|
Wendy's Web Site |
|
Fibromyalgia
For help and support with the guai protocol for FMS, please join the Guai-Support Group's discussion list and post your questions there. I do not answer such questions privately, sorry. Information about joining the group and managing your subscription can be found here. |
Mitzi
Mitzi was my mother's cat. She'd been a stray hanging around the house of a friend, hassling her cats. Mum called me one day - not too long after the loss of our old family cat, Kris, who'd died at the age of 17 in 1992 - to ask if she could borrow my cat cage. And she was the one who had told us all that we weren't to get her another cat because she didn't want another!
Although ginger, which usually means the cat is male, Mum was sure from the appearance that this cat was a girl, and the vet confirmed this and also said she was about four years old. Right from the beginning, Mum was rather taken by Mitzi, though unfortunately the affection was not reciprocated. I'd forgotten until she came to live with us, how she used to follow Dad around the place - this girl preferred the company of men.
When Mum went into hospital for the last time in 2003, the neighbour keeping an eye on Mitzi reported that she was not terribly impressed at being left at home alone AGAIN, this being Mum's fourth stay in hospital that year. I'd been thinking about Mitzi's future already, originally thinking I couldn't possibly introduce her to my household where we endure World War III between Joseph and Tabby, but when push came to shove and there were no other possibilities on the horizon decided I had to give it a go - she was too nice a cat to have put down just because she didn't have a home. So, I picked her up and took her to a cattery I'd used when we were living in Auckland, to stay for as long as it took - either until Mum went home or I took Mitzi to our place.
A week and a half later the worst happened, and Mum lost her battle with cancer. My sister's wedding was just a week after the funeral, so it was decided that Mitzi would stay where she was in the cattery, where she was reported to be happy by the (male!) cattery owner, until we returned home from the trek to Napier for the wedding, and we collected her on our way through Auckland, having taken a cat cage all the way to Napier and back just for this leg of the journey.
Mitzi fitted into our household better than I could ever have imagined. Tabby was just the same with her as she is with Joseph, but Joseph was quite curious about the new arrival and they tolerated each other's company quite well. There was no doubt about who was boss, though - this small cat, elderly and half-blind from an operation on her skin cancer, was Top Cat. If Joseph got too close, she'd think nothing of turning around and swiping him with a paw. But, I'd also find them sleeping only a foot apart.
The big surprise for me was her attitude to Nigel. She'd never liked me, but quickly started worshipping at Nigel's feet. It made for a nice balance in the house - Joseph was "mine", Mitzi was "his", and Tabby was "ours". When I saw her doing this to Nigel, I remembered how she used to be with Dad, and it was nice to have that little reminder of times that used to be.
The photo above is the last of a series showing Nigel playing with Mitzi and shows the "usual" end result - Mitzi playfully embedding a claw into Nigel's finger!
At the end it was not her skin cancer (that I treated daily, much to her disgust) that caused her demise, but a back problem from which we were unable to relieve the pain. She was put to sleep and buried here at home near Wilma the goat, who had passed away just three weeks before. Despite only being in our house for a year, Mitzi left a gap in our lives and we miss her.
|
General Links:
|
|
Thank you to Rootsweb for making this free web space available. |