WRITING PROMPT

Freewriting — Cat Day

The love of my life

I have owned quite a few cats in my lifetime. Or should I say they’ve owned me. When we lived on the cane farm where I tangled with a taipan, a cat wandered in and stayed. She was quite fat and very soon we found out she was pregnant.

She had a litter of kittens, none of which survived because the dogs next door broke in and killed the lot of them. I was so angry I could’ve killed those dogs and I like dogs!

Tammy somehow survived. When we moved, she fell pregnant again. This time, my husband drowned all the kittens except one, whom I named Katie. I have never forgiven him for drowning those kittens and I never looked at him in the same way again. I cannot tolerate anyone who intentionally hurts, maims, or kills an animal. That was the end of our marriage.

I didn’t intend to write about Tammy and Katie. I wanted to tell you about Mo. No was the most loving cat I ever had. He was one of two feral cats Keeley rescued from behind her workplace. There were about 40 of them and she wanted to bring them all home. Nala, a tortoiseshell, adapted well to our family. Mo, a ginger male, did not. He was untouchable and to begin with he hid underneath the stairs and would not come out — even for food. We gave him water and he stayed there for a few days.

When he emerged from his hiding place, he got his head stuck in the security screen in the laundry. The security screen had to be cut carefully to extricate his head. He gradually accepted his new life and moved into the house and into my bed. He had a damaged paw, which somehow got caught in the fence and broke his leg.

The vet had to amputate his leg and he ran around on just three legs. I loved him dearly. When he was about two and a half, he got sick. It was a really hot 40° day in January and I just thought he was dehydrated. When I took him to the vet, she found he had an infection and referred him to a specialist. They drained the infection, but noticed that his lungs had been perforated. After keeping him in one night, I brought him home to care for him. After two days, he died in my arms.

Life is just not fair sometimes. He didn’t even get to be a full-grown cat. We buried him in our side yard and planted a tree on his grave. A beautiful flowering bush, that gives us privacy and shade from the harsh afternoon sun, grew from his remains.

Nala still lives upstairs. I’ve never had a cat before or after Mo that I’ve loved as much as I loved that bloody cat. I’ve also never had a cat who cost me so much money on vet fees and still died on me. I don’t think vets should charge so much money when they can’t save your cat. I paid $2600 for a dead cat — he was the most loving, but also most expensive, cat ever.