A Kitten Story

It all started on a sunny, but cold morning in July in the Capital City of Australia. Canberra in winter. On a day off, while I was sorting through my emails and whatnots I received a photo of little black fluffs in between matresses that my husband had just found. I was two tiny kittens!

After an initial panic of "what do we do? who do we call?" We decided we wanted to keep them if possible. Funnily enough, unbeknownst to my husband, I had applied for a potential pet permit to our housing agent a couple days back, and received confirmation an hour before my he contacted me about the kittens.

A friend of my husband helped us organise with a vet clinic and an adoption shelter. They also volunteer to foster the kittens until they were of an adoptable age. Two tiny kittens of no more than two weeks of age. All black except for a white tip on one kitten, and one paw on the other one. This earned them their temporary name of Socks and Tail, which then evolved to Sonic and Tails.

A couple of months went by, with a few visits in between, and all of the photos and videos we could ask for. The kittens we growing beautifully. They could eat on their own, and walk, and they refused to go to sleep without a long petting session. They were cuddly and friendly with strangers. They were ready. So the day came when they had to get desexed and microchipped as per Australian law, in order to be formailly adopted by us.

Despite us believeng the kittens we male for most of the time, upon arranging a day and time for them to be delivered to us, we discovered they were actually female, both of them. That kind of ruined our hope of naming them Salem and Merlin, since one was sleek and the other one was rather fluffy.

On the days leading to the kitten homecoming, my husband and I went through a long list of semi matching names for the sister kittens. I personally loved Hexe and Baba, which mean witch in Polish and German. We also considered Hilda and Zelda. Honestly, we never did decide on matching names, and then the opportunity was taken from us.

The night before we were to receive the fluffly sisters, we received a call from the foster friends: one of the kittens was ill, very ill.

We all rushed to the vet clinic only to be shown how sick the kitten was. She had pneumonia, which was being masked by the antibiotics she had received post desexing. And it was too late. A hard desicion was made. Arrangements were decided. And the sad procedure began. It was a very long night.

Needless to say, our hearts were broken. And so, in order to respect the period of mourning, and out of kindness, my husband and I postponed the homecoming a few days. This allowed our friends to say goodbye in a less painful way, to both Sonic and Tails.

Finally the day came. Two months and 5 days after being found, finally, at least one of the kittens was coming to her forever home. She took to my husband straight away. After leaving her kennel, the first thing she did was jump on my husbands lap and fall asleep. She was home. And she was renamed: Banshee.

And that is how Fate bestowed me with one of my longest and deepest desires: to have a cat.

Honestly, I don't even know why we named her Banshee. I had thought of it, but didn't think my husband would like it. But then he suggested it and I just said OK. Though, it does match her personality a bit, she is very vocal.

Banshee is an indoor cat who enjoys playing in the garden; taking long naps, on your face if possible; attacking your legs, especially if you're wearing shorts; meowing loudly if she can't find you and then running at full speed toward you when you respond; drinkinbg lactose-free milk; sleeping in the sink while you're in the toilet; and long cuddles.