The Secret Life of Jasper the Cat Tim Hoehn

It was almost a typical early spring day. My wife and I were doing outside clean-up, raking, pulling out patio furniture, and hosing off the deck.

When we stopped to take a break, we suddenly noticed that we had a visitor. A Maine-coon cat with green eyes and a sunny disposition. He was very affectionate and well kept, but had no collar.

He hung out with us most of the day and our young daughter took to him instantly. We’ve had cats before and most will quickly bolt at the sight of kids. But not this cat.

Not only did he let her brush his thick coat, but was more than willing to play the starring role of “baby” and gladly paraded around in her doll stroller. She even gave him a name; Jasper.

After an entire day, we told our daughter it was time for Jasper to go to his own home. “But he’s hungry. We can’t let him leave on an empty stomach!”, exclaimed our daughter. Jasper quickly lapped up a bowl of milk and we said our goodbyes.

Much to our surprise, the next morning Jasper was on the back deck, resting on the lawn chair. Our daughter was very excited. Since he didn’t have a collar, we called our veterinarian to check Jasper for a microchip. We were certain his owner would have taken that precaution for such a wonderful cat.

But the scan came up negative.

Jasper stayed as our house guest for almost two weeks. He would play with our daughter. Watch TV with the family. At the end of the evening, we would put him out, wondering if we would see him in the morning. Then one day he was gone.

We were all sad to see him go, but we were thankful for the time he had spent with us. Over the next few days, the first thing our daughter would ask in the morning was, “is Jasper back?” Soon he became just a fond memory.

It was Memorial Day weekend and we were having friends over for the first official barbeque of the summer. As I pulled the grill out I noticed an old familiar face. “Hello, Jasper.”

Everyone was excited to see him again and he was a big hit with all of our guests that afternoon. Jasper stayed with us for a couple of weeks and just like his previous visit, one morning he was gone again.

Jasper’s pattern stayed consistent that summer. He would show up unexpectedly and stay for a spell and be gone just the same. This happened several times.

It had been longer than usual when Jasper came to visit on Labor Day. Although this time was different. We noticed Jasper was limping and had blood coming from his leg.

We live in a typical New England town. Small enough not to have a local high school, but large enough to have two animal hospitals.

My wife called our veterinarian to see if they could take a look at Jasper’s injury but being a holiday the answering machine said they were closed and that the other vet in town was covering for them in case of an emergency.

We quickly called the other vet and they asked us to bring Jasper in as soon as possible. Jasper is such a great cat and let us put him in a cat carrier without incident.

We walked into the animal hospital and the vet tech behind the counter asked us for preliminary information; i.e. billing info, the cats’ name, etc... As she gently pulled Jasper from the carrier, a confused look came across her face, “This cat is not a Jasper. He’s Winston!”

It seems this was the cat’s regular veterinarian and was as loved by the staff as he was by us. As the doctor quickly patched up Jasper/ Winston, the tech called his owner.

We talked for a while and he shared that Winston was 19 years old and he had him since he was a kitten. When his daughter was little, Winston was her best friend.

“I often wondered where he went on his excursions because when he came home he always appeared happy and well fed”, said Winston’s man.

We wondered the same.