In 2001, my uncle Paul and I were working in my Grandpa’s backyard garage. My granpa was blind, and he didn’t come outside too often. Well, it was summer, and Paul and I were in the garage talking when I heard something. It sounded like it was coming from under my grandpa’s old truck. I bent down and looked, and Paul and I found a cat. A female cat that was so thin, dirty, and smelly that we thought she was dead at first.
I recognized her as a cat that had been born as a stray in the garage a year before. I had named all of the kittens, and I had called her “Socks.”
Well, Paul took her home with him, seeing as I couldn’t have a cat at the time. It soon turned out that Socks was an Ocilot mixed with Abyssinian cat. Ocilots are a cat that is from wild ancestry, and Abyssinians are cats from Egypt. Socks had a few litters of kittens, and they all found homes.
Well, Paul got into a situation where he could not have any more kittens. He was working, and he had no time, and not much money to care for a litter of kittens and a mother that needed a lot of work and attention. But he loved them, and refused to take them to the pound, where she should have been put to sleep. Since we had been wanting a cat, we agreed to take Socks. Well, the day I was to take Socks, my grandpa died. That night, the kittens were born. The daddy was a calico, who we never really knew, seeing as he was “gone on business”, visiting other single unspayed cats. There were seven in all: three males, and four females. They were all big, beautiful, and healthy-except for one. The runt kitten, which was a male. Socks would not feed him at all/hardly like the other kittens, and she kept moving the kittens around, which would have been fine-except for the fact that she left this kitten behind.
I finally went and bought a bottle and nursing milk from the veterinarian. They told me “You can try, but I dint think that he will make it.” I told them they were wrong, and I would not let the kitten die. I stayed up almost all night that 1st night taking care of the kitten. I had to do CPR on him twice, and we almost lost him several times. I had to keep him wrapped up in warm wash rags. He was so small that he fit in my hand very easily. I would wake up 3-5 times a night to take care of him, and check on the other kittens, but mostly him. As he grew, he showed the shape of an Abyssinian, with the coloration pattern of an ocilot. He was light smoky gray, with dark gray stripes. And on his back was a single black line, and another black line going across his shoulder, forming a cross.
I decided to keep him instead of the mother, because I knew from seeing that cross on him that he was special.
This kitten was the last to open his eyes. The last to walk. The last to get weaned, but the first to truly win my heart. I named all of the kittens. The females were: Ratha, Tigress, and Mittens. The males were: Boo, Salem, and the kitten with a cross: Pantalaimon, but I also call him “Pan”.
I named him Pantalaimon, because I was reading the book “The Golden Compass”, and I just loved the name of the daemon, Pantalaimon. My dad took Boo, who died later on a tragic event. My mother took Ratha, and renamed her “Nala.” She still lives happily with my mom. Tigress and Mittens went and lived with a friend of my mom’s from work on a farm, and are doing very well. One female named: Socks (after her mom) went to live with a lady who answered my fliers.
She is doing very well. Salem went and lived with a friend of my aunts, and he is doing fine at the time being. Momma Socks found a home, and is spayed, and living happily ever after. Pantalaimon stayed with me. He is very lucky that he is still alive, and he almost died several times. He is a very good kitten, and follows me everywhere, and enjoys picking on the other cat who lives with us, whom he considers
a kind of “daddy” to him.
That cats name is “Chance.” Pantalaimon rides around on my shoulders, and loves to lay at my feet and follow me EVERYWHERE like a dog. I think he thinks I am his mommy. I consider him a miracle cat, because of what people told me, and what he went threw to live.
I did CPR on him 2 times, bottle fed him, his mother chewed on him, and he almost froze to death a few times. I think Jesus gave him the cross on his back to watch over him, and that Pantalaimon is a special miracle kitty. And I hope that people will not judge other cats and dogs by their breed, because even though he is mostly Ocilot, he is the sweetest cat.
Pantalaimon will never go to anybody else: I fought to keep him alive. I was told there was no hope for him, and that I should give up on him, but I prayed for him to make it, and Jesus answered that prayer: so well, that he made him:
Pantalaimon: The Cross Cat.
With Love,
| Pantalaimon |
| Crystal Ann Camps |