Snowball, the
Cat
as told by Louise Degagne
Rodger
Degagne, a former employee with AECL in Chalk River, may be embarking on a new career as a Feline Breeder. Relaxing in his spacious home on the shores of the Ottawa River, Mr. Degagne recalls how 15 years ago he
befriended two stray young cats on the old AECL research facility at Chalk River. The
kittens had appeared in late summer and apparently had gotten under a security fence
around the old labs abandoned since the late 50's. With the help of his tuna sandwich, Mr.
Degagne was able to coax the kitties close
enough so that he could pick them up.
A self described animal lover, he did not want to place the kittens in the local Humane
Society. In this largely rural
area, cats of all stripes and ages largely go unwanted and are humanely disposed of after a few days. Later that evening, his wife
Louise and their two children, Nicole and Kelly, came to a family
decision to keep the kittens which they named Lost and Found.
Lost turned out to be
female and Found a male. When nature finally took its
course, a litter of kittens was born 6 years
later. One in the litter was a big white female with a unique
black markings on her side and tail. Something about this kitten
captured the hearts of the
family and while her siblings eventually found homes elsewhere,
Snowball stayed with the Degagne's.
While Lost and Found
are no longer with us, their progeny live
on. In her 9 years, Snowball's size has seemed to snowball.
Put simply, Snowball is no ordinary cat as she measures 69 inches from
nose to tail and weighs in at 87 pounds. She started out a big kitty and she just seemed to keep
growing. She always meowed for more food and would climb up on the
counter to eat food which Louise forgot to cover. Chicken is her favorite.
"Once I left a cooked chicken on the table that I was going to
use for a boat picnic, an hour later the chicken was gone",
Louise said.
They knew that Snowball
wasn't your average cat when the neighbor's German
Shepherd ran yelping away from his first encounter with her.
"She just isn't afraid of any
animals."
After they found a half eaten raccoon out by the garage, they decided
that Snowball should be kept fenced in. They
soon discovered that while they could keep Snowball in the yard,
they couldn't keep raccoons from Snowball.
"At least it kept the
food bills down," Rodger laughed.
"Like all female cats she is very territorial, but with us she
is just a big ole kitten," he said.
So what does a 87 pound cat
eat? Snowball goes through a about 3 pounds of cat
food a day, along with cooked chicken,
supplemented with deer and moose that Rodger hunts in the fall.
"She likes pike a lot,
so I don't throw them back any more." Snowball often accompanies Rodger fishing on the Ottawa, eagerly peering over the side of the boat as soon as his line goes tight.
So what do the Degagne's
attribute Snowball's size to? Rodger says,
"Well, the vet thinks it could be her thyroid, but she isn't fat, she's just a real big cat. I think maybe her parents
got into something at Chalk River that they shouldn't have". |
