To adopt or not to adopt

See her? That was my baby... a ball of fat and fur with personality enough to inspire peace and grant me serenity. Almost 8 years of her presence came to an abrupt end on January 25th, 2021 when, because of a neurological condition with an unexplained origin, I agreed to the vet euthanizing her and said goodbye until her heart stopped beating. Oh, my lord, that day still hurts.

A cat lovers' tale

My story with cats began when I was 5 years old. My uncle had given me a kitten from a stray litter found in my hometown's local sugarcane mill. She was scared and silly and a silver tabby I originally named Sylvester after the cartoon cat that chased Tweety Bird every moment he could. Of course, the name didn't stick but Mama Munschk (not sure of the spelling here!) easily did.

Mama Munschk was heroic... she once snuck up behind a German Shepperd dog that was sneaking up behind a cousin and me as we walked to the shops and fought him off in our defence. She was adventurous... I remember sitting in the front row of our local theatre with its' canvas seats watching a movie with my friends when I spied her in front of me. She loved the attention she received from my friends and the fact that I carried her in my thick jacket as I walked the 15 minutes to get home. She was inspirational... this would be unheard of today but when I took her to the vet for a desexing, the vet asked me if I wanted to assist then let me watch as he operated on her. I wanted to be a vet from that moment and throughout most of my childhood.

Mama Munschk was an extraordinary cat and the moments she was in my life continue to shine bright long after her own dimmed. She lived for 20 years and died in 1997 after outliving other cats that had been brought into my home throughout her time. So, you could say the standard she set when it came to feline friends was rather spectacular which is most likely why it took so long for me to open my heart to another.

Mama Cat Vixen

But that is just what happened when this beauty was born into the family. Her mother was my daughters' cat, and she was born in 2013. She was aloof yet affectionate... would recoil away from a pat then smother you with rubs when she wanted them. She would study and watch you then fall asleep on your chest as though she was protecting you from forces unseen to the human eye. When visitors came to the house, she would mostly hide somewhere yet was comfortable sleeping next to me as I slept next to my man.

I was nervous about relocating her to Airlie Beach with me in 2019 as she had lived only in one home prior to that. But the move was a fun transition for her, and I now believe she lived her best life there. I would hear her running on the roof at night chasing god-knows-what and find her ready to climb into my bed early in the morning where she would stay all day while I worked. Her diet changed to the more expensive brands of food but her affections were simple - I would walk in through the front door at the end of the working day and say "Hey Ma-ma" and she would greet me from the kitchen counter where she waited. From there I would ask "kiss?" and she would lean her head forward and down for me to kiss her forehead area. This became a part of our daily routine.

A strange thing happened to me as I was living in Airlie Beach... for the first time I had space and a place to get to know myself. This is single-living, no-children-at-home, empty-nester me. So, as you can imagine, I had quite a few moments of sheer panic where I had to face some old demons from my childhood and past relationships, and on those occasions, the loneliness became the more so by the voices that taunted me from the darkness. I don't know how she knew, but Mama Cat Vixen stayed with me on those occasions, and her purring secured me during those storms. She became my anchor.

Her final bow

Covid-19 created that perfect storm for me, however, to want to head back to north Queensland and to my family. So again, I relocated Mama Cat Vixen and her canine companions in June 2020. This time, we made Cairns our home and she settled in with ease and comfort so I was never concerned... that is not until the week between Christmas and New Years' when my "Hey Ma-ma" returned no response from her. I noticed she stayed under the dining room table and just looked at me, and in that very instant I knew something was wrong.

To cut a long painful story short, my intuition was correct and for reasons that I do not know today, she was euthanized. I said goodbye to her with our foreheads together in a long final kiss. That was almost 3 months ago.

I have been through this before but it's not any easier this time around. I miss her so much. I spent weeks aching to say her name and when no one was listening, I would. I sometimes still think I can hear her purring and it took me quite some time to stop reaching for her in my bed. Her bowl is empty, and I ended up giving her expensive-brand food to her canine sister. I have an unopened bag of kitty litter in the garage and the scratch tower is pushed in a corner now used as a place for sneakers and a watering can as well as a storage area for hand sanitizer and disposable masks.

To adopt or not to adopt?

It has been quiet... even with the dogs as my companions. They say grief is a process but it's not linear and simple. I know that just like Mama Munschk, Mama Cat Vixen cannot be replaced. They each hold a place in my heart reflective of the chapter in which they ambushed my life. But their leaving has also marked a turn of the page and it's time to start the telling of another story. So lately, I've been entertaining the idea of having a cat in my home. After all, there is something to be said about the comfort of their fur against your skin and the reassurance of their purrs vibrating around the room.

So, the question has been around adoption and the answer has returned a definite yes each and every single time! I do want to adopt a cat! I know they can be independent yet affectionate, athletic yet lazy, and playful yet aloof. I know they require space yet will happily invade yours and are fussy yet so mellow that they appear as though they just don't care. They love attention yet will act like they don't want it then offended if they don't get it. They are an endless source of comfort and fun but want you to do all the hard work and entertain them.

I think they are my spirit animal.

So herein lies my answer... I will adopt a cat in the near future and, if after reading this, you are of the same mind, then have a read of the ASPCA Adoption Tips so that your home and heart are guaranteed ready to become theirs as well.

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