The Lady of hte house...

11 Aug 2006

Lady Ashford

That is the name of my cat, and always requires some explanation. I got her from the SPCA, and she was THE most scruffy-looking, the thinnest, the saddest, and most pathetic looking cat they had. But she was also the most beautiful, in her own way. She is a tortoise shell in her colouring, and has pale green eyes. She has a very soft purr, and talks a lot. All in all, a splendid specimen of a cat.

But, when I first got her, she looked to wretched and thin, that I could not help but adopt her. I looked at all the cats in the cages, and considered carefully which I was going to bring home to love. I wanted a kitten, but they had none. Then I saw her. She seemed to be what I would imagine your typical battered and abandoned cat to be – hungry, unkempt, and scruffy. So far from royalty that I decided she needed a regal name. Little did I know that she obviously owned a house and people before. In a very short period of time, with constant love, brushing, and good food, she had become the very picture of health and beauty. Only problem was, she went from 2 kilograms to 5 and a half within a few months. Now she can hardly fit through the cat door LOL.

I have spoken to my neighbours and asked them not to feed her, but they do. I know this because I have her on diet food, but she is still as fat as ever. She is not unhealthily fat as I can still feel her ribs, and she can jump, and run, and climbs my tree right to the top to catch birds (which she gives to me as presents!), so she is not house-bound at all.

They say people who have animals tend to be less stressed than those who don’t. I think that is true, and the amount of laughter she brings into the house is great. For as small as she is, she can take up the whole couch, and will often not leave space for me to sit. If I move her, she will express her disdain at being disturbed.

She also spends hours in the garden chasing the other cats away, and grovelling in the sand. Once I saw her almost red all over from the red sand in one corner of the garden. But she always takes time to groom herself and her white patches are as clean as ever when she has finished.

Guess she really is a lady after all.