As many of you know, I’ve been caregiving for others for about 16 months now. And, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve still been caregiving, only this time my “patient” is Spikes the cat. Spikes and I go way back. I’ve been called upon to take care of the little guy for years, and now that Spikes is older, he’s on three different meds, and needs a bit more tender loving care. It’s been just Spikes and me for the last two and half weeks and it’s been wonderful. Until he and the neighbor cat get into. Then I must march outside, break up the ruckus, and bring Spikes into the house. However, this is nothing compared to how things were back in the old west.
Cats were a source of both amusement and frustration in mining towns, cow towns and other settlements across the frontier. They, of course, performed an important service in keeping down the population of rats and other rodents. This was a good thing.
In many a frontier town, blacksmith’s shops and livery stables were the chosen haunt of many 
cats. Owners of these establishments gave kitties the occasional scrap of food in exchange for their rodent-catching services, and it had become something of a practice for the cats to congregate at these places in the evening. This was common in a lot of towns. Unfortunately, nobody enjoyed being kept awake by their caterwauling late into the night. Saloon brawls couldn’t even compete with the noise.
The Arizona Daily Star observed in 1882, “for when a man’s state of mind becomes such that he gets out of bed to serve his country in this cause, the first article he touches is the thing that goes, whether it be a coal scuttle, an ivory-backed hairbrush or a diamond bracelet. Man has the right of this conflict, and he will surely win if he lives long enough.”
As a result, cats got so much stuff thrown at them, kids came up with a creative way to make money. According to accounts from Iowa, a certain boy learned how to meow like a feline and started going to people’s yards after dark, singing and collecting whatever they threw his way that he could earn cash for. Another boy tried it in the next town over but instead of collecting items to sell, the owner of the house he was meowing at, threatened to fill his tender derrière full of buckshot! Needless to say, the boy quit his endeavor and left such things to braver souls. 
Now a days we don’t have near the problem the old west had, and it’s something no one really thinks about. But in taking care of dear Spikes these last couple of weeks, I decided to do some research and found all sorts of things about cats in the old west. Felines have such an interesting history, what with being worshipped by the Egyptians to having a bootjack tossed at them by a tired, disgruntled cowboy in the middle of the night.
I don’t have any pets, myself. As often as folks want me to pet sit for them, there’s no need to have one. The last pet I had was a dog name Precious. She was half Samoyed and half black lab and looked like a big black wolf with a few white markings. As fierce looking as she was, she also had the disposition of a cuddly puppy.
What pets have you had over the years? I’m giving away a free, e-book of mine of your choice to one lucky commentor.
USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 180 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!
I’ve had all kinds of pets over the years, but the first pet I remember having was a cocker spaniel. He was a retriever, and he loved to catch rabbits. He would bring baby rabbits to me, often unharmed, I would rescue them, and Daddy built me a hutch to keep them in. Then I not only had a dog (among other pets), but also rabbits.
We had quite the menagerie growing up too, including rabbits.
Most of my life I have always had a dog. When I was real young we had many different animals inside and outside. But as the years went on it was always dogs sometimes we would add a cat or two to the mix.
A couple of our favorite pets were a two parakeets. My sister would let them fly around the house and come dinner time, they’d occasionally land on the table to see what they could eat!
I have cats for a good portion of my life. We have 2 now, a brother-sister pair from the same litter. Such joys.
Cats are fun and cuddly. If I ever got another one I think I’d get a Cornish Rex. As adults they still act like a kitten.
We had a few pets while growing up on the farm. Dogs and cats. When my kids were growing up we had a few stray cats come through. My husband and I talk about getting a dog and then talk ourselves right out of it! LOL
Nice post on the history of cats Kit!
Who knew noisy cats could be so profitable for youngsters?
We had all the usual pets as children dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, fish, and parakeets. But we also had owls, raccoons, spider monkeys and alligators.
Wow, Rhonda! You had a zoo!
I’ve had dogs and cats, but my daughters had dogs, cats, rabbits, and hamsters as well. At one time we had more pets than people and they were all house pets.
That was us too! Pets everywhere!
We had cats dogs and horses when I grew up. What we would call barn cats to keep the rodent population down hound dogs for hunting especially fond of beagles. Do not have any pets now last one was a cat that we bottled fed because the mama cat died.
Oh goodness, Sharon, bottle feeding a kitten can be a chore at times. I’ve done it myself.
As a kid, we had fish, gerbils, a rabbit, guinea pigs, and ferrets, plus a cat and a manx–both of those ended up in Tennessee with my grandma.
As an adult, I’ve had none due to allergies.
I hear you on the allergies, Denise! Cats aren’t as bad for me as dogs are. Thank goodness Spikes isn’t that affectionate!
I’ve had a Dog, a Chameleon and now I have a 17 year old Cat who was dropped off at our house by her Mamma Cat around when she was 4 weeks old. I love most animals except Snakes.
A Chameleon! How fun is that!
We had a couple of dogs when we were growing up. One was a beagle my dad’s hunting dog. The other was just a mutt. I have a cat right now that is in and out of the house. Also have two outside cats that I kind of collected from a feral cat in the neighborhood. I did get those two fixed and then I guess they became my cats. I feed them and give them a warm place to sleep in when it is cold.
Feral cats were a big problem in the old west. It was one of the reasons the howling and meowing were so bad.
I don’t have any pets right now because of allergies, but as a teen we had rabbits that we raised for food & enjoyed as “temporary pets” until it got too hard (both emotionally & financially) to keep them. My daughter had a dog that helped her deal with anxiety, but he isn’t here any more.
My daughter has a cat that helps with her anxiety. Pets do work wonders for some people.
for the first nine years of my life I lived in Pasadena CA. we had birds, cats, a dog, a duck, fish, a rat. Thank we moved to the Mojave Desert and lived on a farm. many animals and many pets, some of which were Goldie my Palomino, Burgundy Rose my Shorthorn, Squeak my piglet turned boar plus so many more. Than we moved to Illinois. We had my Shorthorn and her calf, my Palomino, many chickens, our dogs, cats etc. when I got married, we had a Keeshond dog “Penny”, gerbils, birds, fish, lizards and a cat. now we have two cats who are four and half years old. Feather and Nickel quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
Wow, Lori! You had quite the menagerie! We had a lot of pets growing up too, including doves my mother kept.
I have usually had dogs as pets. My first dog was a dog we named Tammy and she lived to be 13 years old and the last dog we had was named Sadie and she was about 20 when she got hit by a car. I haven’t had any pets since
I have to admit, not having any pets is nice at times. Especially if you travel a lot!
oh my well, lots of barn cats, dogs, horses, bottle calves, ducks, turtles, chicks, llamas, goats, sheep, pigs, oh so many to have good memories of!
Yes, I can’t imagine growing up without pets, Teresa! They brought so much joy over the years. One of my favorite pets was our Great Dane, Astro. She was the niece of the Great Dane in the Disney movie, The Ugly Dachshund.
Most of my life I have been a dog person. My kids insisted on a kitten so they had one until it got run over in the neighborhood. Mostly our dogs were Heinz 57, but most recently we have been the mom and dad of three poodles. Our first one was only 4 pounds, the second one was added when the first was 10 years old and she gave him more life. The third one was his own master and really only could be handled by my husband. He was not a people person at all. He was 9 months old when we got him and our oldest one had passed away at 13 1/2, our second one was about 4-5 years old so we thought he would make a good match. With all the problems we had with him our vet said he was very fortunate to be with us as you had to be up to dealing with his disposition. I would take another in a minute if we were younger, but it is much too hard to lose a pet who has become one of the family.
That’s very true, Judy. Losing a pet that’s part of the family is awful. And one of the reasons I never got another pet.
What an interesting blog post! It certainly made me chuckle. I had a kitten and a pet chicken when I was a little girl. We also had a guinea pig and 2 beautiful rabbits that we took in because they needed a home. If memory serves me we might have had a hamster or 2 at some point. My family has always had dogs, which I love, but cats are the pet of choice for me for the last 30 years because they suit my independent personality.
The most interesting pet we had was a bearded dragon. Her name was Agra. She was inherited from a friend of my youngest son because I was trying to be a nice mom. I didn’t like her at first (girls and reptiles, you know) but she grew on my during the time we had her and I was sad when we had to say good-bye. Thanks for the chance to win a prize.
A bearded dragon! Now there’s an interesting pet, Vickie!
When growing up my dad had beagle hunting dogs. There was one dog that got to stay in the yard instead of a pen, his name was Spot, he was sort of a pet. After I got married and my son came along, we had mostly Labs, very friendly dogs. We have a yellow lab right now ten years old. I had a few cats and kittens also.
My brother owns nothing but labs. He loves them!
Hi, we have had parakeets, green winged Macaws, dogs, zebra birds, canaries, turtles, bunnies, a gerbil and fish. No cats as our daughter is allergic to cats. (not entering this ebook giveaway , but thank you, I am not tech savvy. Have a great week.
Pet allergies are no fun. I’ve developed a dog allergy over the last few years.
I had a cat Rosie for 18 years and now I have a dog a Pug Max
I have a friend who raises Pugs!
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We have had dogs, cats, birds fish, guinea pig, hampsters and gerbils to name a few. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.