When I left off last week, my two brothers and I had been abandoned at The Shelter and we’d had our first encounter with an old lady cat.
Well, no matter how much Dolly (that’s the old lady cat’s name) butted and bumped on our portable prison, the humans wouldn’t open it. We cried and asked to be let out lots of times, but they didn’t listen! Instead, they brought our box into a room and slammed the door before Dolly could come after us.
Then they took us out one by one and subjected us to unspeakable tortures!
Sure, they tried to set us at ease, but I knew their game because I’d witnessed the horrors they inflicted on my brother. I squirmed and hissed and clawed as they stuck something in my bum and stabbed me with needles and put a huge cold disc on my tiny little chest. The human pushed a huge thing into each of my ears, and the horrible “shh-sshh-skritch” sound it made was almost as bad as the itching it caused.
Finally the ordeal was through. I was almost relieved when they put my brothers and me in a big cage and slammed the door shut with a CLANG behind us.
In an attempt to placate us, they supplied us with meaty-flavored glop and a dish of water. But we refused to eat. We snuggled together in a big pile in the back of the cage and commiserated about the hellish experience we’d endured.
I woke up from my nap and all my joints ached. I felt hot and dizzy and just plain old yucky all over. My brothers did, too, and we cried miserably. I was sure I’d never survive, when I heard Dolly’s voice from outside the door. It’s okay, little one, she said. The sickness will pass. It’s from your Shots — most of us cats feel nasty for a day or so after we get our Shots.
The humans say the Shots keep us from getting sick, but they must be wrong about that since we always feel bad afterwards.
Why can’t we come out and see you? I cried. I still want to snuggle with you, Dolly!
The Shelter people keep all kitties in isolation for a while, just in case they have any diseases that the rest of us could catch, she said.
How long will we be here in this nasty, lonely cage? I asked.
It’s going to be quite a few naps, she told me. But soon enough you’ll get to come out and show off how adorable you are and lots of humans will want to take you home …
I’m not going anywhere without you, Dolly! I said. I’m not going to let anybody take me home unless they take you too!
That’s a sweet thought, honey, she said. I could hear the sadness in her voice, though.
As I was drifting off to sleep, I heard one of the humans say “I can’t believe it! Dolly’s keeping vigil by the isolation room door. It’s the strangest thing …”
JaneA Kelley is a punk rock cat mom and award-winning blogger. She is a regular columnist for Catster Magazine, and she and the Paws and Effect Gang share a home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.