1985

Tute

Shortly after Bullet died we got a cat, well I should say we were given a cat.  Julie sister had an white cat for a year or so but she was moving to a new place which didn’t allow cats and she asked us if we would take it.  After seeing the cat I immediate said yes, he looked exactly like my cat Kathleen that I had when I first moved from Gainesville to Melbourne, once again I wondered if pets were reincarnated and perhaps Tute was one of Kathleen’s nine lives. We asked Julie’s sister how it got his name and she said the cat was so white it reminded her of “toot”, i.e. cocaine, something we occasionally experimented with at the time.  The first time we took him to the vet they asked how to spell his name and I told them “Tute” and he was Tute from then on.

Tute laying on the sidewalk.
 (no he's not dead)

Tute was a wonder cat, beautiful long white hair, proud and majestic. He was an indoor – outdoor cat which was nice that we didn’t have to have a litter box all though fleas were a big problem.  This was before the modern flea medicines so once a month or so Tute would be scratching so that we would put him in the bathtub filled with warm water up to his neck and wash him with flea shampoo.  He hated baths and would go sulking off for several hours until he dried off and he would come back and be totally appreciative of being flea free. It also made his white fur super soft and we loved to pet him.  We would have Tute for many years to come.

4th of July