Cats have a funny way of sneaking into your life when you least expect it. I distinctly remember when I was a child, one of our workers brought home a cat from one of the houses we put up for rent. It was a sleek black cat with green eyes that glowed in the dark. My mom allowed me to keep a lot of different pets except for this one.
This cat, that we named “Felix” was pretty tame. He did not jump on the table to eat our food when we had our meals. He just sat on the empty chair beside me when we had lunch or dinner. He preferred to sleep on the sofa and not on the floor. What i clearly recall about Felix is that he’s very sneaky.
One night when I went down to the kitchen to get a glass of milk, I screamed in fright. There in the dark were two green glowing eyes staring down at me from the top of the ref! Despite that, he was a pretty cool cat ..but not for long.
My mom, for whatever reason, decided to send back the cat where it came from. He only stayed with us for a few weeks and I never got to really bond with him.
HOW I GOT LUCKY
My real love for cats did not start until I met Lucky. One day my son came home with a funny smile on his face. “Mom, I hope you won’t get mad…” he started. Then, I heard meowing from his bag. I did not have time to get angry. While he explained how the kitten was following his teacher around in the campus, he had decided to bring home the little cat instead. The kitten was a little calico with colors of orange, black, grey and white. It kept meowing and looked really awful. But her big round eyes were really captivating. They looked like yellow marbles! My heart melted. Before my son could ask if we could keep her, I already knew I had a new kid to take care of.
The day my son brought her home to us was August 8, 2008, that’s why we named her Lucky (08-08-08). And she was the cat that started it all.
My hubby came home and just took a look at the cat. He did not grow up taking care of pets so he was kind of apprehensive about taking in the kitten. Besides, Lucky did really look terrible and smelly! After three days, hubby tells me he couldn’t stand the smell anymore. So I had to give the kitten a bath.
Now being a first time mom to a cat, I had no idea how to take care of one. I called up my brother-in-law Roy who had a gazillion cats in his house. He laughed at me and said it wasn’t a problem. “Just use some cat shampoo and give her a bath like you would a dog. Use a little warm water, and wipe her dry a bit with a towel. Then let her off. They usually run, hide and dry themselves up.”
So I run to the nearest grocery store and I find out there’s very little shampoo selection for cats compared to dogs. I settled for a brand called “Petcare”. It seemed okay coz it was natural and organic, good for both cats and dogs and kills fleas. And its cheap! Cheaper than dog shampoo! Aha!
So I followed my bro’s instructions, designated a towel just for Lucky and here goes. I didn’t know kittens would meow a lot, claw and run fast once water hits their body! It was like mayhem in the bathroom! After the whole ordeal, I came out having more scratches on my arms and Lucky, shaking with fear, ran off to the nearest sofa. She hid there for a while, licking herself. When she did come out, she looked amazing! She smelled so clean and fluffy…and dry! My son would say, “Smells like a stuffed toy…only she’s alive!”
NAUGHTY LITTLE KITTY
Now that was just the beginning of her antics. I forbid the kids to let the kitten sleep in our rooms because on the first two nights, she mysteriously peed and pooed in the kids room. I had not thought of buying a litter box yet (what’s that?) which was apparently a necessity when you take care of pet cats. So we put her first in a shoe box lined with newspaper and let her sleep under my daughter’s bed. (Later on we gave her own little pillow to sleep on.)
Next day, the room was so smelly you’ll really faint! I had to look for the spot where she did her business and since our rooms had dark wooden flooring, it was quite difficult to discern where to find the stains. So using my nose, I was able to locate her pee and it took three days of scrubbing to get the smell out. It took me another day to find the poop, which by the way, she hid in the darkest corner of the room!
With that experience, I was going to impose martial law that Lucky is banned from the rooms. Then I enter my bedroom and find her comfortably lying on my bed! My kids were laughing when they saw me shriek. No matter how i keep our bedroom doors closed, Lucky manages to sneak into the room, lie on our beds, roll around, crawl under the blanket, pop her head up from under the covers and then stare at you with those cute little eyes saying, “Can I sleep here?” (Later on I found out, my son Nikko trained her how to open the doors. Yes! Cats are trainable.)
LUCKY THE GROWING KITTY
It’s surprising how fast cats grow…and how fast they grow on you. We took a lot of pictures of Lucky each month that she was growing. And she did have a personality…a very naughty one.
She loves to tumble in dirty laundry. When I do my weekly washing, she’d jump into the laundry basket along with the dirty clothes. Then, when you are not looking, she’s rolling around on the t-shirts. I don’t understand how she can stand the smell of human sweat that’s been in the hamper for 3 days!
Then she is in constant ninja mode. She’ll hide in the corner of the kitchen, her hind legs backed up against the wall. Then when you pass by she just suddenly jumps at you then runs!
Lucky has a habit of playing with the broom whenever my cleaning lady is around. It’s a good thing she is very patient with cats. She explained it to me that kittens at that age are really frisky. So there she is, trying to sweep the floor with a passenger on her broom.
Lucky was pretty spoiled like a little girl. We got her own bed, stuffed toys and she got to try most of the premium cat food I could find. Her favorite is Whiskas kitten wet food in little pouches. She gobbles those up real quick. She didn’t like Friskies or Whiskas dry food too much. There were left overs! I discovered a more affordable brand, Princess cat food. That one she ate while purring. So, I got so happy, I kept refilling her bowl every time it emptied. I didn’t know that was a bad thing until we got to the vet.
LUCKY’S FIRST VISIT TO THE VET
We didn’t think of bringing her to the vet until we got very concerned about her biting and scratching habit. She didn’t have rabies shots yet so we got scared we might catch the disease. She had the habit of biting our hand and arms, we didn’t know if she was angry or just playing.
So we took her to the vet, a young dark woman who started playing with Lucky by letting her bite her fingers. I shriek again, scared for the doctor. She just laughed and told me not to fear coz kittens are really frisky (there I hear that again)…and playful. She warned me though about letting it grow into a habit coz our arms and legs will end up looking like scratching posts. She recommended that I buy one (mental note: okay whatever that is let’s look for it). ..though it might not really be a necessity coz some cats do tend to ignore it. She suggested giving Lucky some other toys for distraction like a ball, piece of string or even an old stuffed toy. Okay, those things I have a lot at home but I got curious. Cats must have ….toys??? And yeah, they need regular visits to the vet.
Like a little baby, Lucky had a full medical. The doctor took her weight and we discovered she was 2 kilos overweight.
This was a very bad thing because an overweight cat is susceptible to a lot of heart diseases. Aside from that, obese cats also get diabetes and alot of other deadly diseases similar to humans. Next, the doctor stuck a thermometer in her behind (which she did not like and protested with a loud meow). Had her nails clipped, and…here it is…her first vaccination. She let out a really long and loud scream when the doctor injected her at the back of the neck. I don’t know who was more traumatized…me or Lucky. I was traumatized with Lucky’s screams and the total cost of the veterinary bill. The doctor gave me a very longggg list of other vaccinations Lucky needs in the following months.
That time, my son and my hubby was with me and we all went home dazed from the experience. Lucky was whimpering in her carrier.
LUCKY INVADES THE BEDROOM!
My hubby has a habit of sleeping without a shirt on. One day our airconditioning unit broke down so we decided to camp out in our kids room to share in the cold air. We laid out a mattress on the floor and slept there for the next couple of nights. Lucky had the habit of sleeping in our bed then in the middle of the night transfer to the kid’s room and snuggle with either one of the children. Her favorite spot was inbetween my daughter’s legs and right beside my son’s face. Lucky also had this nasty habit of occupying more than half of the bed whenever she will sleep beside you.
One morning, I woke up ahead of my husband, checked if everyone was still sleeping and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. I didn’t see Lucky so I thought she was up and about the house. While I was cooking, I heard a horrifying scream from upstairs. I ran upstairs and discovered it was my husband. He was furious at Lucky.
Why? What did she do? He answers: “She licked my chest while I was sleeping.”
You know how hard it is to symphatize and stop your laughter at the same time? Me and the kids had to keep ourselves from snickering.
“I’m not kidding! It hurts! It felt like sandpaper on my nipples!” he explained. (Later, I read in some articles, a cat’s tongue can be quite rough…like sandpaper. It has little hooks on it which helps cat lick the meat off their prey’s bones.)
After that incident, my husband decided to distance himself a bit from Lucky. This became quite difficult for me because I like having Lucky sleep with us on our bed. I guess Lucky sensed it too because now whenever she sees him, she confines herself to sleeping on the foot of our bed where our feet were. Whenever he’s not around that’s the only time she’ll sleep right next to me.
During my afternoon siestas, Lucky will climb up into bed and sleep beside me. There was one afternoon she even wrapped her leg around my arm and slept on my shoulder. Those moments were precious. My son took these pictures in a jiffy so I look icky in them.
Now the bed is not the only place Lucky has conquered. Cats, I guess pretty much sleep anywhere. She loves sleeping on our bedside table and even made it her favorite scratching post. (The table is a vintage find I bought in a flee market years back. It’s made out of river weeds. I had no idea it was perfect for cats as a scratching pad haha)
LUCKY IS NOW A LADY
When Lucky was almost a year old, she started to show some strange behavior. She had episodes of caterwauling. She would suddenly meow loudly and continuously the whole day. These meows were louder and longer than the usual (typically she’s a quiet cat). Sometimes she’ll even meow in the middle of the night that we’d feel so embarrassed. The noise might be a huge disturbance to our neighbors. Not only that, she would roll around the floor like crazy. If she wasn’t rolling, she’ll be sort of sitting funny on the floor. She’s on her tummy, her hind legs are folded with her butt and tail raised up from the ground. It looks really weird. I really thought something was wrong with her. So during the time she was rolling and rolling around on my bed, I started to rub her tummy to ease her down. She would stop meowing and purr very loudly instead. But you see, once I stop rubbing her tummy, she’ll start caterwauling again. It’s not easy rubbing her tummy for an hour you know. So I decided to take her to the vet.
I’d say the vet is your next bestfriend when it comes to taking care of a cat for the first time. She told me my cat was in heat. (Huh?) In heat, you know…looking for a mate…ready to “rumble”….Ahhh. I respond as if truly understanding, but I really felt stupid back then. Oh so the vet means, once your cat starts acting that weird, she’s actually looking for some sexy time. Being a cat mom and treating my little baby like my own little girl, I really wasn’t ready for the turn of events. I don’t want her to get pregnant just yet. My vet warned me in this stage of being “in heat” cats have a tendency to run away and look for a mate. Her caterwauling was actually a mating call. She advised having her spayed.
Neutering/spaying a cat requires having a part of their reproductive system removed. In the case of male cats, a portion of their balls will be taken off. For female cats, obviously their ovaries and uterus. Both requires an operative procedure and quite a sum of money. Since I was not ready for the cost and the thought of having her go under the knife, I refused. The only other option the vet offered was to keep her confined so she won’t get pregnant.
I was confident the second option will be easy because she’s the only cat I have and my apartment was quite secure. Lucky grew up as an indoor cat so that shouldn’t be a problem. But noooo!
One night I discovered, her caterwauling attracted the entire population of male cats of our neighborhood to my apartment. I went down one night to discover 4 stray male cats in our living room. I couldn’t figure out how the heck they entered our home. Lucky was hiding behind the TV in the living room while I drove the cats out of the house. I found out some of them entered the house thru the back door which had access to the roof! I can’t really blame her for having a long string of suitors hanging around our house. She has become quite a beauty. See her pictures below. These were taken by my daughter.
So now that I kept all the doors closed, Lucky decided to find a way out of her own. She tore the screen on our windows facing the garage and she would climb out of it. Imagine our panic when she disappeared for a day! We were close to crying when we discovered she was gone. She returned that night. I heard her meowing right outside our front door. Like a real mom, I let her in but not without reprimanding her. She just stared at me with her cute round eyes and my heart just melted. I took down the screens and kept our jalousy windows shut close instead. Still she manages to open them and sneak out at night. Ahh…it was so exhausting keeping her in whenever she’s in heat. Our only consolation was that every morning, she would wait by the front door and meow loudly until one of us wakes up to let her in.
This kind of behavior was sporadic. She would do this for a week then stop. It resumes after a couple of weeks, sometimes after a month. We’ve learned to live with it but it does get pretty annoying when the heat period comes. There are nights we couldn’t sleep at all because of the noise!
When I told my friends about it, they just laughed and said, “Ay dalaga na si Lucky!” (english: “Lucky is now a lady!”)
