Meet Moe, our weird cat

“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” — Albert Schweitzer

I’m going to have to take issue with ol’ Al on that one. Cats are alright. I have nothing against cats. In fact, I have one living in my basement — Moe. She’s our basement cat and let’s face it ... she’s kind of weird.

A little back story on Moe. The kids found her in our barn as an orphaned kitten years and years and years ago. In fact it’s been so long, we don’t even know how old she is, but our guess is at least 16.

We returned from vacation one year to find her as the only survivor along side three other kittens — hence the name (Eany, Meany, Miny and) Moe. We nursed her along and obviously did a wonderful job since she’s still with us today. She’s been a fixture in the house, cohabitating peacefully with numerous dogs and a few other cats, that is until the day we began fostering Kinnick, a cat belonging to our son Josh, several years back.

Kinnick is a beautiful cat. She loved to cuddle with our dogs, Belle the Bloodhound and Aspen, my golden retriever, and would lounge on most any lap she could find. However she despised our rambunctious Jack Russell/terrier Cricket.

Kinnick and Cricket would fight like (dare I say it?) cats and dogs! I swear they would plot attacks on one another —sneaking around, lurking behind doors, waiting for just the right moment and then the fur would fly.

And as if brawling with Cricket wasn’t enough, Kinnick eventually decided to start bullying Moe.

Poor old Moe would be curled up on the back of the couch or in a chair, innocently basking in a ray of sunshine and Kinnick would appear out of nowhere, like a heat-seeking missile.

Eventually Moe had enough of Kinnick’s abuse and decided to relocate to our basement ... permanently. (That’s where the cat food dishes are, as well as the litter boxes, so she was very familiar with the area.)

Moe was quite comfortable down there, roaming around, sleeping on the couch or in a tote filled with stocking hats and mittens we have stored under the stairs. The basement gets plenty of daylight and we’ve always left a lamp turned on.

Last year Josh and Kaylee moved in to their new home and without missing a beat, Mick loaded Kinnick up in the truck and delivered her to their doorstep. Can you tell he was almost as fond of Kinnick as was Cricket? We’ll just say Mick and that cat didn’t see eye to eye.

The weird thing is, Moe was apparently so content in the basement, she has still not returned to the surface from her subterranean retreat.

It’s been about two years since she made that fateful leap through the cat door and it’s obvious she has no intention of changing her basement-dwelling ways.

On the plus side, we haven’t seen a mouse in the house since 2016.

Contact Dana King at dking@shawmedia.com