Many people love cats.
My family is no exception.
That is why, for Father’s Day in 2013, I decided to give my father something that he wanted: the gift of memories.
I accomplished this by making a Cat Photo Collage for him, because he loves cats.
I also wrote the poem, Cat Love, for him, which I included in the collage.
Here is the poem, which you can clearly see pasted into the collage:
Cat Love
Cats provide companionship,
semi-conditional love and joy;
Purring when happy,
growling when annoyed.
They each have personalities
and unique characteristics.
They have an amazing ability to heal
using their purrs and licks.
Cats are just like little children,
and will eat wet food on command.
They’ll ask to go outside
so they can roam and play.
They’ll bring home mice as presents,
whether cats are orange, black, white or grey.
Cats are adorable little creatures
– I think this is something we all know –
For all the reasons listed here,
this is why we love them so!
Some family cat backstory:
My father has owned many cats over the years, beginning with Lucky, a kitten who escaped death more than once, until she eventually died of old age.
That night, while laying in his hotel room bed, my dad fell asleep while smoking. His cigarette landed on Lucky, because he had brought her to bed and was cuddling her.
My dad began calling her Lucky, since, after these two incidents, she was lucky to be alive!
Thus began the ownership of multiple cats.
The following is a list of the cats my parents owned, with a few words about each of them. (They are also the captions for the collage I made.)
- Lucky survived against all odds, maybe because she had more than 9 lives! Loved sex, too; her many babies were proof of this!
- Neebs was a fat cat with an attitude, who took no guff from anyone; she was the alpha female of the house! She was always underfoot! She was also sometimes anti-social, but happy she was rescued!
- Swiper was a brave, friendly, fearless boy who had the loudest purr ever! He was an outdoor cat who got dirty all the time, too! Clean was not in his vocabulary. He got used to taking baths, but he never liked them!
- Pounce was Princess’s playful little buddy, and was protective of her. She’s a Princess, after all.
- Princess was a patient cat who took her sweet time thinking about things, except when she was doing her aerobics or running from the litter box! (Prinnie died in November 2014.)
- Jacoby loved to eat treats, lay on his back, and chase invisible “ghosts.” He should have been called “Prince” or “King.”
- Blackie was friendly but impatient. She was a treat-lover with bad table manners who liked rooftops and breaking into houses. She hated baths, and used your head as a springboard to get away from the water! She was a free spirit who used to go by the name C-A-T until we re-named her.
- Missing: Zorro, who broke his leg and healed himself, without the help of a $1500 vet. He only came home to “hang his hat”, since he preferred the outdoors. He never came home, and we don’t know what happened to him.
- Missing: Hootie, who loved “pets,” was super-sweet, and lost his life to some poison he consumed while out in the neighbourhood one day.
- Missing: Sam, one of Lucky’s kittens, who would take your finger off when you fed her from your hand. She was a good mouser who ended up having kittens of her own.
My dad loved his gift!
It was the best gift I could’ve given him, he said. It brought back many memories. My dad is not generally prone to shedding tears, but he did once he took a good look at all of the pictures. Some memories were not so pleasant, since many cats have died, or have been put to sleep due to illness or accidents.
However, he loved the tribute!
I even used a homemade stencil to add pawprints to the collage:
How to Make a Cat Collage
1. I selected specific pictures to include. I chose some old photographs, and some digital ones that I took with my phone.
2. I emailed the digital ones to Japan Camera, and then went there. The woman that worked there printed them out for me once I chose the size I wanted.
3. I bought a piece of bristol board, washable markers, and a glue stick.
I took a photo of the collage when I was finished making it, before it was laminated, too.
How Much this Cat Collage Cost
The total cost for making this gift was less than $30 (Canadian money).
Here is a breakdown:
$9.25 pictures printed out
$1.13 bristol board ($1.00 + .13 tax)
$2.26 markers ($2.00 + .26 tax)
$2.26 glue stick ($2.00 + .26 tax)
$13.00 laminating (this could have been $6.50 if I chose the thinner laminate)
Total $27.90
I already had scissors, so I did not have to buy them. I also printed out the poem on my sister’s printer for free.
I have estimated that the time involved to make this collage was a total of about 5 or 6 hours, since my activities were spread out over a few days.
All in all, it was worth the time and the cost involved to see my dad both smile and cry, and now he has something that he can enjoy for the rest of his life!
My Parents’ Current Cats
Midge and Veronica are the two cats who my Mom and Dad currently have.
I wrote about them before, in Midge, My Tilted Kitty.
Midge is basically my cat, even though she lives with my parents. I was the one who chose her from all the rescue cats listed on the Kitty Care website. I was the one who bonded with her because I spent so much time with her when my parents got them.
I still see her, at least 4-5 times a week, when I visit my parents.
She still loves me. <3
And she probably always will!
YOUR TURN
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