As I gaze into Bubba’s eyes I realize how lucky we are to have this wonderful cat. When it comes to cat temperaments you couldn’t ask for much better. He is mellow and easy going and rarely complains or makes a fuss (yes, cats do fuss!) Bubba came to us about 6 years ago when we adopted him from the San Jose Humane Society. We had just recently put down our long shaggy haired black cat Fay Fay (a Chinese name that translates roughly into “Fat Cat” – he wasn’t really fat, just fluffy!) My boys were extremely sad so I took them to the Humane Society on a Saturday “just to look.” Well, a wonderful volunteer listened to our preference (big black cats) and steered us over to cat named Mombassa. It was love at first sight. We wanted him right then and there. But I told my boys we should wait and ask their dad first. Well, my husband came back with me the next Monday. It didn’t take him long to see that “Mombassa” was the cat for us. We also picked out another black cat (Larry) to be his companion. Larry was still fairly young and seemed to have a friendly personality, but we later discovered he was somewhat skittish. However, he and Mombassa did get along, so that was great.
Anyhow, the name Mombassa just didn’t seem to be a fit. We called him “Momba” for a while but then it somehow changed to “Bubba” or sometimes simply “Bub.” He’s a long-bodied cat with an easy-going attitude that’s rare in the cat world, and the name Bubba captured his personality perfectly.
This personality, in turn, turned out to be a blessing when we got our pug Spanky, who was a mere 9-weeks old at the time when we brought him home. Spanky loved Bubba like a big brother and would lick his ears until they were soaking wet. I have to admit I was deathly afraid that the cats would scratch Spanky’s big bulgy eyes but that was never the case. Larry stayed his distance from Spanky but he is much more tolerant of him now. Bubba, on the other hand, seemed perfectly comfortable around him and has only raised his paw once or twice as a warning when Spanky got a bit overzealous and playful with him.
Sadly, though, things are not going so well for Bubba. We noticed that one of his eyes didn’t look right this last week. He had been squinting it a bit recently, too. So I took him in and had it checked out. The vet says he doesn’t have glaucoma, which is good news, but the bad news is she couldn’t see his retina. She feels he might have a tumor, but I wasn’t ready to sink hundreds of dollars into finding out whether this was the case or not, as the only cure for that would be to remove his eye. I did agree to test him for toxoplasmosis, which can affect the eyes and is treatable. This can be picked up by cats that kill rodents, which Bubba had done a few times. The last mouse or vole he killed was a few months ago, so it could be a possibility. They sent his blood sample up to Colorado State in Fort Collins to be tested and we should know next week. In the meantime we’re all spending more time with Bubba, feeding him his favorite canned food, and treasuring the moments we spend with him. I hope we can treat his condition because I know Spanky cares for him, in his doggy way.
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