Cuddles the Cat

I was thinking back today to when Tam and I were young and visiting our Grandmother and Grandfather Swarthout in Wellsville. Back then, there were these neighbor kids that lived below our Great Grandmother Glendinning and they had this beautiful tiger kitten named Butterscotch. We just thought that kitten was the cutest thing and really wanted to bring it home with us. The two kids, Robin and Michael had a cat who had recently had kittens and as a result, they were looking for a home for little Butterscotch. Years later, this Michael kid would allegedly attempt to break-in to my Grandmother's house, but we're just talking cats now.

Well, my Mom wouldn't allow us to take the kitten home, but that didn't stop Tammie and I from continuing to beg and plead for a kitten of our own. One day, my Father was speaking to our neighbor Mrs. Blount and he mentioned that he was in the market for a cat . Apparently, she had one in mind and it wasn't long before we had a new and crazy addition to our family. We named the cat, Cuddles and he was anything but that. I couldn't find a photo of him, but this one is pretty close. He was huge, had seven toes, and would prove to be a very angry cat.

From the minute he entered our home, Cuddles was out of control. In fact, when my Dad let him in the house, Cuddles took off and ran and hid under the stereo in our living room. His eyes were glowing, his tail was wagging violently and he wouldn't let any of us near him. We would soon find out that the only time that we could pet him without getting scratched in the face, was when he was asleep.

Each night, my mother would tell Tammie and I to make sure that our doors were shut securely. Otherwise, Cuddles would gain entrance to our rooms and jump on top of us. In the morning, my mother would get out of bed, open her bedroom door and immediately, Cuddles would lunge for her and then hang from my Mom's housecoat as she walked through the house.

Other times, my Aunt Brenda would visit and have to carry a broom with her, as she retreated to the basement to sleep. She had to carry the broom, because Cuddles like to dive from the top of the stairs right onto her head. The cat was crazy, completely out of control and we were scared to death of it. We were always on the lookout for Cuddles and his mercilous attacks.

That one cat was enough for me and we never had another one after Cuddles left our home. On the other hand, Tammie had quite a few cats over the years and many of those were left off by careless owners at the Hachey rural homestead in South Bethlehem. I can remember several cats over the years and probably the most memorable for me was the tiny kitten that had to be fed with an eye dropper and who seemed to like to climb into the engine of our cars. Since I drove a Ford Tempo back then with a very compact engine, this caused quite a problem for me. We had to use a yard stick to coax it out of the engine and invariably, it would hop from that car to another. As a result, we spent many a minute chasing the thing all over the driveway. No cat compared to Cuddles, however.