Tigger, Jr.'s Story

To see Tigger, Jr. now, you would never guess he was underweight and scrawny when we first met him, but he literally only weighed 1 1/2 pounds when he found us. Yes, you read that right...he found us. Tigger, Jr. was hanging around the church/school building where I teach Kindergarten, but was not allowing anyone to catch him. It had rained earlier that week, and when we first saw him, he looked like a drowned rat. One of the teacher aides was really interested in catching him and getting him some help, so when he showed up outside my basement classroom window, I figured I would try to help her out. I opened the window above a tall bookshelf in my room and waited. He was really meowing loudly, so of course the kids in my class were beside themselves and every time he would put a paw on the bookshelf, they would hoot and holler which sent him running for cover! So I told them that they needed to be quiet and go about their business as usual (whatever THAT is in Kindergarten!) and he would come in. Finally it was lunch time, so when we all left the room, I shut the door in case he came in while we were gone. Sure enough, when I came back to the room, Tigger, Jr. had ventured down the bookshelf and couldn't get back up...which was what I was betting on! Long story short, we finally caught him (he was so small he was under even the lowest shelf!) and put him in a box. The teacher aide who was interested in catching him had a friend who fostered cats for a local rescue association, so we called her, and she came and got Tigger, Jr. so he could be assessed and such. While she was gone, I called Dave and asked if he wanted a cat. The rest, as they say, is history! We were given all the supplies we needed for the cat by the lady who took him to be assessed, so we were good to go the first couple of days.

While we aren't certain about Tigger, Jr.'s date of birth, the veterinarian guesses he was born the beginning of October, so we will remember his birthday along with Nathaniel's each year. He has proven to be a great cat and adapted well to life indoors. We are glad he found us when he did, as he would have surely frozen to death with the cold spell that hit our area a couple of days later. As to his name, Dave and I had a Tigger who looked exactly like Tigger, Jr. before our youngest two were born. I thought we should honor Tigger's memory and not name our new kitty the same name, so I suggested adding the Jr. and calling him "Junior". However, I was overruled by all of the other family members, so now he goes by Tigger, Jr. or Tigger. I guess Tigger, Sr. wouldn't mind!