Frankenkitty (and Samwise's BD too!)

Before we tell the story of Frakenkitty we have to say this! Happy 5th BarkBirthDay to Samwise!! We wish you many more doggie!! We have presents for you that you will get tonight, when the beans come home!!

Gather round kitties, and hear a tale long in the telling. A tale about a kitty and his life. Some may find it monstrous, and some may find it horrific, but the tale is true nonetheless (okay, well mostly true – we did use artistic license to embellish some). Come closer and hear the tale of the Frakenkitty!!

CLANK!! The door swung shut as Orangey lowered his head to eat. He had known that entering the metal cage was not a good idea, but his stomach had overruled his mind. He had been so hungry having been on his own and in the rough outdoors without a friendly place to call home for so long. Turning around and inspecting the metal cage Orangey realized he was trapped and there was no way out.

“Well,” thought Orangey, “if I am trapped I might as well eat while I can. I remember food that came in cans that tasted like this…”

Orangey had been on his own for a long time, but it was not always like this. No Orangey had once had a home with a lovely couple and their son. He had grown up there, warm and happy in their home. He had been petted often and carried around the house by the little boy. The woman had fed him good foods and named him Orangey after some old movie she loved. And the man was good to him too, making him toys to play with. But that had all changed one clear day.

You see, Orangey was not an outdoor kitty. His family always kept him inside the house but as many kitties are, Orangey was curious. One day in the early fall, Orangey got his chance. As the family left to go to work and school, they forgot to pull the back door completely closed. Although he knew he was not supposed to, Orangey decided that the best way to spend the morning was to explore the magical outside. And so with all his might, he pushed open the back door and entered the BIG outside.

The Sights! The Smells! It was amazing! Orangey began to explore and explore, leaving his own yard and wandering away. Suddenly, out of no where, Orangey heard a growl – low and menacing. He turned toward the sound and beheld the scariest sight ever – a black, drooling hound from hell his eyes shot fire and whose mouth dripped acid. It looked like this!!!

Okay okay, maybe it didn’t quite look like that. Maybe that’s really a picture of Beaux but come on!! Go with it!! Back to our story.

Suddenly the Hell Hound leaped at Orangey and away he fled, running as fast as his furry legs could carry him. He ran and ran and eventually escaped the Hound from Hell. Finally, Orangey sat down and panted, shaking and afraid. When he finally caught his breath and calmed down, he looked around and realized – HE HAD NO CLUE WHERE HE WAS!! He tried to see if he could follow a scent trail back but alas, all he could smell was the Hell Hound and his own fear. Hoping against hope that the luck kitty would be on his side, Orangey wandered aimlessly, looking for something, anything that looked familiar. Nothing ever did.

Orangey wandered aimlessly for so long that he lost count.

Winter came and Orangey shivered and starved – hunting when he could but food is hard to come by in the winter. When it rained, he would try to find shelter but often he went wet, hungry and miserable – crying for his family and their loving embrace. Over time, he lost almost all of his body weight. His furrs, once so groomed and pretty, became dry and coarse.

One day, as Orangey wandered into an alley he smelled it. FOOD! It had to be, because his mouth was watered and his tummy was rumbling. Food! He followed his nose and uh-oh. Three cats stared at him from the end of the alley. They seem to guard the chicken they were eating and to threaten him with violence all at once. Orangey realized all too late that he had entered claimed territory and had run into one of the cat gangs he had tried so hard to avoid all of these many long months. Too late now, the alpha cat hissed, spit and attacked.

Orangey lived through the attack, but barely. He was beaten and bleeding and one of his back toes hurt really badly. He wanted to give up, but something kept him going. Maybe it was the late spring that gave him hope but he wasn’t ready to go yet. Life couldn’t end like this, it just couldn’t! As tears began to flow down Orangey’s cheeks it began to rain. A real rain – one of the thunderstorms so common in the late spring in the South. Orangey looked for shelter and found warmth! Yes! A car that the owner had just shut off! The engine was still blessedly warm and Orangey crawled inside and quickly fell asleep – the warmth and his injuries making his drowsy.

Orangey heard the engine start about a half second before he felt the pain. His back was on fire! In a panic, Orangey flew from the car, knowing something really bad had just happened. His back was covered in blood and it was flowing down onto his paws and the ground. He hurt so badly.

“This is it,” Orangey thought. ‘This is how it ends. Okay, I am ready to go; I just cannot take it anymore. I know I look awful. I am battered, bruised and bloody. My furrs are falling out and now my back….” He couldn’t finish that thought as his back hurt so bad he thought it best not to think about it.

Orangey wandered into an apartment complex, trying to find a good place to lie down for the last time. He closed his eyes, expecting to see the Rainbow Bridge any minute. But something odd happened – Orangey did not go to the Rainbow Bridge. Instead he woke up the next day to find some hard kibble and a bowl of water in front of him. For the next three days he would awake to find such things and was glad.

One day, he opened his eyes to see a woman bending over with a plate. Scared, Orangey ran, not knowing that this was the lovely angel who had been bringing him food and water. Seeing how scared he was, the lady decided she needed help. She had hoped he would relax and eventually let her pick him up and take him to the vet. From the terror in his eyes, she knew that the hurt kitty would not, and sadly she made a call to animal control. If nothing else, animal control would at least help him to go and end his suffering….

CLANK! Animal control had come and set a trap for the orange cat. The citizen who had first contacted them, called to let them know that the trap had worked and that the hurt kitty was captured. Two officers were dispatched to the scene and saw the hurt kitty.

“Poor thing,” the voice entered Orangey’s scared mind, “We need to take him to Cobb before we go to the shelter, see if they can help. The injury on his back has to hurt!”

That was the last thing Orangey heard before he was put inside a truck. The ride was terrifying but it did finally come to an end. The vehicle door opened and sunlight hit Orangey full in the eyes. He was taken into a white building where he heard voices murmur.

“Did you bring us another one guys? Oh he looks hurt. Put him in kennel 137. I’ll let the docs know he is here.”

Orangey was placed into yet another metal box, but this one was different. This one had a blanket and water and yes! The woman brought him food. Over the next couple of days Orangey was poked and prodded. Medicine went down his throat and he began to feel better. He heard words like “possible kennel cat” when he was mentioned by the humans taking care of him. Then it happened! She arrived for her shift!

Orangey woke one morning to find a new human smiling at him. She looked like one of the doctors who often came to look him over before another person came to feed him. This time though, the doctor opened the cage, picked him up, and held him.

“Hey there buddy!” she said. “You look kinda beat up but we’ll get you better.”

It was something about her – something about the way she spoke and the way she petted his head. He began to purr and to knead his feet. Finally, someone showed him love. Orangey became so happy that he purred all of the time and the staff came to love him. Orangey heard that they wanted to keep him but they only needed one clinic cat and another kitty – a girl kitty – was also in the running. But Orangey’s favorite doctor had an idea. As she finished his medical treatment and he became well enough to leave, that doctor made a phone call. Orangey heard the conversation.

“Hey guys, its Susan. Do you still want another cat to go with Jack? I have a great one here and I think you’ll love him. He’s not a kitten but I don’t want a kitten with Jack anyway – Jack is big enough to hurt a kitten without meaning to. Yeah, I am here at the clinic, so you guys should come and see him. He’s orange and he’s so friendly and sweet. Okay great! I’ll see you soon!”

“Well, kitty,” the doctor Susan said to him “I think I found you a home.”

Not long after, Susan came to pull Orangey out of his cage. This time though, she had people with Orangey had never seen – a red headed woman and a black haired man.

“Oh he’s hurt badly Suz!” the woman said.

Oh no! thought Orangey! They aren’t going to like me cause of the scabs and things. They must think I am ugly.

“He looks bad! And his eye!”

“I had an eye specialist look at him. The opening is too small but he can see so we don’t have to remove it. That scab is bad on his back….”

“Looks like the fanbelt got him Susie” the man said.

“Yeah, you could right. Anyway, I’ll send him home with some antibiotics and I’ll come and check on him in a few days. I am going to go see about getting custody turned over to you guys but until then, go into that exam room and just get to know each other.

Did someone say home? He was being held by the woman and when he looked at the man, the man smiled at him and petted his head.

“Do you want him?” the man asked the woman.

“Yes, but what should we call him? He is so beat up that the only name I can think of is Frakenkitty!”

“He does look like he has been through hell. That’s it! We’ll call him Dante because he has been through hell and has come back!”

And that is how Dante got his name and how he came to live with us.

Thanks for reading this long story, we hope you like it. Happy Halloween everyone!!