Oliver's Memorial Cat Page

March 1989-Dec 1, 1999

Oliver died suddenly this morning... he apparently had a little kitty heart attack. While we are shocked and saddened by his death at a relatively young age, I can honestly say I'm glad he didn't have to suffer a long illness and that he got to die at home, as we stroked and comforted him. His ashes will be put in our backyard, under the trees where he liked to sunbathe. We'll miss him =^..^=

Our cat, Oliver, was a true world traveler! He'd been a military brat cat since birth. We adopted him in Jacksonville, NC 10-1/2 years ago. Since then, he moved to Cherry Point NC, Tustin CA, Iwakuni, Japan, and back to CA! He was always a pretty good traveler... when we moved across the country he'd get out at the rest stops with us and wander around on his leash! Yes, he tolerated a leash! He also survived the long plane ride to Japan... though he gave us the cold shoulder for quite a while afterward. He seemed to do better on the ride home; one difference was we didn't sedate him... it seemed to be a better choice. He settled right in here in CA, again.

Oliver's favorite activities were:

• Eating
• Sleeping
• Pretending he was on safari
  (but not always in that order!)

He did a fine job (most of the time) of ignoring the dog. He was quite insulted when we brought Dodger home as a puppy, and continued to hold him in disdain, but they didn't fight :-)

Oliver had a dry sense of humor, and shared the following Rules for Cats, which were received, indirectly, from Pappyhaus@aol.com:

Rules for cats who have a house to run.

• Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get door opened, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it.
• After you have ordered an "outside" door opened, stand halfway in and out and think about several things. This is particularly important during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season. Swinging doors are to be avoided at all costs.

• If you have to throw up, get to a chair quickly. If you cannot manage in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there is no Oriental rug, shag is good. When throwing up on the carpet, make sure you back up so that it is as long as the human's bare foot.

• Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything- just sit and stare.

1. When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.
2. For book readers, get in close under the chin, between eyes and book, unless you can lie across the book itself.
3. For knitting projects or paperwork, lie on the work in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much of the work or at least the most important part. Pretend to doze, but every so often reach out and slap the pencil or knitting needles. The worker may try to distract you; ignore it. Remember, the aim is to hamper work. Embroidery and needlepoint projects make great hammocks in spite of what the humans may tell you.
4. For people paying bills (monthly activity) or working on income taxes or Christmas cards (annual activity), keep in mind the aim-to hamper! First, sit on the paper being worked on. When dislodged, watch sadly from the side of the table. When activity proceeds nicely, roll around on the papers, scattering them to the best of your ability. After being removed for the second time, push pens, pencils, and erasers off the table, one at a time.
5. When a human is holding the newspaper in front of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. They love to jump.

• As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible in front of the human, especially: on stairs, when they have something in their arms, in the dark, and when they first get up in the morning. This will help their coordination skills.

• Always sleep on the human at night so s/he cannot move around.

Here's some more cat humor:

Cat Wisdom

1. Cats do what they want, when they want.
2. They rarely listen to you.
3. They're totally unpredictable.
4. They whine when they are not happy.
5. When you want to play they want to be alone.
6. When you want to be alone, they want to play.
7. They expect you to cater to their every whim.
8. They're moody.
9. They leave hair everywhere.
10. They drive you nuts.

Conclusion: They're like little, tiny women in cheap fur coats.

Links to other sites on the Web	Cat Caricatures popular in Japan:
You see a LOT of cats in Japan... most have half a tail :-)	Manekineko	Hello Kitty
CFA Breed Profile: Japanese Bobtail Japanese Bobtail: FAQ's Rainbow Bridge 12/2/99 Excellent pet loss page (Even offers sympathy e-cards to send) Pet E-cards From Blue Mountain Arts, cards for pet folk Cats, Cats & More Cats Cat gifts, for cats and their people =^..^= Meet Morris the Cat Oliver's finicky hero!

Family Pages Index Donella's Page My Spiritual Journey Cracked Pots- A Parable Paul's Page Wetdown & Promotion Page John's Page John's Homeschool 98-99 Page Ashley's Page Dodger's Page Dodger's Family Page Oliver's Page Genealogy Links Family Tree Branch Usborne Books Page Amazon.com Bookstore The Spencers in Iwakuni Main Page

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© 1999 usmcspencers@oocities.com

...where I got some of the graphics on this page, for free! The graphics are no longer available :-( but you may want to visit their site anyway, and see what else they have to offer.

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