After Gypsy had been gone for about twelve months, I began to think I was ready to take on a new animal. However, my own life had changed over the years, and was no longer as healthy as I once was, and life was downright challenging at times. I realised I could no longer care for a dog, I couldn’t walk him/her on a regular basis, but a cat (and I love cats) would not need that sort of care, perhaps I could take a senior cat that needed a home. After all, most of my animals have been rescue animals, why change now? So I started investigating older cats.
This is where God saw my plans and laughed.
A friend of mine had recently had a kitten given to her. The kitten had been found in the gutter, and was covered in fleas and also had ear mites. She already had two cats of her own, and was looking for a home for this one. In the meantime she treated the kitten for the fleas and ear mites and then sent me a picture on facebook. Here was this poor little silver tabby with the hugest ears that needed a home. She looked like a bat cat. Of course, my heart melted, though I resisted for a couple of days.
So she came to live with me, and our journey together began. I named her Megga Bat Cat, a play on words of megabat, and bat cat. She was terribly cute, but in the manner of all kittens, at times terribly naughty. I was training her at the same time that she was training me.
As she was getting bigger, two trees in my yard had to be felled. This took place over a few days, with one of them the power had to be turned off for safety reasons, and a lot of noise, with the various equipment used. She spent the first part of this rushing from one window to another, supervising activities, and making sure they were doing it right. Until it all got a bit much and she needed a sleep. We both headed for the back of the house.
The next day even the back of the house wasn’t safe, as they used bobcats to transfer large pieces of wood to the back yard for later cutting up. How dare they! The noise was following her everywhere! But that didn’t stop her looking and supervising!
Finally it was all done, and she was able to catch up on sleeping.
A while later, when the weather turned cooler, I decided to light the fire. Megga decided to help by getting in the firebox. I extricated her both from the firebox and the room, and set about getting the fire lit. I eventually let her back in once it was properly alight. She came back in, and was instantly suspicious of this new source of light and sound and approached cautiously. She checked it out, and decided I needed protection from it.
Most times she was alright with it, because she had worked out heat burns. One day however, the fire had been on for a while, and was no longer loudly crackling. She did her usual entry into the room, which included jumping from the backs of the furniture in all directions, but this time she jumped from one chair onto the heater. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her jump off anything so quickly! No damage was done, but she has even more respect for heat now!
One day when she was nearly six months old, she was doing her normal “behave like a lunatic” routine, which included leaping up on top of the flat screen tv, and I had just about had enough. I yelled at her and she left the living room at speed, and I followed her out. I turned round and shut the door to keep her out till she’d calmed down, and saw she had stopped just outside the bedroom door. I stamped me foot at her (alright I was having a tantrum) and fell. She looked most startled and disappeared under the bed. I felt even more startled as I landed in the laundry hamper, and realised I had done something fairly drastic to my ankle on the way. I managed to extricate myself from the laundry hamper, but realised I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t open the door to the living room, the door was shut. The phone in the bedroom was on the other side of the bed, and the phone on the back verandah was too far away.
But all was not lost, I pressed my vital call pendant, and help was on the way. I decided to make myself as comfortable as possible on the floor (I couldn’t get onto the bed) and crawled to the bed, and got a couple of pillows, one for my foot, and one for my head. Megga came out and played with my hair, although I’m sure she really wanted me to get up and feed her! The ambulance turned up within a few minutes and very swiftly assessed I would need an xray and possibly hospitalisation, though they reassured me the ankle may only be sprained. I appreciated their kindness but I knew it was broken.
So they made sure Megga was locked in the house, not out of it, and took me away, and I didn’t return for three months! I had indeed broken it, in three places, and I wasn’t allowed home till I could walk (with assistance) again.
In emergency, I was given a temporary cast till I could have surgery and healing could begin. The doctor came to see me and after he had looked at the xrays, we spent our time comparing pictures of our cats. I contacted family, and someone to look after Megga.
Megga eventually went to stay with a friend and her husband. They took wonderful care of her. She returned to me several days after I returned from hospital, and her reaction was, after sniffing her way through the house. I remember you, where have you been? Where’s your lap for me to sit on?
Prior to my hospitalisation, I used a cane. Now I used a walker. She soon learned to give this tremendous respect, because she might get run over. She also discovered it was the source of fun, and enjoyed being carted round the house on the seat. She really was mistress of all she surveyed!
Megga has always been an inside cat. One, I wanted to protect the wildlife, and two I wanted to protect her from the lunatic drivers that sometimes came round the corner on the wrong side of the road, and the big dogs that lived nearby. On the whole I think she agrees with this. She has been unattended twice (she has been out in a harness and lead and seemed to enjoy the experience(s)) and found both times stressful. The first time she flew down the hall and landed on the screen door, which opened. So of course she got down and went exploring and decided inside was better but of course the door had shut, and on the other side was her arch nemesis, my daughter’s small dog. Her pitiful meows alerted us, the dog was distracted and Megga came back in.
Her other experience was finding an open window. Out she went, jumping several feet to the tank stand. Getting DOWN from the tank stand which would be 8 to 10 feet high. Wandering round the back yard, and getting back UP the tank stand, and unable then to get back in. The windows were casement, hinged on the side opening outwards, and on the wrong side for her purposes. Of course I went looking for her, and by the time I found her she was rather distressed, but allowed me to reach out of the window, grab her by the scruff and lift her across to the window sill and inside. Thank God I didn’t drop her!
Of course she beat a hasty retreat and hid for a while!
Since that time she has mellowed somewhat, and our relationship has become easier. She still thinks she is the boss, but I have become aware that her love isn’t JUST cupboard love. Whenever I have to be away for a few days, she is ok for the first couple of days, then she starts to fret. When I come home I am greeted by frantic meows, then some scolding…Where have you BEEN?? And for the next few days she’s my constant shadow. After a few days things return to normal, provided I do as I’m told…
God knew I didn’t need a quiet life with a sleepy elderly cat who would love nothing more than snoozing on my lap. He knew I needed to be kept on my toes!
Mamaroo's Diary 