I never did find out what ever possessed my mother to dye our cat pink.
Mindy came into our lives as a very small kitten. Her mother was barely a kitten herself and was unable to care for the two babies she’d given birth to, so one of the kittens needed to be fostered out. My mother fell in love with this tiny bundle of fluff the moment she set eyes on her and agreed to take her home, never realizing how much work it would be to bottle-feed the poor thing every two hours, day and night. I still have memories of my Dad standing in the kitchen, dressed only in his underwear, holding Mindy in a towel and feeding her from a doll’s bottle at four o’clock in the morning.
Thanks to round-the-clock care, and countless cans of replacement milk, Mindy grew into a lovely cat. She was pure white, with long, silky fur, and according to my mother, she loved her baths. So, when The St. Catharines Standard advertised a local pet show taking place at Montebello Park, and we kids decided that Mindy should attend, my mother gave her a bath in red food colouring. I mean, who wouldn’t love a beautiful pink cat with purrfect fur, right? I suppose my mother got it into her head that if a white cat would outshine all the other pets, a pink one would stop the show! So, she dyed our lovely white cat pink, and a star was born.
The day of the pet show dawned fair and warm, and as we all packed into my Dad’s station wagon and headed into town, our pink cat settled in between three excited kids, and we believed we were destined for greatness.
I still remember the murmured exclamations rippling through the crowds as we carried our pink cat across the lawn towards the judges tables. I remember people calling out, “Oh, look at the pink cat!” I remember the swell of pride warming my heart as Mindy attracted the attention she deserved, being the only pink cat in the whole pet show. She was bound to win first-place! Everywhere we went, people stared at us and admired Mindy’s lovely shade of Valentine’s Day-pink fur.
Except the judges took one look at her and set upon my poor mother with threats of violence! One judge wanted to call the police on us, claiming cruelty to animals. Another was threatening to bring in the Humane Society. No amount of stammering defense would sway them. My mother kept insisting it was only food colouring, but they were having none of it.
We had to run for our lives! In less than a minute, we’d gone from being the talk of the pet show to pariahs of the community! We slunk away with our tails between our legs, and even though Mindy did get the recognition she deserved, it was for all the wrong reasons.
She was never entered in another pet show ever again!
Eventually, the pink food colouring wore off, and Mindy went back to being white, although I secretly believe she enjoyed being pink for a while. She could often be seen walking along the sidewalk beside our house on Shelley Avenue, in Port Dalhousie, with her tail held aloft, strutting like a supermodel in high heels and a fashionable dress. She may not have won first place in the pet show but she was irreplaceable in hearts, and that’s really the only thing that counts.
