(revisited) First Impressions...

I should point out that The Monster (the slobbery, noisy Dog-Creature) soon became my friend. And not just my friend, but possibly the best friend I'll ever have.

The Monster turned out to be a dog, after all. When he and I first met, I wasn't familiar with dogs. Besides, he was enormous, and he had the benefit of Home Turf. He was roughly three-hundred times my size, and he'd been living in the building his entire life (and I'd been there for less than three days). I remember seeing some Very Big Humans acting afraid of him...so what was I supposed to do?

I learned that the dog's name was Goliath. He was a mixture of Siberian Husky and Grey Wolf, and he was a great friend.

When I was little, I was really little...John remembers when (just for fun) he put me into a coffee mug (no, of course there wasn't any coffee in the mug!). My ears were the only part of me that didn't fit comfortably inside the mug...they sort of stuck out.

So picture me, and this 115-pound Dog Thing...he's sound asleep, and I'm climbing on him like he's Mount Everest. And I wouldn't just climb on him, no sir...I would chew on his ears, or on his paws, or (if it was available) his tongue. As I grew bigger, I continued to use Goliath as my Jungle Gym...and he would inevitably shower me with (very wet, disgusting) kisses.

Goliath and I were together for about two years. There was a Special Treat that Goliath got every day...a blob of cheese (or ground-up raw meat, sometimes). It turns out, Goliath had something called epilepsy, and the Special Treat was the only way to get him to take his medicine every day.

Sometimes, Goliath got sick. He would be just fine one minute, and then suddenly he'd be on his back, squirming like a goldfish. After a while, though, he would be back to normal. But one day, Goliath fell on his back, and squirmed, and didn't get up again. John had left the building, but he was only out for a little while that day.

When John came back home, he found Goliath lying in the middle of the room, with me on top of Goliath, licking him. I was trying to make Goliath get up! John touched Goliath, on his head and on his stomach, and then he picked me up. At the time, I didn't like being held, but I let it go this once.

John told me that he was very sorry, and that I was a Very Good Kitty. It was weird, because I had never seen John act this way before. Also, he had water on his face, and I'd never seen that before, either.

John took Goliath out of the building, but Goliath didn't move. After a while, John came back...without Goliath. I understand now what happened, but at the time I was confused and upset.

And I still miss that dog. My best (non-human) friend, ever.