Another Old Timer

He will be 17 years old on April 30.

Slippers is another old timer here at Prairie House.

He came to the farm via a rather circuitous route.  His mother was left behind in a very "soon to be mother" way when I purchased the farm.  I felt sorry for her and convinced my Dad she needed to go to his house instead of stay here all alone.

She had 6 kittens a few days later.  They were all different colors and all different personalities.  A couple of them managed to attach themselves to Dad so when the others went to new homes, those two remained behind:  Slippers and Pete.

Both cats were extremely spoiled.  Easter was late in the year in 2000 and Walmart was overly optimistic about egg sales for the season.  Shortly after Easter, eggs were available for purchase at rock bottom prices.  Dad loaded up and the two kittens got eggs and milk every evening at suppertime.  Once the egg supply ran out, he switched to canned food for them.  Every evening they got 1/4 can each before he put them to bed.  Needless to say, both became LARGE cats.  Pete eventually reached 19 pounds; Slippers over 20.

It didn't take long for them to figure out how to sneak into Dad's bedroom...where the comfy sleeping quarters were.  When my siblings and I lived at home, there was NO WAY a cat would be allowed on Mom and Dad's bed.  Time changes things and eventually both cats slept next to him each night.

In Dad's final days, Slippers disappeared.  We thought we would see him lying dead in the alley or in the gutter on one of the streets near Dad's house.  He still had not been found when Dad passed on, so Pete was the only one to come to live at Prairie House. (Pete died last summer.  I filled the vacancy he left with another wonderful kitty: her name is Repete.)

Several weeks later I went to town to check on things at Dad's house and Slippers was sitting on a chair on the porch.  He was no longer 20+ pounds and his rib cage was clearly defined.  I put him in my car and brought him to Prairie House to join his brother (and multiple other step-cats).  He has been hanging out here ever since and gained back all the weight he lost and more.

During his tenure he has provided a great deal of entertainment, not the least of which was the time he got a tin can stuck around his middle which had once again become portly...but that is another story.