Most of you know Kitty Bear as a Lover, not a fighter. But in his younger years, he was quite the little ruffian! I remember letting him out to explore the world, and when he came back after his cat adventures, he would be frazzled, with fur sticking to him everywhere. He always returned with a victorius look about him, confident and bad-ass, and I always wondered about the unfortunate cat(s) he had run into!
Even in his later years, he was the "King Cat" of our complex. Once, all the neighbors on Agate Street were outside talking about their pets' antics, and I made the comment, "Kitty Bear is a Lover, not a Fighter". One of the neighbor's replied, "Yeah, right! Your cat kicks all our cat's asses!" I remember being somewhat shocked at the time, but really, Kitty Bear had built himself quite a reputation!
At one point, I was dating this guy, who shall remain nameless, who really did not have a great personality. He had a frantic energy about him, and cats can pick that up, you know. So, one day I was in the bathroom, and "what's his name" was out in my living room waiting for me, apparently petting Kitty Bear. All of a sudden I heard a horrifyingly wretched "RAOW!!!" and then what's his name screamed out, "OUCH! Your cat bit me!"
Well, Kitty Bear had never bitten anyone in his life, so I came running out, and sure enough, Kitty Bear had bitten my date!
Instead of being overly concerned about the guy's now bleeding finger, I rushed to Kitty Bear, to see if he was OK. He looked pretty pissed off, and rightly so! How dare this jerk try to hang out with his beloved human! At that point, I realized that Kitty Bear was trying to send me a clear message ... the guy was an asshole! Stay away! I don't like him!
Then I looked at the couch. On it lay a tooth! One of Kitty Bear's teeth! It was one of his front "fangs", too, a biggie! Poor little Kitty Bear had lost a tooth trying to protect me!
Because he was missing one of his fangs, sometimes his lip would get stuck on the one side of his mouth, making him look like a cute little old cat. I called it "his Toothless Grin", and really, if you saw him do it, it would really make you smile, it was SO cute! I wish I had a picture of it, but as with all "I wish I had a picture of..." stories, it's pretty hard to set that up.I will always remember how cute it looked, though!
*****
A few years later, Kitty Bear was outside, galavanting, when I heard the unmistakable sounds of a cat fight. From previous experience, I KNEW Kitty Bear's "fighting growls." I rushed out to the back alley to find him in full confrontation with one of the imfamous "alley cats" of our neighborhood. Fur was everywhere, and Kitty Bear's frazzled look and fur sticking up from his back belayed the fact that I was already too late to stop the worst part of the fight.
I got him inside and began to wash off the goo and fur of the fight. His mouth was bleeding! I examined him to find that his other fang was now missing, too! I went back out to the alley, and sure enough, I found his tooth lying there!
Now that he was missing his top two fangs, sometimes both sides of the top of his mouth would get stuck, and he looked really funny! Try it yourself! Pull your lip up so your front teeth show, and imagine what a cat would look like doing the same thing! I couldn't help laughing, it was SO darn cute!