Fate

“Jenny” said mummy one day “have I ever told you about how you were adopted?”

“Yes mummy, it was because an old lady cat called Misty crossed over the rainbow bridge and made way for me to join your family”

“That’s right Jenny but have I ever told you why we though of adopting a purrfectly imperfect cat?” Mummy said

“Oh no mummy I don’t think you’ve told me that story before, can I hear that story?”

“OK then Jen, are you sitting comfortably? OK, then I’ll begin”

This is the story mummy told me.

Many years ago when mummy and daddy frst met, they didn’t have any pets, as much as they wanted them as they grew up with animals of their own, they only lived in one room in a house with lots of other people. They befriended a baby squirrel, who they called Gizmo and he used to come and visit them in their room and eat the food and nuts they left for him. Then mummy and daddy moved to their own place and they started to really miss having a furry friend around. Then mummy mentioned it to a friend who she worked with and he said he had two cats that he had rescued who only lived indoors and couldn’t go out because he lived by a very busy road, which was dangerous for them. Mummy said they had communal gardens which she could take them out into. Mummy and daddy then adopted Piper and Misty, two beautiful black cats. Misty, long haired, quiet, very proper and a true lady. Piper, short haired, mischevious, cheeky and a real character. Piper only had a little stumpy tail which just added to his personality.

One day mummy and daddy noticed that Piper wasn’t quite right, he struggled to jump onto the back of the sofa, they took him to the vet who thought he might have a problem with his eyes. “Oh mummy was he a blind cat like me too, was that why you adopted me?” I asked “No Jenny, we thought he might be going blind at first but it was something very different”. Mummy carried on her story, after a lot of trips to the vet, specialist doctors, scans, blood samples and tests the vets finally decided on what they thought might be wrong with Piper. During all this Piper had started to struggle to walk and his head bobbed when he ate. Mummy had done some research and though he migh have Cerebella Hyperplasia “wobbly cat syndrome” but the vets ruled that out as that is something that cats are born with and Piper was fine as a kitten and young cat. The vets thought Piper had the cat equivalent of mad cow disease – Feline spongiform encephalopathy, they gave him six months to live. Mummy and daddy were devestated but Piper was a fighter and so were mummy and daddy, they weren’t going to let this disease stop Piper from living the full and happy life he deserved. With lots of care, lots of support, changes to the litter tray, helping him to eat. He and mummy were inseperable and he tried to follow her everywhere she went, mummy said it wasn’t unusual to see her doing housework or chores with Piper tucked under her arm! All the love and care meant that Pipe stayed part of the family for another 6 years before he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

Then years later as Misty became older, she went from being a seniour to a geriatric to something completely off the scale as she was so elderly at 26, she needed some additional care as well, a revised litter tray, pee pads on the sofa in case she got caught short, mats to stop her slipping and just a bit of extra tlc and patience as she was a very old lady. So when Misty also crossed over the rainbow bridge mummy and daddy thought differently to how they would have many years ago. Mummy said to me “Without Piper and Misty we would never have thought of adopting a special needs cat, we had never thought about it before when we adopted any of our other cats but now we’re different, our experiences made us think differently. They taught us so much and we wanted to use that experience to help other cats” Thats when they started thinking differently, they thought they would be well equipped to give a special needs cat the extra care they thought it would need. When mummy told me this I meowed out loud “Seriously mummy, you thought I’d need extra care, me who climbs trees, explores the outdoors, who mapped the flat in three days?” “I know Jenny, it makes me laugh too but we were a bit naive then but you, Millie and Angelin have really shown that our initial thoughts were wrong, you might be ‘special needs’ but you don’t need special care”

“Who would’ve thought that one gesture all those years ago would bring us together with three gorgeous perfectly imperfect cats so many years later. If Piper hadn’t got poorly and Misty hadn’t lived to such a great age we wouldn’t have even thought that we could look after a purrfectly imperfect cat. Jenny I think your fate was sealed long before you were ever born, your path was laid out long before you even came into this world. You might of been born in a different country thousands of miles away but fate was already working it’s magic it already had a plan for you, Millie and Angelin you girls were never destined to stay street cats you were destined to be part of our forever home. However it happened or why it happened we will never know but daddy and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“There hasn’t been a day go by since you came into our lives that we haven’t learnt something or that we haven’t wondered at something that you’ve done. As humans and guardians were supposed to be the ones that teach you but that’s just not the case with you. You’ve shown us how we can (and should) learn from you too, that being different is ok and it doesn’t stop you from doing everything you want to do. Thank you for being our teacher and showing us what special animals purrfectly imperfect cats are. We love you all.”

Thank you Piper and Misty for showing mummy and daddy what they were capable of doing and opening their minds and preparing them to find us. We are forever grateful to you. Love you furrever, Jenny, Millie and Angelin xxx