Today there is an anniversary that led me to rethink an event that happened a long time ago in a street in the middle of nowhere. However, for you to understand, I think it is necessary to make a small introduction. Since Iām a cat lover, Iāve always had it in the house. Mostly I prefer black cats, more or less certain. In fact, I think the black cat is one of the most elegant cats, like a miniature panther. And I donāt believe in any of the black cat superstitions. Think of it as the Japanese for which the black cat is a symbol of good luck and say that having one at home will bring much prosperity. My friends and acquaintances are aware of my preferences and when a black kitten of my friend had puppies, they gave me a beautiful black kitten that I called Romeo.
The sad end of my cat Romeo
At that time, I also had a female German shepherd named Cindy. The two have become friends. My dog, because of his maternal instinct, carried the kitten around like a puppy, and the kitten liked to be taken away like that. The two were very good friends, Romeo was a cat, very lively, friendly and he was not afraid of anything. About two months passed when one morning we heard a deafening cry and our dog barking and crying.
Romeo was not used to going out alone in the garden. We had already thought about how to put the garden in safety to allow him to get out whenever he wanted, and for the moment I kept him in the house and carried him out with a harness and a leash, so as not to take risks.
That morning, however, he broke the mosquito net of a window, went out into the garden and climbed on the wall and then jumped into the garden of the house next door. He was a kitten, very curious and was very happy when I put the bib on him for a walk.
Unfortunately, however, here he met a dog and perhaps thinking of playing the way he played with his friend, he let himself be taken. We climbed over the wall and when we removed it from the dogās mouth he was still alive. We got out of the car straight away and after a desperate rush to the vet we could only watch him die. Since that day, our dog has always hated the neighborās dog and never allowed us to approach the wall. We had to close with the panels, the part of the garden that bordered the dog because we noticed that our dog suffered even just seeing it.
A strange encounter in a desolate land
At the time when I was still working as a representative, it was a Thursday at the beginning of the summer, it had been only four days since the death of my cat, Romeo, and I was around in the car thinking about what had happened less than a week before. Suddenly, at the side of the road surrounded only by cornfields, I saw a little black thing on the right side. I saw that he was a black kitten, he reminded me of Romeo. I stopped the car and approached, convinced that it would immediately escape, instead it remained there, motionless. He looked at me and it was like he was asking for help through his eyes.
I took it and put it in the car. He was exhausted. I went to the vet, who told me she was a kitten, maybe a year old, because she had already changed her teeth. She was undernourished, weighed only 900 grams, had conjunctivitis, ringworm, worms and had lost a tooth. According to the vet, she had little chance of surviving, but I didnāt give up and decided to take her with me. As soon as we got home, she hid under a piece of furniture and there was no way to get her out. I put food and water nearby, but the next morning he had not touched anything yet. In the morning, however, I was finally able to pick her up. We started giving her the treatment she suggested to the vet for a while because she couldnāt swallow. We fed her a syringe for 3 days with milk for the kittens, then she finally started eating alone.
Life with a traumatized cat
We have formulated various hypotheses on the reasons that lead to distrust. Usually stray cats are notoriously suspicious of humans. However, some clues led us to think that she did not start as a stray cat, but that she had been abandoned on one side of the road who knows why. Even if he shows his affection with purring, every movement or noise he hears runs away. We also tried to suggest that he had mental problems, but when we have to take it to the vet he immediately understands what is going on. Most of the time it disappears under the bed and it is not easy to convince her to go out. Many times we had to postpone the appointment with the veterinarian because of the impossibility of putting her in the carrier. So, he knows pretty well whatās going on around and has an incredible mind.
There are times when we call it and itās like a dog, other times when it does something we donāt like, like scratching the couch and armchairs, you just have to call it to stop and use its personal scratcher. Sometimes there
ambushes and antics. Thereās no night he doesnāt sleep in bed with us. Iām really glad I brought her with me. I wonder where she would be at this point if I hadnāt taken it that day. I donāt even want to think about it.
She has now been with us for 7 years and has become a real beauty. Fear remained, however, and rarely leaves his home. Even when he goes out into the garden he goes there for a short time and if he only hears a dog barking in the distance immediately returns, going to hide When someone comes to us disappears from circulation, and we see it only when the guests leave. He has to see a person many times, so that in the end you find the courage to go out into the open. In this case, he immediately makes friends with the person, and when he returns to our house he no longer runs away to hide, he just begins to rub his ankles purranding and asking for cuddles.
She canāt bear to see her empty bowl, because as soon as sheās done eating she starts meowing to make sure sheāll be filled again. I wonder how hungry heās going to be. And whatever he refers to even the slightest change in his lifestyle does not accept it.
In fact, we never took her away from home, for a day trip or a vacation. In all these years we have never been away for several days from home and when it happened for no more than 3 or 4 days it always came home someone to feed, change waste and play a little with the Cettina. We tried to take her with us, even for a simple walk near home, since we live in the countryside, but as soon as we walked through the garden gate we had to go back because we saw she was terrified.
And soon we decided to secure the garden so that our cat could not end up in the garden of the house next door.
The coincidences of life
His name is Trilly, which was the first name that came to mind when I took him to the vet and compiled his health pamphlet. but I started calling her Micetta, then Cetta and finally Cettina. And it is this name that answers now. I often travel for work and I see the poor cats dead on the side of the road, I rarely saw a cat or a dog in some places and when this happened, I always stop, but they immediately ran away. And warning the fire men was always one of my concerns when I found an animal that seemed to be wandering, and certainly if he got caught, I would have taken it with me.
But for Cettina it was different, when I met her, I immediately thought that I had been sent to fill with her love, even if only in part, the void that had left me with the death of Romeo killed by the neighborās dog . It immediately seemed too strange a coincidence. In fact, it was only four days after I lost him. And above all, I always thought that Cettina wanted to come with me as soon as she saw me.
Every time I stop to look at my cat, I feel like He wants to thank me every day that Iāve saved him. I would like to be able to save all those poor animals that unscrupulous and heartless people abandon or mistreat.
Over the years, things change.
As soon as Cettina arrived, things changed instantly for our German shepherd, Cindy. We had to keep her separate from the cat for fear she might get some infection. So for about twenty days theyāve never seen each other.
The first time was not very promising because the dog is very happy, he immediately tried to take it in his mouth as he did with Romeo, but Cettina had a different opinion. It swelled and started blowing, leaving our Cindy very confused. However slowly, they got used to it. That is to say, it was the cat that could not stand the dog, Cindy always wanted to play with her. Unfortunately, they never made friends. So they keep ignoring each other even if they live in the same house. But they didnāt get bored.
Unfortunately, a few years ago, Cindy died from an illness and after a while we decided to take another dog. This time, we focused on Jack Russell, a girl, and called him Kira. We took her that she was two months old and as soon as I got home, Cettina didnāt show much sociable starting to blow when she saw her approaching.
Then things got better, but not much. Jack Russell is known to be very lively and playful, Cettina played there a little, but after a while he retreated to his favorite places. trying in every way to avoid the dog. They were also a little jealous of each other. jealous of our attentions that we had to divide equally. Then every now and then they played together, occasionally fighting, but there wasnāt much friendship between the two.
Everything has changed almost suddenly. I was hospitalized for two weeks, so Kira and Cettina stayed several hours a day from the sun. Most likely it was at this juncture that they befriended, perhaps driven by loneliness.
I remember the first night I slept at home after I got back from the hospital. They came to sleep on the bed, as they always did, because they always slept with us, albeit one on one side and the other on the other side, but I was really surprised when I saw Cettina, who started washing Kira as she would with a kitten. And all this is renewed every night. Now they sleep close, almost hug and are unlikely to quarrel, although the dog is always playful and lively and the cat after a while gets tired. But they found their harmony and respect each other. In fact, itās fun to occasionally see Cettina, which ambushes Kira, while before always trying to avoid her. Animals, cats or dogs are a complement to our family. I couldnāt think of living without it. Randagi or race, big or small, gives us so much joy and happiness and above all so much love.
