Around
six years ago my life took a bit of a turn - I returned to being single and living alone in
my apartment, a home I had previously shared with my husband. I
started to feel lonely in the large space, so my support network who where my closest friends suggested that I get a
Pet.
I hadn't had a pet in a very long time, in my adult hood my
then fiancée and I tried to keep a fish aquarium but it didn't last
much and in my younger years I had a Hamster called JJ who had a knack of
finding a way to get out of his cage and nest behind the living room wall unit
among all of my father's stereo system wiring.... JJ never got short circuited
but dad did a few times.... JJ lived with us for a couple of years as hamsters do.
After JJ I had a pet duck which we kept in our yard - mum wasn't
Donald's biggest fan since it is a messy pet ... Donald was evicted and
he moved with his cousins in the country side in Wardija in a large enclosure
with a real pond, real rocks and several huts .... He lived happily there until
old age.
That's about as much experience as I have with pets.... I can’t
recall how many times I tried to smuggle puppies and kittens into dad's car at
the end of our Sunday visits at grandpa's in Wardija ... but mum would smell
the animal in the car, start a hissy fit and dad would have to turn back and
take a crying me and a sad little fur ball back to where I'd nicked
it ... unhappy days...
Now that I'm older I understand why mum wouldn't let me keep the
pet, I wasn't responsible enough to take care of it and its need.
Well this time round things are different; I live alone, I'm the
queen of my castle and I'm going to get a pet! A dog was my first
choice, due to its loyalty, the fact that having a dog would mean I would do more
exercise, I could interact with the dog and play games with it, but there again; I live in an apartment, a large one but nevertheless it’s an apartment, with no
garden, no access to the outdoors except for two balconies & I'm on the
second floor. I also always worked long hours so the dog would be alone
for 10 hours to say the least Monday to Friday. It would certainly be a
selfish act to get a dog ... Dog idea scrapped, the next best thing is to get a
cat ... I never liked the idea of having a pedigree pet, there are so many
homeless adoptable animals why should I pay someone to buy a fur ball when I
can adopt one, give it a home and spend the money otherwise spent on a pedigree
to feed and keep the animal healthy. I was browsing Animal Shelter
websites and wrote to one in particular stating my interest in homing an
abandoned cat or possibly a kitten.
A few days later I received an email informing me that the
sanctuary had a pregnant cat and she was expected to give birth in a few days,
was I interested in adopting a kitten? - Well of course I'm interested!!! In a matter of days the cat gave birth to a
litter of 11 kittens and I was invited to go pick a kitten which I would be
homing 6 weeks down the line.
I remember driving down to the south of the Island and getting to
the address of the volunteer who had taken the cat to her
house so that the kittens would be born in a "home" environment and
litter trained to facilitate adoption. when I got to the house there were
a couple of cats outside in the garden and I could hear several others indoors
... when the door opened I was greeted by some 30 or so cats and an
overwhelming smell - the house was extremely clean but the cat smell
was overpowering .... I recall turning to my friend and telling her - "will my
flat smell like this?" She was one of my closest friends and the
brain behind my adoption program "NO" she replied pointing
out that I was about to adopt ONE cat and not thirty ... she as right and I was
being paranoid.
The lady who I had made arrangements with
led us through the house while eyes from all the corners where checking us out,
some cats started hissing, some cats where maimed, while others strolled with us and rubbed their
lovely coats against our legs ... I was feeling quiet excited to see the litter
of cats. I had already decided that I would rather adopt a male cat and
his name was already half chosen but I still had to meet him so I kept the name
to myself (and thank God I did thinking about it, it was a ridiculous name).
We got to a room which looked like a storage/washroom which housed
another 10 or so cats and in a corner in a box there was a beautiful ginger cat
with 11 tiny fur ball kittens most of them suckling while others sleeping
in a corner of the box all huddled up to their mother. The lady explained
that the cat had 11 kittens which had all survived but they seemed to come from
two different males - she invited me to pick one of the kittens and eventually
after 6 weeks I could come and collect it. One kitten was all by itself
close to its mothers tail shaking in the cold he was grey with white and had a
lovely spot on his nose ... I immediately decided that that cat would
be coming home with me, the lady politely asked me to make a second choice....I was baffled, she explained that he seemed to be the weakest of the litter and might not
make it since he wasn't drinking as much as the others. I was a bit surprised I
was still holding the little creature in my hand and he did seem smaller then
his siblings, now that I compare but still.... I didn't make a second choice
and told her that if he didn't make it in six weeks time we will see.
She was a very nice lady and promised me she will keep a close eye
on it and give it extra attention to make sure it survives.
Six weeks can be a long time to wait ... I called her very often,
I think I was bugging her a bit but I was worrying about my little grey ball of
fur ... her updates where that he was improving but remains the smallest of his
siblings.
I visited a pet shop and started buying stuff for the kitten, I
got him a small bed, a food and water bowl, and I bought a book about taking
care of cats and researched the most suitable food on the market...a friend also helped me build a cat scratcher so it had my personal touches.
Time to drive back to the house of 30 cats and pick up my
companion ... armed with treats and a cosy blanket which I had kept in bed with
me the previous nights so that it would get my scent ... just as the book said!
My friend had to drive my car all the way since I was too excited to be
behind the wheel - We finally arrived, this time the smells didn't bother me I
homed into the storage/washroom walking slowly behind the lady who
had arthritis in her legs and had difficulty walking, I could have
carried her into the back room just to get there faster!
The kittens where all over the room meowing away, some where
eating others playing, but there was no sign of my grey kitten ... what
happened??? He was trying to get to the food bowl but all the other kittens
where trampling over him and he seemed to have given up. The lady picked him up gently and gave him to
me; he was so tiny compared to the rest ... his head looked huge compared to
the thin body. She explained that she had been feeding him with a bottle
for the first weeks since he was never getting to his mother for milk and then
she was weaning him to kitten food but he was still not eating as
much as the other kittens. While I was holding him he was shaking in
my hands he wasn't kicking a fuss he just curled up and blinked at me through sticky eyes. In
the meantime at the far end of the room there was a little ball of fur
screaming her mouth off sounded louder than all the other cats and seems to be
somewhat angry at me.... what was her problem?
The caretaker explained that she had been "mothering" my
kitten for the past weeks, she seemed to have grown attached to him and
although she was from the same litter she gave the weakest kitten a lot of
attention. She also told me that she still didn't have high hopes for my
kitten and that I should make a choice to adopt another one so that
I wouldn't be heart broken if it didn't make it.
I was having none of that, and made up my mind to take two kittens not
because i was afraid my grey one wouldn't make it
but I wanted it to have some company when i went to work, so I asked the lady to get me the screaming kitten. She was
Calico with a white belly and round face ... her coat seemed fluffier then
the grey one in my hand. The female cat kicked up a fuss, scratching and screaming....
hmmmm.... we put them both in the cat box to see the reaction and she calmed down....
the decision was made - I adopted both of them.
 |
| Will huddled up on the left and Grace checking something out on the right - 6 weeks old |
When I got to the car I was still overwhelmed with the abrupt decision that had just taken place and the fact that I had never cared for a
cat, let alone two ... oh well what goes for one should go for the other as
well I suppose. My friend asked me what I was going to call the two cats now. Hmmm
I had only thought of one name which I had decided to scrap. At the time I was an avid fan of the sit com
on TV – Will & Grace – and then the cats with no name where called ....
Will & Grace, I was on my way home with two little fur balls a beautiful
Calico cat with a pure white belly and a gold heart on its sternum she was called
Grace while Will is tabby patterned also with a pure white belly.
Once we
got home, Grace immediately ventured out of the cat box to look around and
explore, always keeping a close eye one me.
Since Will didn’t come out I got him out and put him on the floor to see
how he would react to this new environment – he waddled close to the sofa I was
sitting on and looked up, which I understood as a message that he wanted me to
carry him up onto my lap – that’s where he spent the next first hours of his
first day living with me, while Grace on the other hand perched herself in a
corner without taking an eye of me or Will!
I had a strange feeling of being watch. After a while I placed some food in their food bowl and Grace immediately paddled off
to inspect what was on offer and from the crunching it became clear that
she approved. Will had some soft food and after a couple of hours both
little kittens where exploring the living room, kitchen and venturing into the
corridor as well.
Our adventure had begun ....
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