Draki

I was never a Cat fan, I had grown up with dogs, I was used to them. They were my childhood friends growing up. Life moves on and I got busy with a work, women and other things that take the interest of a young man.

Eventually, I settled down and married the love of my life and we moved into a rented home, of some friends. They were planning to retire, bought the house to retire to, but we’re a few years from being ready to move in. The previous owners left and we moved in. One Saturday, during Spring, after we had just moved in, my wife worked on Saturdays mornings and I was cleaning the house and had all the doors and windows open. I had just finished mopping the floor when I looked up and there was an Orange and White Cat sitting at the edge of the carpet leading from the Kitchen. He was a well fed, fellow, with soft orange fur. Didn’t look like a stray, but cats will wander. He had no fear of me, and seemed familiar with the house.

I crossed the floor and chased him out through the Laundry and closed the door. He stood outside the door for a few moments and jumped up on the fence and wandered away.

I thought no more about it, and finished cleaning and thought no more about it.

Later, my wife came home and I told her all about the cat, by this time teh weather had changed and what was a lovely day turned cold and miserable. It started to rain, very heavily, when I heard a cat yowling, obviously not happy at all. I went to the back door, and there was the orange and white cat sitting at the back door, soaking wet and not happy at all.

We talked it over, and decided that we would let the cat stay in Laundry for the night and in the morning, we would see about him. We put down some milk, some smoked salmon that was in the fridge, a bowl of water, we didn’t have any kitty litter, so guess what my job would be in the morning.

In the morning, the day was warmer, Spring does what it does from cold and rain to warm Spring days, I let the cat out, cleaned up the Laundry and we went out for the day. We returned home later in the day, my wife went out to visit her mother and I was reading in the lounge. The doors and windows all open and a pleasant warm day. About an hour, after I started reading, I heard a meow, and the cat had returned. He wandered into the house, like he owned it, (of course cats do), looked up at me reading in the armchair and jumped up on the side of the armchair and settled down next to me.

‘I patted his head, and he purred, I laughed, smiled to myself, and then realised my eyes were sore. Turns out I was allergic to cat fur. Still he seemed happy, and who was I to disturb him. Later, as the day cooled, this oraneg and white furball, decided two things, one I was not paying enough attention to him and two he was cold. Upon which he decided to move from the arm rest of my chair into my lap. Where, I could resolve both his problems.

My wife came home a while later, to find me reading a book with a cat laying on my lap, quite happy and contented. After that the cat stayed, we didn’t know his name so named him Draki, after the alien from the movie.

Draki was with us for over five years, from when we were married to when our daughter was born. After a few weeks , I became used to his fur and my allergy went away, the cat ruled the roost. I installed a cat door in the Laundry door to the outside world and he could come and go as he pleased.

We decided that Draki, must have been the previous owners cat, and after they moved hadn’t given him enough time to acclimatise to his new place, or they just didn’t care. They never called to ask if he had come back, so after a few weeks he bacame our cat.

Draki spent nearly every night, more so during winter, either on teh arm of my chair when I was reading, or sitting in my lap. He occasionally would nestle with my wife, especially when I was not there, but most of the time with me, as I read. Often, I would talk to him about the book, as if he understood, he would just meow, rud his head against me and go back to sleep.

Draki, loved to go out at night and hunt mice, as we lived very close to paddocks he had a wonderful time. On so many occasions, Draki would bring home how trophies and share them with me. Many times, you would hear the cat door slam, when he came home, he would walk into the Lounge room, always at night, and drop in the middle of the room, his playmate for the evening. If the playmate was dead, he would meow at me, and turn his head left and right, and nudge it with his paw, almost as if he was asking me to fix it, so he could play some more. Sometimes, the mouse wouldn’t be dead, and fun and games would commence as the cat and myself would chase the mouse around the Living room, or kitchen, or where ever the mouse had bolted. This often happened at night, occasionally late at night, after we had gone to bed. On those occasions, I often felt sorry for those particular mice, who had the misfortune to be chased by a homicidal cat and a large naked human.

It was my job to retrieve, the object of nightly attention and throw it in the bin, but who wants dead mice there. So eventually, I would go into the kitchen open the sliding door and throw it into the back yard. Draki would follow me into the kitchen and as soon as I threw the dead mouse outside would bolt out looking for the mouse again. I like to think it became a 50/50 game for the mouse, depending how injured they were, either they escaped, or became cat poo.

Draki was old when he adopted us, we never knew how old, but when our daughter was born, Draki took it upon himself to be her protector. From the day, we brought her home, Draki was never more than ten feet from her. He never approached her, never tried to get in her cot, but always slept in her room on the floor, or under her cot. If we put her in a bassinet, anywhere in the house, Draki would be sleeping somewhere near her. I remember may times being up late at night, walking the floor, singing to my daughter to try and get her to sleep, and Draki was on the floor somewhere near us.

It was during one of the nights, when our daughter was about 7 mths old. I put our daughter down to sleep, that I leaned down to pat Draki, he rolled over on his back for a belly rub, I felt the lumps on his stomach, hard round lumps. They worried me, so we went off to the Vets the next day. The Vet confirmed my worse fear and said it was Cancer, and they would have to be removed.

Draki had the surgery, and when he came home he was was in pain. It hurt me, so much to know my little reading buddy and furry friend was hurt and in pain, and I could do nothing about it. I tried to make him comfortable, I made a little bed in the cupboard where he liked to hide, but he would always drag himself out and to our daughters room. I eventually moved his bed to her room by the window, where he could lie in the warm days, and look out the window.

He didn’t get any stronger, and it was obvious he wasn’t doing well, and I made the most painful decision, I realised I was keeping him alive for me, not for him. He was in pain, and I was keeping him alive, because I was in pain. We went to the Vets, on that last car ride, we went in and as the Vet gave him his that last needle, he meowed once, not his usual noise, or even a pained noise, more of relief. Then he rubbed his head against my hand and died.

We went home, I was a mess, I have no idea how I drove home, I just know we did. I buried him outside the window of out daughter‘s room, where he loved to lay. I knew he would watch over her and I could be close to my little friend and reading companion.

Pet ownership, is a long slow journey, into heartache, but it is worth every minute of it.