Fishing Cat Friday

 

Pawing right along it’s time for our new #FishingCatFriday story!

 

Fiona was a Fishing Cat. She was long, lean and very cute with the purr-fect Fishing Cat markings.  Before you even ask, yes, she was named for that fun-loving hippo, Fiona, in Cincinnati and you can assume that her mom had a sense of humor.  Anyway, Fiona was just your typical, gorgeous Fishing Cat who loved life and especially loved her time in the water!  So, one day, she https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRXcW2wVDmM,decided to take a swim.  So, she swam…

       And swam…

       Meee-ow she kept going!  I’m sure you humans heard about people being on a ‘runner’s high,’ right?  Well, this cat was on a swimming high!  The water was so nice and clear, she couldn’t help it but, eventually, she started feeling tired and stuck her head up.

And MEEEE-OW she was shocked at what she saw!

      

  There were all kinds of trees that she never saw before and well, the entire environment was just weird.  There were hills, grass that was a rich green color and a lot of hills. 

       Fiona couldn’t believe it.  Where in the meow was, she?  She climbed out of the water and shook her fur off.  She turned around and looked at the water trying to figure out what kind of waterway it was.  It didn’t look like anything from her home- oh well.  She decided to paw around and take a better look at this strange place. 

       The whole area seemed really quiet, and Fiona couldn’t figure out what the bright birds were that were staring at her so strangely.  This was really weird, then all of a sudden, she heard something behind her and turned around sharply- coming face-to face with another kitty!!!

      

       Fiona couldn’t believe it!  She never saw a kitty like this before.  The kitty was gold, black and white with fluffy fur.  As a meow of fact that the only reason she knew that this was a cat bepaws of the whiskers.  Anyway, this cat was just as surprised to see Fiona too.  How could she tell?  She jumped up in a tree.  “Holy meows!”  she yowled from the top of the tree.  “Who in the meow are you?”

       Fiona stared at the colorful kitty.  “Who are you?”  she called out.

       The colorful cat looked at Fiona and then she gave one of those friendly looks and jumped from the tree.  “You’re a Fishing Cat!”  she announced excitedly.  “Where did you come from?”

       Fiona just stared at her strangely.  She wasn’t sure what to tell her.  She couldn’t figure it out either.  One second, she was in her neighborhood and the next, she was here.  It was just strange. 

       The strange cat was equally confused.  “What’s wrong with you?  Can’t you talk?”

       Fiona nodded but still didn’t speak.  It was like she forgot how.  Maybe it was a combination of shock and fear.  Deep down though she knew she shouldn’t be afraid bepaws this strange cat looked nice and she genuinely seemed interested in her, in a nice way.  Finally, she spit it out, “I’m Fiona.”

       The strange cat looked shocked.  “Fiona?”  she asked.  “Like the hippo?” 

       Fiona nodded, feeling proud of herself.  Everyone knew about Fiona the hippo and she was proud to share the name.  “Yeah,” she answered, “my mom loved Fiona the hippo.”

       The cat looked really surprised to hear this but she twitched her whiskers in appreciation of that fact.  “I’m Fuzzy,” the cat announced.

       “Bepaws you’re furry?”  Fiona asked innocently.

       More whisker twitching and a big meow, “Yeah,’ she meowed.  “So, how did you get here?”

       “I’m not sure,” answered Fiona.  “I just took a swim and was enjoying myself, the next thing you know, I was here!”

       “Cool,” Fuzzy meowed. 

       Fiona looked at the colorful cat in awe.  She’s seemed so friendly and Fiona was relieved.  Who knew what would’ve happened if she ran into some mean cat.  This kitty looked like that she didn’t have a mean bone in her body.  As they stood there eyeing each other up for a bit, Fiona, finally, asked the inevitable question.  “Am I safe here?”  she asked.  “Are there a lot of humans around?”

       Fuzzy’s whiskers twitched.  “Don’t worry about that.  My human won’t do anything to you.  Besides that- she’s so meowing busy that she’d probably think you were some alley cat.”

       Fiona just looked at Fuzzy, not really grasping what she was saying but feeling a lot better about the situation.  This place didn’t seem that bad.  However, she wasn’t sure what to do next.  Fuzzy seemed friendly but still there was that human factor involved.

       “Are you hungry?”  asked Fuzzy.

       Hungry?  Fiona thought that she’d never ask!  She was starved.  You would be to after an extraordinary long swim.  “Yeah,” she answered.  “What do you have?”

       “Come up with me and I’ll make sure you get something,” Fuzzy meowed turning and heading up the hill.  “C’mon, it’s okay.  Nobody’s going to see you.”

       Fiona wasn’t sure about that, but her stomach was growling.  She followed Fuzzy and found herself on a neighborhood road.  She looked around in awe at the houses as she cautiously followed Fuzzy, taking in the grass the trees.  “Wow,” she said.  “It’s beautiful here.”

       Fuzzy’s whiskers twitched.  “You really think so?”  she asked.

       Fiona was, genuinely, impressed.  “Yeah, all of these trees are really high.”  As they reached the top of the hill and stopped on the road, Fiona stopped and Fuzzy didn’t get it.

       “What’s wrong?”  she asked.

       “I never saw this hard of a path before,” she said letting her paws rub against the cement.

       Fuzzy was shocked.  “You never saw a road?” 

       “No,” she answered.  She looked around at the houses.  “Wow,” she said.  “I can’t believe you live in one of these houses!”

       Fuzzy eyed her strangely.  “It’s no big deal,” she meowed. 

       “You wanna bet?”  she asked.  “This is pawsome!  Do you go in one?”

       “All the time,” Fuzzy answered looking at her new pal. 

       “Wow!” she replied.

       “Fuzzy!”  a voice meowed.  “Who is dis new kitty?”

       Fuzzy and Fiona were face-to-face with Toni, who is affectionately known as the Chub.  (She answers to both.)  Usually when Toni saw somebody new she would take off, so this was meowy that she seemed interested in Fiona!

       “Who are you?”  asked Toni, wrinkling her nose and swishing her tail.

       “Fiona,” she answered, staring at Toni-chub.  She had never seen such a fat kitty.  Fiona figured that she better not make her mad- she might sit on her or something.

       Toni’s whiskers twitched in surprise.  “Fiona?”  she asked.  “Like the hippo?”

       Fiona stood proudly.  “Yeah, my mom heard about Fiona and thought that was cool.”  She looked at Fuzzy.  “Is Fiona around here?  I’d love to go and visit her.”

       Fuzzy’s whiskers twitched.  “No,” she answered.  “We’re kinda far from Cincinnati.”

       “Where’s Cincinnati?”  she asked.

       “In Ohio,” Toni meowed.  “We’re in Pennsylvania,” she added, feeling proud of herself for knowing the geography.

       Fiona looked at Fuzzy and asked seriously, “Can we go there???”

      

       Fuzzy looked at Fiona with whiskers twitching.  She never thought about that.  How meowy would that be to go and see Fiona the hippo and her mom, Bibi.  Hippos were meowy cool but the zoo was far away.  Fuzzy had to play this calmly.

       “Do you really want to go there?”  she asked.

       “I do!”  announced Toni, who paws-itively loved Fiona.  Who didn’t really?  She was a legend in the animal world and many, many felines thought that Fiona and her mom were pawsome.

       “Paws-itively,” Fiona answered looking really pleased with herself.

       “I like the idea,” Fuzzy meowed.  “But how in the meow are we going to get there?”

       “I’ll get you there!”  Fiona announced.  “It’s easier than what you think!!!”

       Fuzzy and Toni just stared at the little Fishing Cat, amazed, stunned and downright confused.  Easier than you think?  What did that mean?  How was that even paws-ible.  “How do you mean?”  Fuzzy asked looking at Fiona, with that adorable, yet confused look that everyone loves.

       “Swimming,” Fiona answered, looking quite serious.  “Both of you can come with me via the water.”

       Toni was horrified at this thought.  “Are you meowing kidding????”  she asked.  “I’m not getting wet.”

       Fuzzy, who would usually be horrified at the thought of getting wet thought this sounded interesting.  “I’ll do it,” she meowed.  “It sounds great.”

       “Are you meowing nuts?”  asked Toni.  “Why would you want to get wet?”

       “Going to see Fiona the hippo would be pawsome!”  she meowed, looking at Fiona.  “When do you want to leave?”     

       So, what in the meow happened?  Did they make it?  Well, believe it or not they did and meeee-ow by some miracle Fuzzy, Toni and Fiona were now out right in front of the Cincinati Zoo!

       Meeee-wow!

       Okay, I know what you’re thinking.  What was the journey like?  Well, to be purr-fectly honest Fuzzy couldn’t remember that much of it.  It seemed like that Fiona swam incredibly fast and some how she managed to get Toni and her at this zoo in a twitch of a whisker. Meeeee-ow!  You gotta purr for the power of the Fishing Cat. 

       Pawing right along…

       Remember, the key for these three kitties was to stay together.  If you stay together that means that humans can’t see you.  Humans are on the goofy side anyway.  If they saw Fiona- they’d go hysterical and Fuzzy and Toni knew they’d end up in an animal shelter. In other meows, everyone had to be meowy, meowy careful.

       Pawing right along…

       Somehow the gang got up the huge set of steps to enter the zoo (and meeee-ow for a kitty they’re huge).  They entered and were in awe of the amount of people there.

       “Meeee-wow!”  Toni yowled.  “Are all of these people here to see Fiona?”

       Fuzzy’s eyes were huge.  Mee-ow this place was nice. 

       “Well, let’s get going,” Fiona said.  “We have to find Fiona!”

       The kitties started pawing around, slowly, and carefully.  Where in the meow could Fiona be?  There was certainly a lot of humans around and the kitties made sure they huddled together.  Humans were so completely stupid anymore that who the meow know what one would do.  Meee-ow, I know, that’s been meowed but it had to be reemphasized.  They didn’t have to worry they came onto an exhibit but meee-ow it wasn’t the Fionna.

       The gang had actually came up on the African Wild Dog exhibit.  Meee-uhoh.  This could get messy!

       The African Wild Dogs perked-up when they saw the kitties.  The fact that two housecats were standing next to a Fishing Cat was especially interesting and why wouldn’t it be?  As a meow of fact, they all pawed over to the glass viewing area making really strange noises.  That in itself got the humans talking bepaws it was odd having them move.  It was a hot, steamy afternoon and around and the dogs were usually sleeping.  Pawing right along though…

       “Hey, hey cats!  Cats!  What are you doing here?”  asked one. 

       “You’re a Fishing Cat!”  one yipped excitedly.  “How did you get here?”

       Fuzzy and Toni were kind of in the wide-eyed stage over these boys so that meant Fiona had to do the talking.  How can cats understand African Wild Dogs?  Well, let me meow it to you this way- animals are a lot more accepting than humans in general.  “We’re looking for Fiona,” she said.

       The African Wild Dogs just kind of stared at them with disbelief and then the weirdest thing happened, they started laughing.

       Meeee-huh????

       Did any of you kitties ever see an African Wild Dog laugh?  It was meowy weird.  To a human it sounded like a growl but to kitties it was such a high-pitched sound that it drove all of them crazy.  Poor Fiona was especially disturbed.  “KNOCK IT OFF!!!”  yowled Fiona.  “You’re driving me crazy.”

       They stopped and just looked at the kitties, amused.  “Just keep pawin,’” the biggest one said.  “You’ll find her.” 

       “Yeah,” the one on the right answered, “but guess what?  She doesn’t like Fishing Cats!”

       Meeeeeee-huh???????

 

       The kitties were horrified, stunned and confused.  Poor Fiona’s face fell.  How in the meow was that possible?  And how in the meow would these dogs know anyway?  Those thoughts actually sunk into Fuzzy, and her hackles went up.

       “C’mon!”  Fuzzy meowed.  “You’re lying!”

       It sunk into Fiona after a couple of seconds too.  “I don’t believe it!”  she exclaimed.

       “Well, what are you going to do about it?”  asked one of the African Wild Dogs. 

       “Yeah,” another added, “she’ll swim away from you.”

       The kitties were disgusted by the African Wild Dogs and who wouldn’t be?  They seemed kind of mean with their comments and it was about time to paw on.

       “Those dudes were mean,” meowed Toni, feeling the urge to claw somebody.

       “I’m glad I don’t live in the wild where they live,” Fiona said.

       “Meee-ow,” Fuzzy answered.  “I hear that.”

       So, where did the gang pop up?

       They had no meowing idea.

       It seemed like they were in a dark tunnel that was, at first, amazingly silent but all of a sudden there were so many strange noises that it made all of their fur stand on edge. Then there was this huge outline of a really large, animal in front of them.  Needless to say, all three of them were ‘freaked-out.’

       “What is that??”   Tony yowled. 

       “I’m getting outta here,” announced Fuzzy, who was sure that this strange thing was going to come at them. 

        However, Fiona stopped her by yanking her tail.  “Wait!” she ordered.

       “What in the meow are you doing???”  she asked.

       “It’s another hippo!”  Fiona yowled, not afraid and actually in awe.  “Another hippo with spots on his face is here!”

       And before you knew it, all three of them were face-to-face with the biggest hippo they ever saw!  Meeee-ow huge was an understatement, the dude looked like a freight train! 

       “Who are you three?”  he asked pleasantly.

       Toni, Fuzzy and Fiona stared at each other, amazed at the fact that this big dude seemed so pleasant.  “Uh-uh,” Fuzzy meowed, “we’re here to meet Fiona.”

       The spotted hippo dude looked confused.  “Why do you three cats want to meet Fiona?  Hey, wait,” he leaned down to take a better look at Fiona.  “Are you one of the Fishing cats from here?”

       Fiona shook her head.  “Nope, my name’s Fiona too.  I bought my friends to meet Fiona!”

       The big hippo gave a big grin.  “Well, I can’t wait to meet her too.”

       Meee-huh?  What was up with this?  Then it sunk to Toni.  “Are you going to be here boyfriend?  You’re so meowy big!”

       The spotted dude made some weird noises that sounded like a chuckle.  “No, I’m here to meet Fiona’s mom.”

       Meeee-ow!  That made sense.  The kitties nodded and purred.  Fiona was especially happy.  “So, that means Fiona is close by?”  she asked. 

       “Just right down there to the left,” the big hippo replied, feeling proud of himself.  This dude was jolly, he looked like he wanted to laugh at every second.  It fascinated the kitties and even Fiona was impressed.

       “What’s your name?”  Fiona asked.

       “Tucker,” he answered.  “You kitties need to get out there before the big crowd gets here.” 

       “Absolutely,” he answered.  “It’s a lot of fun here and the people are really nice.”

       Fuzzy and Toni purred at hearing this and Fiona looked like she was smiling.  Anyway, they could’ve talked to Tucker for hours but it was time to meet Fiona!     

       The three of them gave a tail-wave to Tucker and went down the hall, coming out they found themselves in an area with flat land and clear blue water.  All of them felt a surge of excitement through their fur.  For reference there was no human around bepaws it was getting close to closing time, not that it would’ve mattered anyway bepaws humans wouldn’t have seen the three of them as long as they were together.  Pawing right along…

       The water was calm and Fiona was feeling the urge to jump in but all were feeling confused.  Fiona and her mom had to be there.  Where in the meow were they?

       “There’s nobody here,” Toni meowed.  “How come?”

       Fuzzy’s whiskers twitched.  “This is meowy weird,” she replied.  She looked at Fiona.  “Do you think Tucker was playing a joke on us?”

       “No,” she answered, tail swishing.  “I think they’re here.”

       The second she said this, a huge hippo came up from below and was floating towards them.  All three pawed backwards in shock, surprisingly the big hippo seemed friendly.  “Hey kitties!”  she said.  You know it was funny how well she could talk underwater.  “Are you here to see Fiona?”

       The kitties, paw-viously, were startled by the big hippo.  Meee-ow- do you blame them really?  Small kitties, meet big hippo and that doesn’t work out so well but I digress.  It sunk into the kitties that this was Fiona’s mom Bibi! 

       “Meee-wow!”  Fuzzy exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly.  “You’re Fiona’s mom Bibi!”

       “That’s right,” she answered.  “What are your names?”

       “I’m Fuzzy,” Fuzzy replied, “the black and white cat is Toni and the Fishing Cat here is Fiona!”

       Bibi’s head came out of the water some when she heard that.  “Get out,” she replied.  “Are you named after my Fiona?” 

       “Yes ma’am,” Fiona answered, in awe.  This was so paw-mazing actually being here.  After all of this time of wanting to see Fiona, she couldn’t believe that she was actually here!

       “Look over towards the pumpkins,” Bibi said.  “They’re over on the land.  Fiona’s been nosing around with one all day.

       All three kitties turned to look and there she was…

       The original Fiona!!!!!!!

      

       Fiona’s eyes widened and mind you we’re meowing about the hippo.  Of course, she was surprised, who wouldn’t be?  You had a Fishing Cat and two regular cats looking at her.  “Wow!”  she exclaimed.  “What’s up?”

       Fiona (the Fishing Cat) pawed up to her in awe.  “It’s just really cool to meet you!”  she exclaimed.  “My name’s Fiona too!”

       Hippo Fiona seemed surprised by this which was kind of weird but then again, Fiona seemed like a modest hippo.  Maybe she didn’t know that other cats were in awe of her.  “Wow!”  she exclaimed.  She tilted her head.  “What kind of cat are you anyway?”

       “I’m a Fishing Cat,” she replied.  “I come from Asia.”

       Fuzzy’s eyes kept a close eye on hippo Fiona and she took note of her surprise.  “How did you get here?”  she asked.

       That’s when Fuzzy jumped in and told Fiona the story who listened, impressed with their guts. 

       “Wow-wee wow!”  Fiona said.  “That’s really cool!”  She looked down at Fiona.  “You look scared.  What’s the matter?”

       Fiona wasn’t really scared but she was shaking.  “I’m- I’m sorry.”

       Fiona looked at Fiona the Fishing Cat admiringly.  “Don’t be scared!  It’s really good that you’re here.  I always like making new friends.”

       The kitties, including Fiona, felt really good.  How pawsome was it to be acknowledged by Fiona the hippo?  So, what happened from there?  Well, the kitties hung-out with Fiona, Bibi and the new dude, Tucker.  See what a great time of year Christmas is?  It brings all animals together in the spirit of fun and friendship!