Even though it was my birthday last week mummy said that the two of us had to go on a little journey, she put me into the dreaded carrier one evening and without even telling me took me up to the animal doctor. I don’t really like going up there, it’s not so much seeing the doctor but I don’t like the carrier or the journey, it reminds me of when I was first rescued and had my long journey to meet mummy and daddy which was very scary. Once we had arrived though it was very different to how we normally see the doctor, we didn’t wait in the big room with all the other cats and noisy woofing dogs around, we waited in the car together, just me and mummy. Whilst we were waiting mummy opened the front of the carrier so we could have a cuddle and I could smell the outdoors. Mummy said to me that because the nasty virus 🦠 was still around she wouldn’t be able to come in with me as she normally would and that I would have to go with the nice doctor by myself. “You’ll have to be a brave girl Jenny” she said “I’ll be here waiting for you”
Before long mummy shut the door of the carrier and was talking to another person, she handed me over and I went in the see the doctor all by myself. “Be a good girl Jenny” mummy said as I was carried away “I’ll see you in a few minutes”. I was taken into the rooms as normal, it smelt very clean and the doctor opened the carrier “ hello Jenny” she said, “I’m just going to give you a little check over and then I’ll do your vaccinations”. She had a good feel all over me and pressed here and there, she even asked me to “open wide” so she could check in my mouth and check my teeth. “Well they’re all fine” she said, I meowed that “I could have told you I was feeling fine without all that fuss if you’d have just asked”. A couple of nasty pricks in my neck and before long I was back in the carrier and re-united with mummy. The vet told mummy what a good girl I had been and then I was back in the car and home. Phew over with for another year.
As you all know that it’s taken some adjustment for me to adapt to mummy and daddy being home all the time and the last couple of weeks have been particularly difficult for me. I’m not quite sure why, I love mummy and daddy and spending time with them. As I’m sure I’ve said before mummy and daddy say I’m quite a highly strung kitty at the best of times. As I explained last week, when I was a kitten I was always on alert and listening out for things. Normally during the day whilst mummy and daddy are at work the flat is quiet and I can relax a bit. Then when they came home I was all recharged ready to greet them and play and run around. Now though there is noise in the flat all the time, when mummy’s and daddy are awake there is talking, walking about, tapping on the work machines, the big screen is on. Mummy makes them food to eat and daddy does drinks and so there’s lots of noise for me to keep an ear out for. Then even when they go to bed there’s snoring, moving and other strange noises whilst they’re asleep. Occasionally daddy might get up and use the bathroom. Then there’s mental Millie rushing around like a mad thing as well, Angelin jumping on me wanting to play. There’s no-where to get any peace and quiet – why can’t everyone just leave me alone for a bit?
The only real quiet time I have is whilst out with mummy on walkies, when I can just relax where it’s quiet outside with the birds and insects. I love being outside with just me and mummy. We walk and talk and chill, play football and run around. I don’t want to go back inside to all the noise.
For me all this builds up, I get anxious and wound up and if only they would just let me back outside. I thought that if I sat at the front door and shouted “Mummy, I wanna go outside, let me out please” and yeowled loudly I’d get to go out. That didn’t work so I went into the bedroom where mummy and daddy were asleep, “ let me out, let me out” louder and louder until they heard me. “ Jenny, shut up it’s really early, it’s not time to get up yet”. Round and round the flat I’d pace, meowing at them to let me out, I couldn’t sleep much and that made me feel even worse, the more it went on the more stressed I got. I was grumpy and kept lashing out a growling, playing didn’t help and I starting doing more stress circles. I heard mummy and daddy talking and mummy was quite upset, she was saying that she was worried about me, I was getting myself so stressed and worked up and she could tell by my body language that I wasn’t my usual self. Daddy said he had noticed it too and that mummy shouldn’t worry as they’d do whatever it would take to get me back to my old self.
The next day a package arrived and mummy said that something had arrived for me which she hoped would make me less anxious. She put some stuff on her hand and rubbed it onto my chest. It was very strong smelling and not a smell I really liked, I gave myself a wash and after a while I started to feel a bit less stressed and a bit more chilled out. As all the stress melted away the tiredness took over and I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t fight it off any longer. That night I snuggled up on mummy and daddy’s bed with my big brother Peppar, he always knows when I need him most and he always knows how to make me feel better. I slept a deep sleep that night for the first time in a while and I woke up in the morning feeling better. Mummy gave me some more of the horrible liquid the next day and I had a good day of sleeping, playing, damp hands, games and cat naps then evening walkies with mummy. I was feeling much more like my normal self again.
I guess we all need a bit of help from time to time, specially during these times that mummy and daddy call the new normal.
Jenny’s Story 