I have not
posted anything in a long time because my boys were going through a long spell
of illness and I did not feel like writing about them under the circumstances. But
something has happened to shake me out of my self-imposed lethargy. I have
acquired a daughter!
On the 21st
of July, I heard plaintive crying in the landing outside my house. Assuming
that the cat sitting there belonged to my 2nd floor neighbour, who
is the only one besides us in the building who has a cat, I went to enquire if
she had lost her cat. No, she said, her cat was quite un-lost. Feeling sorry
for the stray, we tried to give it away but found no one even remotely
interested. Unwilling to leave her to the mercy of the world, I took her in
hoping that one of the NGOs working with strays would be able to help.
That did not
happen. They were all quite unhelpful despite all that they say in their ads. One
lady I talked to was rude in the extreme and all she cared about was getting
the cat spayed irrespective of the risk to her health or life. By then I had made
up my mind. I would keep her. That evening we took her to our vet. He examined
her and pronounced her healthy. The spaying, he declared after examination,
would not be risky. I would have to care for her for a week to allow for her
recovery. Since I had already decided to keep her, this was not a big concern. She
had her surgery on the 24th. She is quite all right now. She plays
and runs and jumps and puffs up to twice her size upon sensing my boys on the
other side of the closed door before greeting them with growls, hisses and
yowls of anger.
It hasn’t been
easy. Not by a long stretch. She is slowly adjusting to her new life, which is
diametrically opposite to her previous one. She hasn’t yet adjusted to my boys
and they have to be carefully kept apart. She is forever hungry, it seems, and
hasn’t yet come to terms with the fact that food will not be scarce any more. She
is very sweet, friendly and affectionate but suddenly gets agitated and
aggressive even without provocation. She has been dewormed but her other vaccines
are still due. It will be a challenge to remain patient and affectionate with
her given that she now reigns over one of the bedrooms almost the entire day. Our
boys have been great sports, accepting her and the changes that have come along
with her. They have been trying hard to make friends though success is still
far. I couldn’t ask for more cooperative boys.
I have named her
Eva. Those who have seen ‘WALL-E’ will understand why. She really is sweet and
affectionate. She is this thin, small thing with a tail that seems to reach
from here to the moon! She is intelligent and has already developed some good
habits. She wears her colourful collar with the red bell quite coolly. This by
no means proves that I have belled the cat, though! It has been only ten days since
I found her out in the corridor. There is a long and hard path ahead for all of
us—humans and cats alike. Here’s hoping for the best!
