Tiggy

 

Tiggy belonged to a young man whom I shall call Joe.  Joe was one of the “dregs” of society, who, when he was sober, displayed the fact that he had been well educated and was intelligent, and a really nice bloke.  However most of his time was spent under the influence of anything he could find, especially alcohol, and marijuana.  He was usually staggering around the place, and sometimes he seemed to float, depending on the depth of his “bender”.  Despite all his obvious faults, he doted on his cat, Tiggy.  Tiggy was just an ordinary tabby cat, but he meant so much to Joe, and Tiggy was always in good condition even if Joe wasn’t. 

One day Joe decided he should go to the doctor, because he wasn’t well.  He was sober enough to realise this wasn’t because he had a hang over, his system was really having a hard time.  I suspect it was a long time since Joe listened to a thing his body told him, but this day he was listening, and he was a bit scared.  After he had seen the doctor and had some tests, he was even more scared, because the doctor told him his liver was in dire straits, and if he didn’t clean up his act, he only had a short time to live.  So he pulled his socks up, and did what the doc had recommended, joined AA and started eating proper meals and generally looking after himself.  It was a pleasure to be able to hold a genuine conversation with him!  And in due course, he got a job.  The job had on the spot training, and he sailed through it.  And he was given more training, and he was then transferred.  The only problem was, he was transferred to the back of beyond, and the only accommodation he could get was in the local pub, and he couldn’t take his beloved cat.  He was distraught.  After having made something of himself, he didn’t want to lose it, but he didn’t want to lose his cat either, and he was just about ready to throw in his job.  But in desperation, he came to me, and asked me would I be prepared to take Tiggy for 3 months, until he had saved up enough money to get into better accommodation.  Of course, glutton for punishment me said yes.  I had met Tiggy, and he was a nice cat, and I really wanted to help this fellow, after what he had been through.  However I was prepared for the fact that the three months could stretch into longer, because I knew a bit about the town where he was going, and knew decent accommodation was hard to find there.  So I was prepared for a lengthy stay if necessary.

The day came when Joe was to move, and he turned up at my door with Tiggy in a cat basket.  Tiggy was not happy at all.  Not only was all this activity happening, but he had been put in a cat basket, and walked round the corner to my place.  Where Joe lived was only about half a block from my house.  So by the time he reached me he was already in a state.  So I might add was Joe.  He really felt bad about leaving Tiggy, but we both knew he had no choice.  He wanted to leave some money to pay for Tiggy’s cat food and pressed some money into my hand, and practically ran out of the door before I could say no.  I suspect too that he didn’t trust himself not to break down. 

I took Tiggy into a secure room, and shut all doors and windows before I opened the cat cage.  My two cats, Felix and Max were outside at the time, and I wanted Tiggy to sus the place out a bit before they came back in.  I opened the cage and watched proceedings.  The door was on the top of the cage, and his head popped up, sniffing the air.  After a few minutes, he nimbly leapt out, and starting prowling round the room, inspecting everything.  Every so often, he would jump up, or backwards, as things startled him.  After he appeared to be settling, I picked him up (having made sure all escape routes were secured) and took him to the laundry, where the kitty litter tray lived.  He was less than impressed with this turn of events, and I allowed him to explore the rest of the house.  Then I let the other cats back in, as it was getting onto their mealtime.  Well Tiggy thought this was the last straw!  He took to his heels, back into the first room he had seen, and hid under the bed.  And when I say hid, I mean hid.  I needed a torch to find him.  But find him I did, and being satisfied he was ok, left him to it.  I reckoned he would come out when he was hungry, and that may not be for a while, it was very stressful for an adult cat to be moved. Specially in with other cats. 

It took Tiggy a long time to come to terms with his new home.  He spent most of time hiding anywhere he thought was appropriate at the time, under beds, in wardrobes, behind or underneath chairs.  And about a week after he actually staged an escape.  I rang Joe’s “ex” next door neighbour and asked him to let me know when Tiggy turned up, which he did.  He wasn’t easy to catch, we had to wait till he was hungry, then back in the cat cage and back to my place, where a stricter regime was put in force.  Gradually though, he relaxed, and accepted the fact that here was where the food was, even though his previous master wasn’t, and eventually I was able to let him outside, without fear of him heading “home”.  He hated the other two cats, and made it quite obvious they should leave.  Which of course they didn’t.  So they ignored each other as much as possible, until they had a showdown in the hall.  Many growls and yowls were emitted, and a lot of fur flew, though very few blows were actually struck.  Felix and his henchman Max won that round, but Tiggy waited for his chance.  In the meantime he had decided I was ok, and made friends with me, and with my kids when they came home.  He took over my chair, and when I brought my mother home for five weeks, when she was ill, she spent most of her time asleep in my chair, with Tiggy on her knees.  He was good for her, and he appreciated her lap.

The three months came and went, and Joe had been in touch by phone, and as I expected, he wasn’t able to take Tiggy.  He kept sending me money for him, and was very pleased to hear news of him.  The months stretched into years, and I had to have a few days in hospital.  When I came home, Felix had disappeared, and Max had an abscess on his spine, near the base of his tail.  So we assume there had been a cat fight, and Felix had succumbed to his injuries.  We never found him.  However, Tiggy realised there was a power vacuum, so when he was eventually sure Felix wasn’t going to spring out from behind something, there was another power struggle in the hall.  More yowls, growls, and posturing, more fur flying, and Tiggy was now…..The Top Cat.  He was now in his element.  And when Bilbo arrived in our lives, Tiggy was still the top cat, but a benevolent one where Bilbo was concerned.  Bilbo was the cat who was a walking disaster area as far as his health was concerned, and who never grew past the size of a three months old cat.  Physically that is.  Mentally he was a giant….or thought he was.  He wanted so much to be the top of the cat pile, but of course Max and Tiggy wouldn’t hear of it.  He was treated with great gentleness, and played with as a permanent kitten.  Until Bilbo bit Tiggy in a temper one day, at least, but even then Tiggy treated him with great tenderness. 

Eventually, Joe rang and said he was being transferred again, this time to Mudgee.  He said he wanted to find a place to live back in Rylstone or Kandos, and he could commute from there.  And of course he wanted to take Tiggy back.  As you can imagine I had grown really fond of Tiggy, but a promise is a promise, and I had only taken Tiggy until Joe could take him back.  So I said, once you’re settled, I’ll bring Tiggy round, but we made arrangements for him to visit as soon as he was back in town.  Which he did…..but Tiggy just looked at him and turned his back, he would NOT speak to him, despite all Joe’s cajoling and entreating.  Joe was obviously a bit upset, but I told him I thought all would be forgiven once he actually took him home and fed him a couple of times.  Amazing what a bit of food will do to a cat’s outlook.  So about a month later, Joe rang and said he finally had his place sorted out, and cat proofed, and he was ready for Tiggy to come back.  So back in the cat basket, and round to Joe’s.  Joe had bought all his favourite foods, and had all his favourite treats to “buy” him with.  We retired to a secure room with him, and went through the whole procedure again.  However this time, Tiggy seemed to realise that this was home, and this time he was with Joe.  He went through a bit of prowling and exploring, but went up to Joe and rubbed on his leg.  Joe picked him up, and he purred, and we proceeded to the lounge room where he and Joe reacquainted themselves.  When I left them, they had moved to the kitchen to check out the treats.  I really couldn’t get over how quickly Tiggy was settling in, and it really warmed my soul to see it. 

I kept in touch with Joe, and called a couple of times to see how they were going.  The last I heard was Joe was moving again, he had been given a promotion to another town, but this time he was able to take Tiggy with him…and his girlfriend, whom Tiggy also liked.  So Tiggy’s family was growing, and his fortunes were still looking good.