My Halloween Cat

Posted on by Joyful2bee
Norie with witch's ha
Norie

Norie was mischievous, playful, curious, overweight and had asthma for which she was treated with an inhaler twice a day. She didn’t like to be held unless she jumped up in my lap to ask for a few strokes on her thick, black hair.

Norie was my friend and companion. She kept me company by entertaining me with her behavior, mannerisms, and amazing communication skills.

We had a lovely screened in porch where she loved to lay on the cool cement or bask in the sun’s warmth. Sometimes Norie sat on the patio chair to get a better view of birds, lizards or bugs, or more sun.

When she stared at my hand, flattening her ears or switching her tail rapidly I knew she needed to get down from my lap.

Norie was fascinated by soap bubbles floating through the air. Usually she watched them as they fell but then she would pop them.

Black cat smiling at bubbles.
Should I try to eat it or pop it?  

One of Norie’s favorite pastimes was to lie on her back and look at the world upside-down! She did this on the couch, on the floor before I left, (to get attention I think), on the porch or anywhere. When I sat on the bed to put my shoes on, she looked just like the picture below but more sprawled out. She wanted me to play with her before I left.

Happy Norie Chilling
Happy Norie Chilling

One night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard this pitiful, little, querulous meow. I rushed to the living room worrying that she might be sick or having an asthma attack. When I found her lying on the floor looking at me, I wondered why she had done that.

The next few nights she made the same sounds but when I checked on her, she was carrying a long fuzzy toy on a stick. The long, red fuzzy part was in her mouth and the stick part was being drug down the hall with her legs straddling the stick, reminding me of a large panther or lion dragging its large prey to a tree or secluded spot.

She seemed very proud of herself. Then she did the same thing each night. By the end of several nights there was a pile of toys at the foot of my bed. Suddenly I realized she wanted me to play with her! So of course I obliged and played with her.

Every morning at almost the same time or close to it she woke me up for a chin rub and sometimes wanted food. When I reached for my glasses, she knew I was ready to get up and start fixing her food.

Every now and then there was a silverfish on the floor or on the wall. I would call, “Norie, there’s a bug!” She stopped what she was doing; ran in looking for the bug. She caught it with her paws; and ate it (if it wasn’t too big). But I have seen her eat a cricket! If there was no obvious bug, she did a “perimeter check” of the bathroom! But I also have saw her fake catching a bug! I loved my beautiful, black, bug zapper!

Norie slept curled up behind or between my knees depending on how long it took for me to go to sleep. She would up and go elsewhere in our home. She only bothered me when Daylight Savings time changes were made. It took a while to get her switched back and forth.

All in all she was a sweetheart, who genuinely seemed to love me and the routines we kept each day. My life was enriched with this wonderful feline friend. She passed away December 2025. I still miss her.

72 thoughts on “My Halloween Cat”

  1. Ohhh!! YOu did such a great job!! I love the broken rhythm with the pictures. It gives the poem a very unique and personal touch! Loved it! 🙂 More!!

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    1. Thank you. I never knew how amazing cats were until she was given to me 10 years ago. I have also enjoyed taking pictures of her too, as you can see. LOL. She enjoys my company too but needs to be alone just like me. She is special to me.

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  10. THAT BLACK CAT SHE INVADED HIS DREAMS (a mostly true story) …

    She laid by his bared feet / at the foot of his bed / though in his dream they’d meet / which they did in his head. // For this sleek black feline / she’d been in there before / such she’d never decline / as that cat he’d adore. // A myth it couldn’t be / that her claws touched his toes / as the dreaming did he / was about that she knows. // The dream she boldly caught / that night she did invade / was the dream she had sought / the dream she’d long delayed. // Within she placed her claws / upon his sleep-bound feet / all performed with no flaws / then and there they did meet. // Though not feeling abused / by prickling on his toes / he still looked down confused / at each of five toes, two rows. // Naught of her did he find / in his dream created / though back to wakened mind / he saw her and stated // ‘Mimi, it’s you—you rascal!’ / yet he still adored her / while finding comical / her response a smooth ‘murr’. // From the thick mattress down / she landed without woes / as he said ‘You little clown— / you leave alone my toes.’ // Thought she, ‘Again we’ll meet / as you dream fast asleep / when the toes on your feet / from my paws you can’t keep.’

    (Frank Sterle Jr.)

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    1. Wow! What a tale! I know of a friend’s black cat who actually walks in dreams to soothe people who are having a nightmare. He doesn’t go unless told to. So there may be something to this story. 😉

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    1. They are so smart! Talk to her and tell her what you are doing if she is watchung you. They remember words and phrases if you use them often. I love the name Nora too. Norie is Nori (the black seaweed that wraps around sushi) I added the “e” for some weird resaon. But it doesn’t matter.

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    1. Thanks, Crystal Byers. From what I read somewhere most all black cats were killed during the witch hunts as accomplices to the “witches.” But black cats who had even a hair of white on them were spared. So they could be related. You never know. I think they are extremely beautiful and smart. I bet you agree!

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    1. Mags, I am strongly thinking of publishing a book on Norie from the blog posts through Amazon Kindle. I am going to do research on it first, but I think there are a l9t of other “crazy cat people” out there. Thanks for the comment about my photos of her. She is beautiful.

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    1. I am so sorry. After you have healed some from your loss, please go find another black kitty. There are people who don’t like them and that means some never get adopted. If your heart can find one, please give it a loving home.

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    1. Thank you. I only have Norie, my black cat now. My second cat had to be euthanized due to a pituitary gland tumor.She was a sweetheart. Norie is affectionate but has limits on how much I can pet her. Thank you for commenting, Cat Discovery.

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  28. Awww! I used to have a black cat with asthma. That was before pet adapters so we used a child adapter on him. Roughly every 5 weeks, he’d have an attack that required ER. After a few hours in an oxygen chamber, he’d be fine.

    Norie’s markings remind me of one of my community cats, LBK (Little Black Kitty).

    Wonderful poem!

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  29. Thank you, leendadll!! She hasn’t had an asthma attack in years. But I continue to give her the inhaler twice a day. I count each time so she knows how many breaths to take with the inhaler. She is a delightful, smart cat. So delighted that so many have enjoyed the poem I wrote about her.

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      1. Sadly she passed away Wednesday evening. I miss her very much. She was 16 years old (80 in human years). She had arthritis in her lower back which decreased her ability to walk more. I am thankful that she is not in pain any more.

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