Part 2 – The making of a catpurrson

Chapter 1 - Being a cat parent for the first time

When you finally decide that you want to have a cat or a kitten as a new family member then the real problems and headaches would usually start. 

Adopting a new cat/kitten or dog/puppy for the first is often similar to having a new baby, you're never well prepared for this new family member. 

Usually most new cat parents would go for a kitten as kittens along with being extra cute, they deceivingly also look and appear easy to look after and easy to train(how hard would it really be to look after this fluffy ball of cuteness?). But of course all of us, cat parents, everywhere, new or old, know all too well that adopting a new cat, kitten is actually a long life commitment which involves a lot of work, responsibilities and often a lot of patience and understanding of cat behaviour. 

Cats or kittens are not Christmas or birthday presents who would stay small and cute for ever but four legged fury family members who, they need a lot of looking after, they are a lot of responsibility which at times means, spending not only lots of money but also a lot of time looking after that cute ball of fur with the big eyes. Cat parents need to be ready to adjust their lives to accommodate the needs of a growing kitten and some times in cases of boisterous, very explorative and energetic kittens to even adapt their home environment to a more cat friendly one to protect the cat from serious accidents which they could take place at home. 

This is why it is often better if the cat/kitten is being adopted from a local cat shelter or reputable breeder and even better if some prior research on the type of cat/kitten that would fit well with the new cat carer's life style and even personality is done first, before the actual adoption takes place. In some cases even talking to a cat expert like a cat behaviour adviser or a vet might be also appropriate before any major decisions are made. 

Cat parents would need to think seriously why they want to adopt a new cat/kitten and whether they can actually look after him/her for life. Cats, dogs and other animal companions are a big responsibility, since you are committing yourself to looking after another living being for as long as that animal would live, which means through good times and bad times such as illnesses, accidents and of course old age as senior cats demand a bit more care than younger ones. At the same time they can also be rather expensive at times, as you'll need not only to buy  the best there is food for your cat but also to buy litter for life to accommodate her toilet needs, along of course with furniture, toys, etc and very importantly to pay for very and unfortunately rather expensive needed vet visits and medication, along with constantly increasing yearly insurances...

So every new cat parent would need to think long and hard whether not only he/she can afford to look after a cat or kitten for life but  also why he/she wants to adopt a cat/kitten, what part in their  life that new animal would play and whether can they can give to that new animal the love, attention and care he/she would need! They can be hard work but of course any cat parent would tell you, they are most definitely worth it!

(....to be continued)

Purrs and meows till next time...as Ozzy would say of course!

Part 1 - The origins of a catpurrson....continues....

The accident....Part 3

When my mom finally came out of the house and saw me covered in blood she panicked as it was expected of course as her first impression was that I had been attacked by a wild beast and that I was a lot more seriously injured than I really was. Her first thoughts were that I was attacked by a rabid cat that had gone wild and attacked me not knowing yet that it was only an unfortunate accident and my serious looking bloody scratches on my legs were only the attempts of that poor cat to save himself from a sudden and unexpected fall by any means possible…holding for dear life on my leg…

Myself on the other hand being still in shock, couldn't think that straight as my only thought was at the time and despite the fact that I was in quite a lot of pain, that I was running really late for school and I should be get going, bloody and scratched or not...Well missing school was quite serious those days without having a really good excuse and a few scratches and bites wasn't in my opinion then that good of an excuse...Yes I was one of those kids that liked school, so what? (Edit 27/12/18)

Naturally that day the only place I ended up going to was the emergency room of course, where I've ended up spending the rest of my day waiting to get stitched and to have not just one but three tetanus boosters because of my previous history. 

You see a few years back, when I was about 9 years old, I had an accident, I fell outside and cut rather badly my jaw (you can see the scar even today) when I've tripped on a rough, uneven part of a pavement and because my mom didn't take me to the hospital straight away (not really her fault I was very strongly minded, being the only child, so I've kinda convinced her that there was no need to go to the hospital, it was just a little cut really...yeah right!). Instead we went to the local doctor the following day who sent us to the hospital straight away of course because the cut was really bad as the bone was clearly shown and therefore had my tetanus booster rather late. The result was that I've ended up with blood poisoning and nearly died because it took the doctors a while to connect the ugly pus covered spots under my nose with my still healing jaw injury till my face turned very red and got swollen, that is. Well those misdiagnoses were quite common  those days and the doctors would rarely be blamed for being sometimes so wrong in their diagnosis...or used to get sued for thousands...The late diagnosis of course meant that I nearly died, after running a very high fever for days and then having to suffer three summer months of heavily prescribed antibiotics (three injections on a daily basis) when finally the doctors figured out what was wrong with me and hurriedly filled me up with as much antibiotics as my body could then take in. But of course I finally managed to get through (even the doctors marvelled at my strong immune system who kept me alive, then). So you see after this little 'incident' the doctors were a bit more careful and cautious as they didn't want to have similar mistakes happening again so when I've ended up to the emergency room once again after my recent accident the doctor decided to give me not one but three tetanus boosters as they knew I could easily take it (which I did actually, they didn't seem to cause me any side effects, which again the doctors found fascinating...). But of course along with preventing of any future infection and also because the cat was a feral one, there was also always the possibility of rabies, although even those days it was  still kind rare occurrence so the doctor and to avoid causing me any further unnecessary discomfort and pain decided not to administer any rabies shots at that time but instead he told my mother that we should try and keep an eye on that cat for at least 40 days and if in that time the cat showed any signs of illness or he suddenly disappeared to let him know straight away....Which of course meant actually looking after that cat…

So for the next 40 days I had to deal with two very painful legs to easily move around (at least I got excused at school from PE for a few weeks, yippee..finally something to be grateful for it seemed), having to wear only short skirts (I was the type of girl who very rarely wore dresses and skirts  even those days) on a daily basis and also having the new responsible of feeding and trying to be friendly to that cat who  attempted  viciously to kill me...at that time I was sooo convinced that tom cat had some kind of grudge against me and that he really hated me....perhaps because I was never friendly to cats in general or like them!

But I guess everything happens for a reason and this incident was my reason to change my mind about cats, to become really fond of them and to see them under a  different  light....

It was also a bit strange I guess that this strange at times evil looking and even menacing appearing ginger cat, stayed all that time around and kinda accept me or at least allowed me to get a bit closer, to feed him and to generally observe him...but then again when you show kindness to any animal you'll be rewarded with acceptance and trust. 

So and before the end of those 40 days I had complete changed my mind about cats and I was ready to have my first cat as an animal companion...as I suddenly found myself really liking cats. So just before the end of  the 'trial period' I said to my mom that I wanted  a kitten and despite some kind of disagreement in the very beginning (not really very strong arguments against the idea of having a cute kitten) she agreed and warmed to the idea especially and after she also saw the new kittens that my aunt's cat had just  given birth to...And funny enough my first cat was a male ginger cat with whom I fell in love with the moment I saw him among his brother and sisters trying to escape from the box they were in at the time.

As for the ferocious and menacing ginger cat who his failed attempt to murder me changed my opinion and perception about cats and made me a cat fan for life, well as it is expected after the 40 days during which he stayed around and even seemed to show signs of remorse as he appeared to like me, he then disappeared as suddenly as he appeared into my life, without anybody ever seen him again. Perhaps he was sent by the Cat goddess herself to teach me a lesson and to transform me from a cat hater to a future cat lady...who knows, really! One thing I know for certain though, if it wasn't for him and his murderous attempt I wouldn't have being the cat lady I'm today and I would have living with me my now four beautiful and sometimes very spoiled 'fur babies', Ripley, Choo Choo, and my two latest additions, Faith and Ozzy who came later to our lives, after the sudden and very painful loss of my beautiful fur baby Sheng Chi. 

(.....to be continued....)

Purrs and meows till next time!

Part 1 - The origins of a catpurrson (....continues...)

Chapter 2 -The accident (...continues)

Anyway and going back to my story once again, so and despite the fact, that deep down I was sort of scared of that new menacing looking ginger tom cat I'd never (not even once) thought or wished for that cat to get in any way harmed, I'd just hoped that he'd soon go away like many others had gone before him.
But of course he didn't go away, not at least for another month or so and he just stayed there most of the times, sitting or appearing to be sleeping on the same fence, and always watching me in silence every time I'd get out of the house....

That day when the incident happen as I said earlier I was running late for school (which it was only five minutes away, that's why I was always rushing to get there, leaving it till the very last minute possible as I knew I would only had to run to get there on time). I was actually a lot more late than normal and therefore I didn't have time to check on the cat or worry whether he was there watching me. But of course he was and for the first time in weeks he decided to make his move.
At this point I would also like to mention that in our garden along with flowers and other plants like tomatoes and lettuces which my mom will grow in the spring we also had a few trees, a couple of fig trees, orange trees and a few others which were indigenous to the country producing small yellow, juicy fruits early in spring, very tasty and of course and very importantly also the Easter tree which although didn't seem to produce any fruits any time of the year, it will flower with these lovely purple flowers around Easter time, thus the name of course. The Easter tree was close to the garden's irongate and which tree, cats would often use to jump to the opposite fence so to get on the road outside.
It was on that tree that the ginger cat decided to jump on while I was trying to open to iron garden gate to get out and it was at that moment that the cat seemed to lost his grip on the branch he was balancing and then to fell suddenly and unexpectedly ...on me!
Everything seemed to happen far too quickly, in the blink of an eye. One minute I was opening the gate and the next I was covered in cat scratches and bites, as the same as I was surprised cat, had tried to hold on to something (me) on his way down after his unexpected fall.
So and on the positive side of things of course I did manage to stop the cat's fall to the ground as he managed to land on the ground unharmed while on the other hand and not so positive side of things and as a result of being used as an alternative tree or scratching surface so he could get down himself, I've ended up being covered (in both of my legs) with deep and very painful scratches and probably bites too....

After the few first seconds of total surprise and astonishment on what had just actually happened, in which time the cat had enough time to disappear, probably to somewhere a bit more safe and quiet (as at that point I had already started screaming) to also recover from the shock, I've somehow came back to the reality.... of a world of a lot of pain. As I've just said it was this point when I've started, as it was expected. to scream and shout which made of course my mom to run out from the house in a state of panic as I'm pretty sure I must have sounded  pretty hysterical and also looked rather awful too!
I've probably shouted something like: 'Help, I have being attacked by that demon cat!' or something in those lines, anyway who really knows?  I most definitely can't remember being so long time ago for certain. But one thing is certain  though that I was in a state of shock and in a lot of pain as both my legs were bleeding as I seemed to havea rather big scratches, starting from the knee  going all the way down to my foot, in both legs and  with a few less serious others on the top of my legs, which legs were mercifully kinda protected from what I was wearing at the time, probably some type of skirt (as school uniforms were abandoned years ago to relive kids and mostly parents from the financial burden of having to buy expensive uniforms every year that is). Well I guess that experience was also the start of my general dislike of skirts and dresses since....I had a good reason I think!

.........to be continued!

and as Ozzy would have said....purrs & meows to all cat people out there till next time!