OUR  CATS

Dougie's little Snowy

When we were newlyweds, we “inherited” a mongrel Siamese with no tail.  This Kitty was awfully fierce, and when my in-laws came to visit with their Wollie, my Kitty was, much to my consternation, banished to the bedroom with a closed door – he attacked poor little pooch!
I’m actually a doggy-person and have an allergic reaction to cat hairs.  But, that doesn’t deter the little feline creatures when we go and visit friends.  My radar attracts them like a magnet, and my lap always seems more attractive than others!

Our Siamese kitty came into our lives and naturally a suitable name eluded us.  She proved to be an excellent poacher of pigeons.  There were huge trees which brought meals to this little critter, who in turn brought them into the house.  She then proceeded to eat her offerings on our bed.  I guess she feathered our nest!  We resorted to placing a bell onto her collar to warn the birds : and thus Tinkerbell was her name! … This little bell served to entice all the birds and she became the little pied piper who called her bird friends to her!

Our Kitty had to be transported in our car when we moved from inland to the coast.  Here I must mention that Mom and I travelled in my car, and two doggies and Polly parrot in her cage were also our passengers.   Advice from all quarters streamed in and eventually out vet gave tranquillisers to be administered to her, guaranteeing a safe and uneventful journey.  This proved to be fiction, and eventually we resorted to putting her into an orange sack!  Shame … her torment and frustration caused the two of us to experience hysterical giggles and an endless nightmarish journey!

Tinkles, as she was affectionately called, settled into her new surroundings.  She disappeared one year on Guy Fawkes night when she was frightened by the fireworks.  For two weeks we combed our neighbourhood calling her, - I put up notices in all the local shops and the local vet , an advert was placed in the local newspaper and posters with her photo were posted into neighbouring folks’ mailboxes!  Tears were shed and memories were dug from the archives of our minds – we simply could not believe that Tinkles could just disappear.

We received a telephone call from a lady after two weeks, telling us that a Siamese cat has been living under a bush in her garden for several days and didn’t seem to want to leave.  We all rushed to this place, and our emotions went from total exhilaration to absolute distress!  Tinkles was paralysed in her hind quarters!  With great sadness we decided that euthanasia was the best solution, but our vet thought otherwise!  He said that we should “give her a chance”.  Well, this was a mammoth task of love and endurance for her and for us!  We had to carry her, hold her, support her and train her to walk again.  It was heart-wrenching to see this brave little kitty dragging her hind legs along.  Love and perseverance were rewarded with an almost-normal Tinkles who survived happily with only a slight limp for a long time afterward!  She was our brave little Kitty with the heart of a lion!

Later we adopted an orphan white kitty.  With much hesitation and trepidation I brought her to our home.  We had an extremely lively Cocker Spaniel, so white kitty was enclosed in the bedroom for a while.  She became known as Kattie.  In time, I discovered her to be deaf, and thus began our eventful  and exciting journey of  learning and teaching cat sign language : waving hands = get off the table; clapping hands - calling for food;  come hither hand signs = come here!  She was very happy and contented, and we all learnt a lot.

I have run out of cat stories, so we have decided that we shan’t have any more feline friends in our household!

Linnie

22 April 2O15