Cat Woman Wednesday: Kitties, the Ties That Bind

Though I’m still in Africa on safari (can’t wait to share photos when I get back), I’m excited to present you with a new Cat Woman Wednesday in my absence.  The lovely Rebecca Pullan works in retail technical support in Sydney Australia, and goes home every day to her two loving fur babies, Dexter and Mia. You can excuse the weird spelling of the word “centre” and her use of the word “flatmate” on her Aussie background!  Enjoy!

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My name’s Rebecca, and this is my story…

For as long as I can remember, we’ve always had cats.  Long before I was born, both my parents had cared for cats, my Dad still talks fondly of a Siamese who delighted in static shocks to his nose, and my maternal grandparent’s home always had around three resident felines.

Growing up we had Squit, Molly and Tic Tok.  Squit was the kitten of my Uncle’s tabby, Molly turned up on my Aunt’s doorstep as a tiny kitten, and Tic Tok was abandoned at the house opposite when his owners moved.   As a child I used to follow them around, trying in vain to get them in a good enough mood for me to pet them.   Although all three cats have since passed on, their graves are still marked in the backyard, and memories of them stay with me.

My relationship with our furry friends only became stronger when my parents surprised me on my seventh birthday with a new addition to our family. A kitten.  Katie, as I named her, was the sitting in the corner of the pet shop cage crying, while all the other kittens bounced playfully around her.

Mum just couldn’t bear to leave her, and it turned out she and I were just meant to be together.  For the last seventeen years Katie has been a fantastic constant in my life.  When I’m sleepy she curls up under the blankets with me and sleeps, when I want to play she is always more than happy to chase a string, and if I cry she always seems to know and come find me, purring until I feel better.

Unfortunately our lives have separated somewhat in the last year or so when I met my now ex-boyfriend, Andrew, and we moved in together. Katie stayed with Dad in the surroundings she was used to, as it was best for him and for her.

Having come from a cat family himself, Andrew wanted nothing more than to have a kitten to call his own.  And that is why we now have Dexter. Dex is, simply put, a cuddle and purr monster.  Since he was just a baby, he has been enthusiastic in his pursuits for kitten kisses and cuddles, especially at around 3am.

He was our first fur baby in our little family, and both Andrew and I love him more than we ever thought was possible.  Dex became my constant companion for a period of time when Andrew’s work with the Royal Australian Navy kept him away, and probably because of this he’s become primarily my baby.

When Dexter was nearly a year old, we decided to look into finding him a companion to spend the day with while we were at work.  Looking into kittens to adopt I found a gorgeous little rare ginger girl and instantly wanted to make her a part of our family.  Mia joined us very soon afterwards.

Of course we had our fair share of difficulties introducing a new cat.  Mia unknowingly would break Dexter’s “rules,” and we soon came to realize he considered me to be his person.  Andrew in comparison, became the centre of Mia’s universe.  Even now she lights up as soon as he gets home and jumps on his lap to cuddle every chance she gets.

Mia

Mia is the friendliest cat we’ve ever known.  She greets any visitors at the door, whether she’s met them previously or not.  She plays fetch, which has led my siblings to start calling her a puppy instead of a kitten.  She is affectionate to the point of pushing things off our laps when she wants to curl up with us, and she regularly falls asleep next to Andrew with both paws around his arm.

Unfortunately, a few months after we adopted Mia, the relationship between Andrew and myself began to break down and It became clear that our strongest link was the cats who we adopted together.  Andrew and I were faced with the possibility of splitting up the kittens, or one of us only have visitation rights. Because Andrew’s work makes it difficult to predict for him to be home to look after them, and because neither of us wanted to split them up, we are now flatmates living in the same apartment and sharing the care of our kittens.  After some initial challenges living together, we’ve managed to remain very good friends.

At the moment, I’m struggling with missing my first fur baby Katie constantly.  We attempted once to move Katie from my parent’s house, which she has known for years, to live with us.  At the time Dexter was only four months old, and cheeky enough to provoke the aggressive elderly lady into snarling arguments.  Katie slept in the spare bathroom for two days, did not leave the room.Heartbreaking though it was, I settled on leaving my girl where she knows best, visiting as often as I can, and hoping that when the time comes, I’m close enough to say goodbye.

My first fur baby is slowly turning into an old lady, and although I miss her and want to spend as long with her as possible during what I know are the last few years of her life, the stress of adjusting was going to be too much for her. Even when she’s gone, I’ll still have my Dexter and Mia.