WHAT’S SO FUNNY:A pet’s mortal enemy

Our cat Ruby is in for a terrible disappointment and there’s nothing we can do about it.

We have two Siamese “” Pearl and her daughter, Ruby. Ruby was part of a litter of four and came out last. Her brother died young and her sisters were given away. Our daughter Katie chose to keep Ruby because she could tell Ruby needed her.

Ruby is a low-ender on the cat IQ spectrum. She never seems to learn from experience. She still looks startled to see us after 13 years of close contact. She doesn’t think things through, even in cat terms.

She once fell off our house “” right off a second-floor balcony. Her claws scraped the wall all the way down.

Another time she got lost and Patti Jo found her two courts over in a rainstorm, up against the front door of a house like ours. That was pretty smart of her, actually. She went with the resemblance.

Pearl and Ruby disowned each other some years back and no longer recognize each other as mother and daughter, or even acquaintances. Ruby always preferred Katie as her mother.

Katie and unlimited food were all Ruby ever really wanted. She was always her happiest when curled up next to Katie “” when Katie slept, read, watched TV. She would sleep with Katie on Katie’s bed, purring like a motorboat all night long.

Then we got Katie a dog “” Booker, our Welsh springer spaniel “” and Ruby’s life went sour.

As a puppy, Booker slept in Katie’s room and Ruby couldn’t tolerate it. She got mad, and noisy. She essentially told Katie, “Either he goes or I go,” which was a tactical error. Forced to choose between Booker and Ruby, Katie picked Booker because he was a puppy and by then Ruby was just a cat.

It wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds. Katie would pick Ruby up now and then, as in the old days. Ruby got used to settling for less as the years went by. You’d ask her how life was treating her and she’d say, “Enhh.”

In the last year, however, there was a return to Eden. Ruby developed a health problem and lost some weight, so Katie took her back into her room,and we brought Booker into the master bedroom. Ruby got her old place back with Katie, her health improved with a visit to the vet, and the motorboat started up again.

There’s no cure for the trouble coming now, though. Katie’s going away to college,and there’s no way to explain it. College is a pet’s mortal enemy.

Patti Jo and I will try to make it up to her after Katie leaves. We’ll pick her up and talk to her and sit with her when we get around to it. But for Ruby, until Christmas, it’s going to be pretty much enhh.