Lucie and Logan - A Cat Story

There is a wonderful hollow in Gilsum, NH where deer, beaver and moose roam through people’s yards and a magnificent sunset is painted in the sky on most evenings. I was fortunate to have lived there for a little over a year.

I was renting a couple of rooms in a log home from Kat and her brood of lively cats. When I first moved in at the end of March of 2008, she had four cats: Gabriel, Percival, Elliot and Sasparilla. Sadly, by the end of June, Gabriel and Percival had both died and had left to grow wings. Elliot, a lovely Buddha-like tabby cat was lonely (he didn’t get along well with Sasparilla) and Kat started to look at shelter websites until she found “the tots.” In July, she brought home a pair of brothers, Raphael, a long haired orange tabby, and Kylie-Pietro, a black and white. They were lively balls of fluff that soon took over the house. They were up the stairs, down the stairs, taking short naps with Elliot, getting into everything possible, sleeping in peach boxes, killing flies and knocking over plants. They were the terrible twosome and it was wonderful!!

Things were set to get even more interesting, however. There was a stray cat roaming the neighborhood. She looked like she could use a good meal and Kat was concerned. Kat borrowed a Have-A-Heart trap, set it up, and soon this new cat was sleeping on the porch waiting to be checked out by the vet. Kat named her Lucie and it was evident that she had been someone’s cat before but we did not have a clue to what her life had been like. She was mostly white with yellow spots, a kink at the end of her tail, and a sour look on her face at all times.

Kat had her vetted and it was estimated that she was around thirteen years old and in very good health. She was ready to be introduced to the Tots and Elliot. Lucie immediately let everyone know that she was not to be messed with and established her place fairly high up in the household pecking order.

It was only a few days later that Kat’s brother, Chris, and his wife, Bev, were traveling to a barnraising in Maine when they found a cat and her kittens left abandoned on the side of the road. The kittens were barely over a month old and everyone was starving. Chris and Bev worked quickly to find homes for everyone and, unfortunately, the litter needed to be split up in order to so. The next thing I knew, Kat had added a tiny little kitten to the brood. He was named Logan and he was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

I will never forget coming home from work just a couple of days later to find Lucie nursing Logan. I was shocked. Lucie was 91 in cat years and here she was mothering Logan. Kat said that Logan had been running around and Lucie started chirping at him. The next thing she knew, Logan was cuddled up with Lucie as if they had always been mother and son. We would often find them curled up in a basket together with Logan’s body barely visible.

The timing of Kat finding Lucie, and then Logan, has always struck me as a gift. Those two cats needed each other. Logan needed a mom to teach him all the important things that mother cats teach their young and Lucie needed a purpose and a home. It was wonderful to watch.

Lucie was a character. She had bad manners which I did nothing to stop. She loved chicken. Whenever I was eating chicken she would jump on the table and try to eat off my plate. I would put a piece on the table for her and soon she stopped trying to eat off my plate but would instead sit next to me and tap the table where she wanted the piece of food placed. Really, she did.e She would look at me, tap the table with her paw, and then I would put down the food for her. She also liked to jump up and sit on my shoulder like a pirate’s parrot while I was reading at the table.

Logan grew quickly and due to his antics, I changed his name to “The Loganator.” If something had fallen, been torn apart, or there was just a general ruckus, Logan was usually in the middle of it. I think there were times that the Tots had caused the problem, but Logan, just like a lot of little brothers, was blamed for the damage.

When I found a new job and moved last year, it was hard to leave them all behind. I was very tempted to put Lucie in a box and take her with me but I knew Kat would never let a member of her brood go. Besides, Lucie liked to wander around outdoors in the catnip and eat the green grass, something she could never do in my new apartment.

The other day, Kat let us all know that Lucie was dying. She had cancer and the vet said that there was nothing else to do for her except to make her comfortable. I wanted to see her one last time so I drove over to Gilsum on a beautiful Spring day to see her. Lucie was no longer able to go up and down stairs so Kat had set up her futon in the living room so she could sleep with Lucie and Lucie could lie on the bed and look out on the blue sky and all the activity on the front porch.

I think Lucie remembered me, or I would like to believe she did. She curled up next to me and started to purr as I softly stroked her back. Elliot walked around her gently and Kat said that he had been very attentive to Lucie for the past few weeks, often sleeping next to her during the day. It was evident as I sat there that Lucie’s days of eating grass and being a mom were over.

Lucie died that evening while Kat was at work.

Lucie’s story has touched a large number of people. She came to the hollow just when she was needed and made herself a home. She took on the task of motherhood when she was long past the point of having kittens and, in spite of her slightly sour look, everyone fell in love with her. I am so glad to have known her. We don’t know what the first part of her life was like, but I know her last year and a half was the best.

Pictures - 1 - Raphael and Kylie; 2 - Lucie; 3 - Lucie taking a nap in a sun spot on the deck; 4 - Elliot and Logan