Normally, a kitty emergency around here is when I fail to either a) get the snacks made quickly enough, b) fail to open a door quickly enough or c) fail to promptly deliver whatever said kitty wants quickly enough despite not knowing what kitty really desires. As much as I tell them that those are not “crises” but merely “storms in a teacup,” they tend to disagree. Yesterday, we had a real emergency. Our second cat and first boy had to go to the emergency vet. There, we not only learned about his acute healthcare issue, but found out about a new, chronic one. My sweet Twister has a heart murmur.
Now, according to all of the additional tests we had run, his heart is currently its normal size and the blood marker that they tested for is not elevated, meaning he is experiencing no cardiac stress. So, for now, his heart is fine. But, we have to keep an eye on it for the rest of his life. Hopefully, it never develops into anything more.
But that got me thinking about our sweet Twister and what a tough life he’s had. We adopted Twister about three years ago when he was two years old. For two winters, we had seen him streaking across the backyard from time to time, out in the frozen cold. We had tried to feed him and basically do something for him, but he was way too wary. Then, one August, the dam broke although we still don’t know why. My husband, who has a Ph.D. in animal behavior (seriously), was able to get him to start accepting food and water from us. Our only requirement? He had to accept love as well. Darryl insisted that we both enforce that we had to pet him before we gave him the food and water (and that was hard for me as I would have given it without requiring anything from him). Otherwise, he explained, he would never really come to us and we wouldn’t be able to get close enough to adopt him. He could have all the food and water he wanted, but he had to have love and affection as well.
Just as we were trying to figure out how we could adopt Twister before the cold weather set in again, he showed up one early October day with a respiratory infection where he was struggling to breathe. He was also emaciated, despite us feeding him several times a day. (He had been gone for a few days.) We looked at each other. If we didn’t capture him and get him to the vet immediately, we both knew that he would be dead in a matter of days. He didn’t totally trust us yet – it had been about five weeks of feeding him – but we had to take our chance. Darryl noted to me that we probably only had one chance. If we didn’t catch him, we wouldn’t have enough time to re-earn his trust before he died. Mercifully, we got him into the carrier easier than expected and our vet, who is just an amazingly kind man, saw him that day. Antibiotics, dewormers and a safe, warm place to be was on his recovery plan. We took him home, gave him his own room and again as much food, water and love that he could handle.
That was three years ago. Twister, who had been starving for so long, didn’t have much control over how much he ate. His appetite was huge and he had learned to eat when he could. At first, he just got to a healthy weight once he was parasite-free and over his infection. Then, he ballooned to 18 pounds. That was 18 months ago when he had to go on a diet. Between then and now, he’s gotten down to 16 pounds but the vet keeps reminding us that 15 pounds would be a healthier weight. As much as we try, he is stubbornly at 16 pounds. Occasionally, he drops to under 16 pounds but it doesn’t last long. Still, we control how much he eats and he is at least not overeating anymore.
Today, Twister is just about the sweetest cat you can ever imagine having. He’s shy and gentle and asks for nothing more than to be loved. Put a hand on him and he purrs. Give him a scratch behind the ears and he closes his eyes and purrs so loudly that you can literally feel his pure joy. He can still be cautious approaching us and if the other cats get in the way, he’ll walk away and let them get the attention. Darryl and I always make sure that at least a few times a day, he gets attention that is all his. Sometimes, he will crawl into bed with us and lay down in-between us, purring loudly and milk treading like there is nothing better in the world. That is how sweet he is.
While I love all of my cats equally, when one is in harm’s way, I am especially tender-hearted towards them and today my heart is with Twister. He’s had a good morning so far. We’ve had snacks and belly rubs (a totally new thing he learned to do once he came inside) and he went outside for a mini-adventure in our backyard and the edge of the woods. Currently, he’s holding vigil at the back door watching for something exciting to happen. With a new diet and food that should hopefully prevent his acute issue from ever happening again, Twister is in full recovery mode. He’s already forgiven us for yesterday’s cage-and-vet adventure and his carrier is hidden away so he doesn’t have to fear it.
Now, we just focus on the love. I can’t fix his somewhat physically broken heart but I can fix his emotionally broken heart. The commitment we both made to these four furry ones when they became our pets is that they would always be loved and well cared for. They would have enough food and water, sure. But they would also be safe, have opportunity for play and affection and that they would be as much as a part of our family as any other member. And when any one of them needs a little extra, we have committed to that, too. So today and for the next few days, Twister is our focus until we are truly well assured that he is better. Then, he can share the limelight with his brothers and sister.
My sweet, sweet T. He is truly such a fabulous and sweet boy. I feel honored to be his adoptive mom. I want to see him live forever but more than ever I am focused on making the years he does have just fabulous. I can’t undo the two years when he wouldn’t let us near him and I can’t prevent his potential lost years of life due to his heart, but I can make those years he has as wonderful as possible and to make sure he and his siblings always know how well-loved they are.
If you have a pet, give him or her a little extra love today from me and Twister. They are such a huge and wonderful part of our lives.
The Yuppie Homesteader 