after I got him. I took both pets to a local church pet blessing. I had Sienna on a leash and held Bianco as I stood next to my friend Cathy, holding her kitty, Shatzie. During a silent pause during a prayer by the minister, he meowed (his “amen”) and the children, as well as the adults, all chuckled. There’s no doubt he was a charmer and could capture anyone’s heart.
My photography hobby was always fun and a joyous activity to share with my pets. Getting Bianco to cooperate was easier than his sister, the poodle. Many holidays, I would stage a planned idea. Patience was important, many times taking two hours for the set-up, ultimately getting that special photo. Bianco was known to leave the room if I got out the cameras and the tripod. I learned little tricks to peak his interest and keep him nearby, so that I always got my birthday or Christmas photo with the two of them. Many times I would run a video camera capturing me trying to shoot the still shots. One year I tried to pose them on the dining room table for a sweet Valentine’s Day photo. Bianco decided to bat Sienna and they tussled. It ended up on You Tube, entitled, “Love the One You’re With.” Two memorable stills had them dressed appropriately for the 4th of July and a priceless St. Patrick’s Day picture. As the caption said, “Irish for a day; cute for a life time.” One Christmas, in a serendipitous moment, I caught a photo of the two pets sleeping side-by-side on my bed. It was easy to edit the photo and add pictures over their heads with a re-wording of a stanza from the famous poem Twas the Night Before Christmas to “visions of dog biscuits and cat treats danced in their heads.”
As the years passed by, Bianco settled down and our life assumed a routine. He loved to plop down on my newspaper on weekend mornings expecting to snuggle. Hourly, he would visit for a quick hug while I read the Sunday paper. And if I did some serious TV watching in the family room, he was settling in my lap before I even powered up the recliner. At night, both pets slept with me. Sienna was on a pillow next to my head and Bianco preferred to sleep on the back of my thighs. Sadly, as Sienna became incontinent, she had to sleep in the kitchen and Bianco was delighted to take her sleeping spot next to me. I bought him the cutest little plush bed that looked like a paw with claws. He took to it immediately.
During a few rough years when my arthritis sidelined me, he stayed with me in bed never leaving my side, a great comfort. In fact, he was very sensitive to my pain and would hover around me warning me in advance that I was about to start hurting.
Just as quickly as he entered our lives, he was gone. A Sunday at the end of June, just days before he would have posed for his 8th birthday picture he left for his journey to pet heaven. That day as usual he pestered me to cuddle as I read my newspaper. I shooed him away. Later I found him looking fast asleep on his window perch. He had died during his nap. More than a year later I still miss him more than ever, yet I marvel at how lucky I was to have him in the first place. God blessed me with this little kitty to offer me the unconditional love so lacking in my life and I am grateful for the joy he brought to my life.