[Mussey is just linked as his father to keep all of our cats together in a group. But Mrs. Pootersville was his real mother.]

Barnee was a beautiful black and white tuxedo cat. He was born in a barn two months after his father had visited the area for several days. His father was a large, solid black cat waiting outside of the house one day in late April. He ran in the front door as soon as we opened it and scooted over to the refrigerator like he owned the place. After devouring a plate of milk, he jumped on the sofa for a nap. This gentle tomcat returned four days in a row and then was never seen again.

A couple of months later during 4th of July weekend, newborn kittens were discovered in the neighbor's barn. Barnee's mother was a small white, gray, and black spotted feral. About seven weeks passed and she finally brought two kittens over to the farmhouse door. The male kitten was all black like his father and the female kitten looked just like the mother. The children chased them around all afternoon. It wasn't until Labor Day weekend that she brought out the tuxedo cat. Much larger than the other two, he must have been reluctant to leave the nest. He was soon caught by my son and brought home.

This sweet cat stole my heart immediately. He followed me around like a puppy dog. He was as bonded to me as I was to him. Barnee was a comfort animal, not just a companion animal. He stayed by my side through years of incapacitating pain. Barnee was like my guardian angel sent to take care of me in return for taking care of him. I was told when I left overnight he would wander up and down the stairs howling for me before he went to sleep.

Something unique about Barnee was that he learned to come when we whistled a special tune. He always came running from wherever he was sleeping or playing when he heard that whistle. Barnee went outdoors those first few years under careful supervision. He never stayed out more than a couple of hours and never after dark. I would not drive anywhere without bringing him in. We always knew he was too precious to run wild. He had his favorite places and rarely went beyond a 100 foot perimeter of the house. He slept under the shed, under the spruce tree, and hid in the forsythia hedge. He sometimes crossed the road to scamper up a fallen tree.

Barnee was actually timid and accustomed to being pampered. He even came to the door to be let in when he needed to use his litter box. And he wanted in when he needed to drink water even though there was a creek and a pond by the side of our yard. He was rather intimidated by strangers. Once while there was a truck parked in front of the house for construction work, Barnee waited across the street at the mailbox to be hand carried back into the house everyday for two weeks.

Increased traffic on our country lane caused us to decide to keep him indoors permanently, which required a short adjustment period. This was accomplished by fixing up the screened porch with places just for Barnee to look out. His porch room had baskets and also potted trees he slept under.

Barnee did a little dance every morning while anxiously waiting for his food. He would also chirp when he was happy. He seldom meowed unless he really wanted attention- occasionally in the middle of the night. Sometimes I held him over my right shoulder and danced with him. He knew I put glasses on when I got up in the morning- so he would knock them on the floor to wake me up. It didn't matter where I set them the night before- he would look around the room until he found them (in any of half a dozen spots within my easy reach).

Fourteen years of companionship went by and one day in December Barnee stopped eating. He gradually recovered after several misdiagnoses (I kept asking vets to test him for pancreatitis, and that is what he had). But sadly, almost a year later he succumbed to a leg injury which veterinarians also misdiagnosed for two weeks. On October 25 Barnee slipped while trying to jump up to his window. I immediately took him to the vet thinking he broke a toe or something. This was a dire mistake. She misdiagnosed it as a spinal blood clot and put a fentannyl patch on him and told me to give him a large dose of neurontin everyday. When she said nothing was broken, I asked if it could possibly be a torn tendon or ligament. Turns out that would have been a relatively simple procedure to fix, but he had languished too many days. I realized much later that it was the fentanyl and the neurontin that made him stop eating on November 3. Barnee was sent to heaven a week later with the help of our mobile vet. Then my own vet came back from vacation and said the video indicated a gastrocnemius/ calf tendon tear, as I suggested to the other vet. Unfortunately, I mistook his drug lethargy for misery, but he was actually just doped up on too many drugs. Missed and never to be forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barnee's Cat Family at my sister's barn (I named Mrs. Pootersvile, Barnee, and Spot; 4 other kittens were named by her children)~

Mrs. Pootersville's first litter with a black tomcat named Panther (July 1996)

1~Barnee (black & white tuxedo) my cat
2~Lucky Patch (white with grey & black spots like mother) she wasn't very lucky
3~Jesse (solid black like their father) he stayed around the farm for several years

Mrs. Pootersville's last litter with a brown tabby barn cat named Tommy (Summer 1997)

1~Spot (white with grey & black spots like mother) didn't even live until the following year
2~Sassy (brown tabby like their father) he stayed around the farm for several years
3~Tiger (grey & brown tabby) rescued by us after a vicious attack and taken to the veterinarian and then a new family

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

******Barnee has 12 months of calendar pictures, which is one of the neatest things you can do while your cat is still young and healthy. Most of the photos I took were when he was 14 years old and already diagnosed with kidney disease, but they are still beautiful. You can make a calendar using 4x6 photos and a spiral calendar that costs a couple of dollars at most crafts stores.******

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~