Cosmo

Born:  July 15, 1990
Gender:  Male
Type:  Domestic Longhair
Coloring:  Black & White
Origin of Name:  Cosmo Kramer, character on "Seinfeld"
Nicknames:  Cos, Cos-Cos, Cozzy-Bird, Cosmosis, Cosmosis-Burger
Unique Habits/Characteristics:   Hero Cat (warns humans of danger)
Diseases/Illnesses:  FLUTD, Chronic Renal Failure

Cosmo is a magical cat sent by the Cat-Goddess Bast (or Bastet).  I firmly believe this.

He showed up on our doorstep the same month we lost Circe (long-haired black cat) and Geesha (long-haired white cat).  Cosmo is a long-haired black and white cat, with traits of both the others.

Three days after Geesha died (about three weeks after Circe died), my husband was walking home from the convenience store.  He passed the alley near our home, heard a "meow", and there was Cosmo, following him.  He petted him, and Cosmo followed him right up to the porch.

My husband knocked, said "Umm, honey, come out here" and there was this gorgeous cat curled up on the windowsill.  I introduced myself, petted him, invited him in, and as I held the door open, he bolted in, and went straight for the food, without looking around, as though he knew where it was.  He went through two-and-a-half bowls of cat food before he finally stopped eating.

We had one cat left, Tiki, who was almost 18 years old.  Into our lives comes bounding this maybe three-year-old cat (we guessed), gorgeous (with Egyptian eye shadow eyes), proud, affectionate, sweet, magical.

We called him Big Fat Fuzzy Cat.  He was huge, with a ton of gorgeous fur --with the exception of his tail, which was pathetic looking next to the rest of him.

We had just lost two cats.  Cosmo was neutered, and obviously hadn't been out long (maybe a day or two).  All I could think of was some little kid crying somewhere missing his/her cat.

I looked and checked everywhere I could think of.  I called ads in the paper that didn't even sound like him.  Nothing.  He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

After about three months, I knew he was ours.  And I knew we had to find a better name than "Big Fat Fuzzy Cat", which he came awfully close to being stuck with for life!

It took awhile.  Then I was watching "Seinfeld", the night they revealed Kramer's first name.  Plus I'm an astrologer etc.  I tried it.  "Cosmo?"  He meowed.  It suits him well.

He's a Cancer, Moon in Aries, Leo rising.  He preens in front of mirrors, but is terrified of a lot, until he gets ticked, when he turns into a Ram.

He's our "disaster cat".  I suspect he has lived through a tornado, because he knows where to go if there's likely to be one, and he does exactly that.  If the basement's open, that's his first choice.  If the bedroom's open, the closet in there is his second choice.  If not, the heavy table in the living room.  He's got the tornado drill down by heart.

He will go through this every time there's a thunderstorm, mind you.  But the only time he *insisted* we also join him in the basement, the tornado sirens went off a few minutes later.

I was calling him our "weather cat" until I accidentally smoked some oil on the stove.  He had the same reaction; run down to the basement and insist we come down there with him.  This guy knows survival, hands up.

Cosmo helped Tiki out in her time of kidney failure, which told me he has a big heart, even if he doesn't always show it.

It took Cosmo and Internet about two weeks before they began stealthily playing together, late at night when they thought we were sleeping.

Cosmo is variously known as Cos-Cos, Cozzy, Cozzy-Bird, Cosmosis and Cosmosis-Burger.  I'm certain he gets offended by these, as he is a *very* serious cat who demands the utmost in respect and attention.

Cosmo gave us a scare one day when he went to the bathroom on the floor right next to the couch where we were sitting.  His urine was stained with blood.  The vet diagnosed Feline Urinary Syndrome (FUS), more recently known as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD).  We had to put him on a special diet for 6 weeks, give him antibiotics, and switch his diet permanently (which means all the other guys got to share his special diet food).  In May of 2000, Cosmo was diagnosed with chronic renal failure.  We are very saddened by this diagnosis, but very lucky that we caught it early.  With good care, yet another special diet (that the other cats *don't* get to share), subcutaneous fluid therapy when it becomes necessary, and a lot of love, we are hopeful that we will have many more years to share with our beautiful Cosmo.

Cosmo's personality is something else again.  He is quite vain, and we have on numerous occasions caught him "posing" and looking at himself in a mirror.  He knows he's quite beautiful (except for his perennially ratty-looking tail).  He has little use for other cats most of the time, but will occasionally deign to play with a younger cat, as he did with first Internet, and then with Mojo.  Lately, he's been doing a bit of "Chase Me" with Wolfie.

The only toys Cosmo worships are his catnip pillows, which he will try to squirrel away in one of the many cardboard boxes we leave around for the kitties to sleep in, and "Da Bird", the feathers-and-fishing-pole cat toy.  Cosmo goes completely nuts when we get that very special toy out, and acts like a little kitten, huge eyes open wide, running across couches and chairs, trying to catch those flying feathers.

As long as we don't ruffle his dignity, Cosmo is one very big, beautiful, special Lion-cat.
 

Back to Cats Page