Monday, July 6, 2009

Jason

In the mid '90's a friend of ours rang from Motueka to ask us if we wanted a big ginger cat. He told us that the cat, 'Jason Ginger', had been owned by an old lady up there who had gone into a home and Jason was now residing in a cattery.

The cattery had been trying to find a home for Jason but because of his age at four years, there were no takers; the cattery were thinking of putting him down.

We told Dave that yes, we would like the cat but getting him all the way down to Sheffield would probably pose too much of a problem ... wouldn't it?

Dave said, "If you want to have him, I'll get him down to you".

This was at the time when Ansett Airlines were running their very popular cat ad on TV and Dave being a very enthusiastic kind of chap and full of bright ideas, decided to give Air New Zealand a bell and make a proposition. He told ANZ that if they would fly Jason to Christchurch for nothing, he would get the story in the news papers. They agreed!

Jason duly arrived at Christchurch on a 737 and we brought him home.

The funniest thing I've seen in a long, long time was when we let Jace out of his cage in the kitchen, still drugged up to the eyeballs with his mandatory dose for flying on the airline, and our pet baby wallaby went hopping by. I can still see him sitting there watching the wallaby with a pissed look on his face. I imagined him thinking, "Wow! Look at the size of that mouse!"

Dave, true to his word, not only got the story of Jason's flight to freedom on the front page of the Nelson Mail but in the Press also.



The favourite winter spot.

The greatest excitment was when I shot a rabbit and chucked it out on the lawn.

Jason owned us for the next twelve years.

Unfortunately, for the last three years of his life Jason had diabetes and was on a very strict diet; no more bunnies, and I had to give him two insulin shots a day. At sixteen years old it all got too much for him and we had to put him down.

But I reckon he had a pretty good life, with his own pet humans and a farm to roam around.

Inspired by Gecko With Canon.

8 comments:

KG said...

Nice story. :-) Especially the huge 'mouse'...lol!

KG said...

I forgot to ask--how did he get along with the dogs?

Gecko said...

What a beautiful cat, great photos of him enjoying his country life! 16yrs is a good innings, obviously had his humans wrapped around his wee paw, lol.
Our two boys are only about 8 & 9 months old, they're huge amounts of fun and company.
Thank you for my blog plug, much appreciated :)

WebWrat said...

Jace soon sorted the dogs out ... a good smack across the chops with an open paw put them in their place!

I don't know how much good me giving your blog a plug will do Gecko ... probably just us three and my brother in Fiji that read mine!!!

pompuss said...

Hi WebWrat,
Love your pics of Jason Ginger. What a magnificent redhead. And how lucky he was to have pets of such quality to love and care for him.
Let me say a huge THANK YOU on behalf of all cats eveywhere.

p.s When I tuck my nose in my folded paws tonight to pay homage to the Great Cat I'll ask Her to keep an eye out for Jason.

WebWrat said...

Thank you pompuss ... for the compliment and the gesture.

MathewK said...

Yeah, that's a lovely big fella you had there, glad you gave him a good life.

As for him sorting the dogs out with a smack or two, i've seen a cat do that without even moving a muscle.

A ginger cat too, long time ago, not as big as yours, it was sitting out in the road one day when the dog opposite was trying to get at it through the gate, barking and jumping around like a mad thing. Anyway the owner opened the gate to step out or something and the dog made it out.

I expected the cat to high-tail it to the nearest tree as the dog was making for it at top speed. I remember thinking, oh shit, when the cat didn't seem to even see it, he's done for. By the time i got off the couch, it was far too late to do anything.

I don't know what happened, they must have exchanged words telepathically or something. Cat to the dog - you're really going get @#$ed up now boy, then i'm coming after your family you sonofabitch. Dog locks its legs to brake, dust and pebbles flying, managed to stop within a foot of the cat, spun around and went straight back at the same speed with its tail firmly tucked, never to be seen or heard from again.

Cat still sitting in the same position, didn't even move an inch, like it never happened. i'll never forget that one.

WebWrat said...

Good one MK!

Sorry I've only just spotted your comment. I went a tad over my data cap on my VODEM last month and got a bill for $592! I'm a bit gun-shy about being on the net at the mo!