Cat anyone? Bird anyone?

Chapter 1

I was never a cat person. Nor was I ever a bird person to be honest. Look, you could say that I was an 'animal lover' ...in the sense that if either the National Geographic or Animal Planet channels was on, my eyes would be transfixed on the television screen, enjoying the colourful visuals and scenes of various animals (preferably cute ones of course) while also absorbing the dulcet tones of David Attenborough explaining interesting facts about whichever species of animal was the focal point of that episode.

For me, the earliest memories of a cat was of a cat named Mimi, a female ginger-coloured cat with a crooked tail, passed onto my sister by an aunt who decided to gift it to her, despite knowing that the house was occupied by five dogs vying for the attention of its masters and more importantly, intent on being fed at the main mealtimes of the day.

Anyway, this cat, of who was not particularly cute or affectionate (then again, maybe I just never noticed her looks or how she acted considering I was too busy appreciating the noisy yet loyal dogs of the household), even failed at impressing her own master (my older sister).

Cats apparently have this special ‘power’, that of being a protector against evil spirits or ghosts. But in this instance, my sister said that the cat did not protect her at all. There was one night during my sister’s anaemic episode where she had she woken up in a dreamy or shall we say, nightmarish state where she vividly saw a lady that looked greyish in colour, wearing a white coloured gown seemingly from the early 17th or 18th century, of who had lifted my sister’s two legs in a sort of suspended angle higher than the level of her head.

In shock, my sister had scanned the room for the cat. That darn cat was nowhere by my sister’s side. Funnily enough, it was the only time when she needed that cat the most, yet it was curled up in a corner somewhere, minding her own business, asleep.

Anyway, it turned out that my sister had a very low blood count and it appears that this ‘white lady grey ghost’ had saved her life. Yet the main frustration expressed by my sister was that her cat Mimi, the ginger-coloured, crooked-tailed female cat, had failed in being there for her.

This began my first objective impression about cats. That cats are not particularly interesting, not particularly protective, not particularly affectionate nor reliable when you need them the most.

30 years later, during the Covid19 lockdown, my objective yet prejudiced understanding about ‘cats’ in comparison to dogs, changed.

Chapter 2

We live in suburbia. The area is neat and clean and there is a park nearby. The park is home to families of Australian Magpies, Crested Pigeons, Crows, Grey Butcherbirds, Ibis, Indian Miners, Kookaburras, Magpie-larks, Noisy Miners, Pied Currawongs, Rainbow Lorikeets, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, and Spotted Doves (to name a few of those I’ve learnt to identify).

One day, we noticed a family of Magpies in our backyard. There were two darker coloured birds that we assumed to be the parents, and there were three, rather noisy and hungry, younger looking birds. The term for a young bird that is several days old and covered with fluffy feathers is a ‘nestling’ or a ‘fledgling’.

Anyway, we named this family of five as follows: Maggie (the female/mother) who had a grey coloured nape and with beautiful plumage of grey white and black, with a distinctive heart-shaped pattern on her back as if they were angel’s wings; Magoo (the male/father) who had a very white nape, a strong stance, and very dark solid, shiny black plumage; Minnie, Miney and Mo (the three fledglings who had greyish feathers and of who walked rather dorkily and clumsily, always begging noisily for food).

We fed them. Big mistake or blessing, whichever way you wish to call it. Apparently Australian Magpies are one of the most clever, brave, and unique birds. They live for approximately 25 years, they have a set schedule to visit the families that feed them, will never forget a face, communicate with each other by singing (known as carolling), and patrol their territorial area diligently and protectively. Check out the movie Penguin Bloom, a story about a domesticated Australian Magpie. We watched this film ‘after’ encountering our own ‘Penguin Bloom’ and this brought a lot of warmth to our lives.

Anyway, after months of feeding the birds, we noticed that slowly but surely, Maggie and Magoo had started pushing and sometimes even attacking their fledglings. It has been said that Magpies do this to prepare for their next batch of chicks at around the age of six months to a year. Our favourite fledgling of the three, Minnie, had the dorkiest stance, but also was the sweetest and bravest of the family of five. She would peck on my pinky finger whenever she could, whilst I was feeding her by hand. No other birds apart from her, did this. Well, Magoo did this once, but only once.

Going back to Minnie. One day, we noticed a change in her physique. Within a few seconds, she changed her appearance from being a slim-looking bird to an ‘angry bird’ similar to the one depicted in the ‘Angry Birds’ cartoon, where the bird puff’s up like a balloon almost. Minnie did this when she noticed Magoo’s presence just as she was about to eat the food set aside for her. It was a few moments later that Magoo attacked her by zooming towards her, pushing her off her feet, resulting in Minnie laying on her back, with both legs up, as if begging for mercy.

A few days later we no longer saw our treasured feathered friend Minnie. The parents had succeeded in pushing her away, to greener and greater pastures I suppose. But what touched me is that this feathered friend opened our hearts to owning another pet.

Chapter 3

We were grieving this loss for a few days when we noticed a fat, multi-coloured, shabby looking cat, weighing around 5 kg in appearance, cautiously eating the bird food that we had set aside for the Magpies. The colour is known as ‘calico’, in that this is a cat with more than three colours. To be exact, this cat had orange, white, black, and brown colours through its tiger-like yet abstract painted like patterns.

The shabby-looking cat was a Siberian Cat, a rather expensive breed that can cost around $4000 AUD in Australia, as it is considered hypo-allergenic, producing less of the chemical Fel-d1, of which is associated with cat allergies. This cat breed originated from Russia and although officially developed as a breed from the 1980’s, breeding within Australia began only in the early 2000’s.

It is known as a playful and intelligent cat, one of the largest domesticated cats that can range in size from 3.5 - 6 kg for females and 5.5 - 8 kg for males (second only to the Maine Coon – a cat that has an average mass of 3.6-5.4 kg for females and 6.8 -11.3 kg for males) with such a unique playful personality, due to its immature nature which remains evident for up-to five years.

This cat which we ended up giving the alias ‘Motley’ (as in the word ‘Motley’ from ‘Motley Crue’ a band from the eighties, and as defined in the Oxford dictionary as ‘(of clothing) made up of a variety of colours’.

Motley visited our backyard for the first few mornings, happily seated at the far-right corner of our back garden fence, basking in the early sun’s rays, staring right at us. The cat did this for several days. It was then that I realised that it was probably a stray cat, homeless but not loveless.

This cat was different. It had a calm yet friendly nature. It was curious but not the type like in a ‘curiosity killed the cat’ type of cat. It was brave and very different to the back-neighbour’s short-haired greyish coloured short-haired cat which ‘ran like a scalded cat’ whenever it was caught eating the bird food.

Motley approached calmly, ate quietly, and when we got comfortable enough to pat it, Motley caressed our legs with its bushy, fluffy tail, affectionately.

Wow, I had never experienced a cat like this before.

Chapter 4

Due to the Covid19 lockdown, visits to a Vet or the Dog/Cat Pounds were not possible. There were restrictions about visiting clinics. It was suggested for us to either borrow or purchase a pet scanner to check for a microchip. A microchip is an implant placed under the skin of a domestic animal, information of which is located in a registration database for the ownership of pets and/or animals.

The scanner failed to detect a microchip on Motley which brought us a lot of hope, potentially owning our own cat. We scanned the 'lost pet' pages and notices about her did not come up. The next four months was blissful. We grew to love her like our own; although our expenses soared as it normally would for a loved one, it brought us a lot of joy.

Once lockdown ended, we made a decision to add a microchip and do a full analysis on her health. The day came quickly. Within the first few seconds of the Veterinarian scanning Motley’s back using a mammoth sized scanner, the dreaded ‘ping’ revealed the news not wished on an enemy.

Motley was owned by a family who lived 10 km’s away. She was born a couple of years prior but had given birth to a litter just 9 months before. It was revealed that she had escaped and was missing for 9 months. The fact that she ended up over 10 km's away, separated by highways etc is a bit dubious in that it's highly likely she may have been cat-napped, or perhaps she jumped into someone's ute and ended up a few suburbs away, and came upon our home.

Whatever the reason, the special coincidence and overlap with us missing Minnie...then Motley filling the void in our hearts was comforting. If there is such a thing as 'angels' or 'answered prayers', this was amazing timing.

To continue with the story, upon speaking with the owners, we made offers to purchase their cat, however their love for it prevented them from putting Motley up for sale. This was now a lost cause for us. We had to think quickly

Chapter 5

Immediately after ‘Motley the Cat’ was picked up by its owners, my husband searched the Pound for cats that had similar characteristics (in particular, long-haired fluffy and beautiful cats). We found a cat that had lovely fur and amber coloured eyes, however we were told that it had the Calicivirus, an incurable virus that may cause upper respiratory infections and diseases of the mouth in cats. Note, the Calicivirus was released in Australia in 1996 to reduce the environmental damage ironically caused by the excessive rabbit population. It helped kerb the out-of-control population of rabbits, but a particular strain has also affected the cat populations.

We therefore decided to find another cat that would not break our heart too soon. My husband found another cat rescue organisation and saw a cat that had similar characteristics to Motley. Funny how we human beings tend to go for the same thing, right? Anyway, the cat we were after, Willow, was no longer available. However, coincidentally, or, more so for me, serendipitously, the organiser advised that a day prior (the EXACT same day Motley was collected by her owners), they received a cat named Hannah, of whom had the most placid and pleasant personality. By the way, the meaning of Hannah is 'answered prayer'. This cat named Hannah was available or us to meet the very next day.

We visited the cat rescue organisation and that very night, took Hannah home for a meet and greet. She was a 'Tabby with White'. The 'cat scanner app' (which detects the breed or mixture of the breed) stated that Hannah was part Norwegian, part Taby etc. Whatever her foundation breed is didn't matter anymore. She was a Tabby with White, and a beautiful one at that. She settled in perfectly and we fell in love.

We adopted her which only costed us $300. This included the microchipping, health assessment, and deworming. More importantly, the void in our hearts was filled by this furry creature but we also made a difference to her.

We acquired a new toilet-trained pet, a new best friend, a fur-baby, an angel without wings, a protector, a pacifier, a teacher, a miracle.

I still love dogs, but gosh, having a cat is an unbelievable experience.

To summarise, below is a list of experiences and benefits you can get from owning a cat, based on our own observations about our cat Hannah who we’ve now named Misty:

- independent yet affectionate

- curls up when tired (much like human beings);

- playful (after a period of sleep);

- great companions for insomniacs (or extremely late sleepers);

- is a shadow (keeps you company and follows you wherever you go, when she wants to of course);

- knows where to do her business (hooray! I love this concept of not having to toilet-train cats);

- ‘play’ biting, ‘cat nipping’ and ‘scratching’ means they are acknowledging your presence;

- Smells good (I don’t have to bathe hers as she smells good already, because she grooms herself several times a day);

- Doesn’t need expensive toys (try a long piece of string, it gives sufficient enjoyment for next to nothing);

- highly inquisitive yet attentive;

- communicates with different meow types and purr's;

- although difficult to please, food selection-wise, (we’ve tried feeding her different types of branded and non-branded cat-food but is happy enough to eat what we eat, WHILE we eat our dinner on the table);

- is 3.2 kg’s of love.

To end….there’s a popular saying about comparing dogs and cats,

“In order to maintain a well-balanced perspective, the person who has a dog to worship him should also have a cat to ignore him.” Peterborough Examiner

But I disagree. It’s not about whether a dog, a cat or even a bird is better than the other. Regardless of which of these pets you acquire sometime in your lifetime, hear this:

“In order to soften your heart, own a cat and/or a dog and/or a bird or whichever creature you are bestowed with because this being is capable of warming the deepest part of your soul. After all, it is an angel without wings that can tug at your heartstrings as well as see through the eyes of your soul, while reaching into the depths of it.”