r/vintagecats

Puff was the first cat my mother owned after she married. She described him as sweet, playful, and rather goofy. She was able to walk him on a leash like a dog. Sadly, he passed away due to kidney disease when he was just a year old. She was heartbroken. In appearance, he reminds me a lot of our current bicolor, Lucky.

Two women and their cats, 3 October 1912

Longmeadow Historical Society, Emerson Collection

Peanuts was very different from Smokey. He was easygoing and rather timid with a live-let live attitude towards life. He got along fine with the dogs. However, he and Smokey were enemies. This was entirely Smokey's fault because he hated other cats. We kept them apart 16 years.

Peanuts was a German farm cat my father brought home in 1967. My mother said that Peanuts would have to travel with the family because she was not going to rehome another cat. So when my father, who was in the USAF, was transferred back to the USA, Peanuts came with us. Unfortunately, while his humans went to California, Peanuts ended up in NYC. We have no idea why. My mother raised cain about it and Peanuts was delivered to her by helicopter.

Peanuts loved lying in the grass, especially when it was sunny. My brother Steve took a large number of photos of him one afternoon just enjoying a warm spring day. I have included three of them here. I also included two photos of him with my mother, who was one of his favorite people.

Peanuts passed away in late 1983 at the age of 16. The move to our new house was too stressful for him and he had a hard time adjusting. Ironically, he is buried next to his old rival Smokey in our pet cemetery. I often wonder what they would think about that!

As you can see, he was a very large cat. He was two years older than I was. My mother referred to him as my older brother. He was fearless and tough. He had a pathological hatred of other cats, but loved people, especially women and children. He liked dogs and enjoyed very friendly relations with both of ours. Smokey and I were inseparable until his death of cancer at the age of 16. It broke my heart. I still miss him after all these years.

Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries