Sunny Tiger Brost - 10 Years of Love Today

I will always remember how it all started, sitting around a campfire in 1999, possibly even on this day, dreaming of having a dog like a dalmation, then settling for a cat. That night I had a dream that a little orange kitten with a white tail tip followed me home. It was so unlikely back then - I hated orange cats - but something happened. One day a month later my mom went out shopping without me (I can't remember why) and then, barely a half hour later there was a phone call. Dad took it, talking to Mom, then suddenly me and him were loading into the truck, driving down through our Highland Park neighbourhood to the Armstrong Farmer's Market. We got out of the truck, me wondering what could possibly be happening and then there was my mom standing at the corner where people tend to give out kittens, holding a very wriggly, very little orange and white tabby with a pink nose, not to mention that crazy white tail tip. That tiny baby boy fell asleep in my nine-year old arms and we've been in love ever since. I will always believe that it is fate that brought me and Sunny together; perhaps some kindly spirits or maybe even a god if there are such things took pity on a lonely little girl who wished for a kitten, a cat of her own, a best friend.



Some kids have dogs, others have horses or even ferrets, but I think cats are by far the best. While they don't really play with you (Sunny is as lazy as I am) or follow you on adventures, cats are better because they just sit there and listen. I will always maintain personally that Sunny is the best damn cat in the world. He is. There is no questioning this, at least in my mind. Who else, I wonder would have waited for me faithfully to come home every single day or slept on my back? This cat has been with me through thick and thin, a sturdy, furry pillar of love in my anxious, stressful life. If you have not known the unconditional love of a cat like Sunny, you have not lived. How can I reflect on a decade of such wonderful memories? I would miss so many! I cannot believe that it has been 10 years since my wonderful baby was born. When that tragic day comes when I lose him I will miss him forever. It is said that no pet is ever as special as your first one, but Sunny was not my first but my third.

We drove home from the farmer's market in my dad's beat up old blue truck with the white stripe, me corralling Sunny in my arms, a tiny little mite who could fit in one of my hands. He was only six weeks old, too young to leave his orange and tortie siblings or his mother, but that was alright to me. Maybe that's why we bonded so deeply. I walked up the steps to my drive, my brothers coming out to meet us, Josh taking him from my hands for a few short moments (I allowed it so I could rest) then it was into the house to introduce him to Mamma Kitty and Smokey, who luckily were not aggressive, at least from my memory, which happens to be very good. I was his bodyguard that day, at first chirping at him to call him for I had no name for him, but eventually, as always, my mom helped me choose his name: Sunny, for the colour of his pelt. It amazes me to this day how very well named my cat is, for not only is he the warm colour of sunshine, but his disposition is sunny. In fact, he's such a happy, friendly little cat that his middle name, Tiger, almost seems redundant. I have never in my life witnessed my cat hiss. Other people have, but never me. I have seen him flatten his ears, bare his teeth and swat his tail, but never once have I ever heard him snarl. He's a wonderful cat.



I think the best way to cap up this is to describe him. He's a loyal little boy, though I must admit that I'm bias and as his 'mom' I tend to look aside from the fact that he's really about 15lb (people have said 20-25 before but I find this highly unlikely; my cat is kind of obese, but he's not that obese! He's just chubby! I find it very insulting when anybody calls him fat.) and thus a rather large cat. I love the tar out of him. When we first got him, we had no idea how long his fur was going to be and I remember hoping he would keep his beautiful blue eyes, but alas, Sunny's eyes turned gooseberry. The faded purple collar Sunny wears now is exactly the same one that he wore when he was a baby and it has only ever been removed for 5-10 minute segments, very rarely. Sunny likes to have his butt (dock) scratched, but not for long, because once upon a time something bit him there. Also, his skin has the disgusting habit of getting little bits of dirt all over it, which the only way to remove is to painstakingly pull out his affected fur. I've made him bald in places this way before. He might not appreciate this treatment, but it does get rid of the dirt. I'll admit I'm kind of obsessed with digging through his fur for the stuff, like a chimp goes after termites. I can do it for hours, or rather, that is until Sunny gives a big loud complaining "MEOW!" and swings his head around to bite me, his chubby tail whipping against my leg and thumping whatever we're sitting on.




Besides the dirt in his fur which both disgusts and peculiarly entertains me, Sunny also has another pretty weird problem. That is, besides being fat. Every few months or so, give or take, his chin is afflicted with a most shudder provoking problem. It started with dirt, like the rest of his furry body, but in recent years, he's started getting what seem to be sort of like feline blackheads in his chin, but even grosser than that because there's a lot of it under the 'head.' We call these bugs. Sick. I know it's a weird thing to talk about when thinking about a pet's ten good years of life, but it's part of what makes him Sunny. I'm fairly sure that because of his oddball chin problem and his dirt problem that I will always be pestering my future cats, always secretly hoping to find dirt on them, just so I can resume my weird search-and-destroy mission of cleaning the stuff out. Before anyone thinks I'm really freakish, yes, we have tried soap on Sunny. It doesn't work to get rid of the 'dirt.'



Oh Sunny. I miss him so much; I miss his rich orange pelt which is decorated by a lovely broken stripe tabby pattern. I miss his white markings and his kind green eyes. I miss his fat and his loud purr, which since his youth has been reduced a bit due to increased biological insulation (that being his fat.) He's as round as a basket ball and he's always smiling, whether by quirk of anatomy or true emotion. He loves rolling over to show his big white belly. He loves having that belly rubbed and having his ears scratched. He sheds like there's no tomorrow and often when he gets up off my lap there's a pasting of yellow fuzz all over me as well as whatever we happened to be sitting on. When Sunny kneads, he digs in his claws, which can be quite lethal, so we're always sure to keep them well clipped. Sunny hates getting his claws cut, just as he hates baths. Baths are one thing Sunny would prefer to always go without and the one thing that makes his forgiveness a little slower in returning. Like all cats he looks like a wet rat after he has been bathed, but an extremely fat one and he spends a lot of time shaking out his legs, glaring at me. When he shakes, the tags on his collar jingle, just serving to endear me to him even more. After a while he always loves me again and the bath is forgotten, at least until next time. He's a good boy.




Food is Sunny's lover. There is no place he would rather be than the kitchen when you're there cooking something, hoping for a snippet of whatever you're handling. As a kid I trained the canny little critter to meow for his wet supper and nowadays, he does it for treats too. I used to be able to command him to stand him to stand on his hind legs with the order "Up!" but these days, Sunny's too lazy (and possibly too paunchy) to try, even for treats. Sunny likes cat treats, but he likes cheese more. Like me, Sunny's a cheesovore. He just loves his cheese. It's probably bad for him. I used to make him meow 5-20 times for his wet cat food, counting the meows and sweeping the food over his head to which he would meow like a barcode scanner. He's very cute. He likes to pretend to be too fat to get up on the couch, but I know better. I've seen him gallop up and down the hallway and whip up trees like lightning, chub or no chub. Sunny hates dogs. He's terrified of them. He also hates cars and riding in them; he actually hyperventilates. That time his tail was injured by some animal, a dog, another cat or a snake we didn't even know he was hurt until his wound unexpectedly opened up and he started bleeding all over the place. He cries when he's unhappy. Sunny is sweet.




For two years me and Sunny have been apart because of university. It is my hope that soon we will be together again and that he will start loving me again. Sunny thinks I abandoned him, but I never will. Next time, perhaps, Sunny's coming with me. I hope so. I miss coming home to his hugs and his purrs and his meows. He's such a good boy.

Here's to more great years of your life, Sunny Tiger Brost, prince of my heart!




Sunny has been the inspiration for many things in my life as well as in The Copperbane Series. He was the base for the gigantic ambush predators known as 'fire cats' on Rimer and the goddess character Firis shares some of his characteristics. Sunny has been an important part of my life for nearly a decade and I would like to hope that he will continue to be for at least a decade more.