Articles

As you can tell from the title, mum abandoned us!  End of story.

No, of course that’s not the end, but it sure felt like it and was a never-ending trial without our mum.

Back in November 2017, mum was diagnosed with cancer; lymphoma to be precise, and so she told us she’d have to leave us to travel to the UK for treatment. Oh, I felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world. What do you mean, leave us?! Well, I didn’t understand the time, of course, and thought that this would be one of her 2 week holidays. I protested, but alas, they were futile and the day came for her to get out the big suitcases, throw perishable food into the bin (or put what she could out for the stray kitties) and get out the dreaded cat carriers. Oh, we weren’t staying at home like we usually do?

We were to be taken to a new temporary ‘home’, where mum had arranged for us to stay with a nice lady who had a spare room in her villa. OK, so this was fine, she liked us a lot and the room was empty, so we had a bit of space to move around and mum had brought a few scratchers, a sleeping post and our supplies and toys.  

She sat with us for a few moments to say goodbye. I was confused – I didn’t know the room and I paced while she tried to give me kisses and chin strokes. What is this mum, are you really going now? Can’t you stay the night here and settle us in? Give us more brushes and treats and cuddles? But before I could finish my questions, she had gone.

My heart lurched. I want my mum! The room seemed suddenly empty and lonely and scary, except for the presence of Luna and Lily, which was my sole comfort for the rest of that day.  But time passed fairly quickly and I just knew mum would be back soon. She never normally leaves us for more than 2 weeks, and surely that time was up now? I started to get excited, pacing and expecting every noise to be mum. But she didn’t come and slowly but surely, I bonded more with the new lady and the happy memories of mum and our house and the love started to fade a little. My heart felt heavier, where had she gone? Perhaps this was our new life now? It had been so long! Had I done something wrong perhaps? No, I was sure I’d been good. But I guess ... well, ‘something’ had happened and now we were going to stay here.

Days turned into weeks, which turned into 2 months, then suddenly the lady came in holding that ‘phone’ thing and sounded all excited. Then, I heard it, a voice that made me want to bounce for joy! MUM! I rubbed the phone and purred and flopped over for my belly-rub. But it didn’t come and although I was so happy to hear mum’s voice, I was confused about why she still wasn’t here.

More weeks passed, more months and now I was totally accustomed to my new place. I still had wistful dreams about our house and mum and how life had been – going into our garden, getting endless brushes, waking mum up with my squeaks and jumps and chasing around our big space. All a distant memory. It’s OK, I thought, this lady is fine and although I don’t much like our cramped conditions, we get our food. But I knew I was kidding myself. I wasn’t so happy; I was just getting by day-to-day.

One day, after almost 5 long months, the lady came in with our carriers. Where are we going? I had totally forgotten about mum and our house by this time – or perhaps it was just buried in my dreams now. I hated the vets and wondered if that’s where we were off to. Yes, indeed we were – I could smell the place. Ugh! But instead of getting poked and prodded in, you know, all those rather embarrassing places, we were put into one of their boarding pens. Oh my! Had we been so bad that even this lady was abandoning us? I sighed deeply and started to wonder what I had done to deserve all of this.

I settled into our new ‘pen’. The nice staff let us out into a bigger room some of the time, so I could stretch my legs, bounce around and chase Luna a little. That was fun, but inside I was lonely and my ears downturned, my gait slower and my appetite reduced.

I was slumped in the pen, bored, lonely and despondent one day, when I heard a voice. Wow, that voice sounded familiar. In she came. A hand reached towards me and the voice said “hello Momo” (my pet name). I KNOW that voice and that hand and that smell. But somehow the memory was fuzzy. Then she went off to pet Luna and Lily and I listened intently. They were having nothing to do with her, so maybe I shouldn’t either. But then it returned and although I was feeling tentative, I let out the merest purr and nestled in for the chin rub that was offered.

We were put into our carriers and taken away. Oh, now where?! This had become tiring now. But when the doors were opened, something lit up my world – I was HOME! Oh my, this was mum! Oh, I just couldn’t contain myself. Mum mum mum mum! I purred and rolled around, I went here and there to familiar smells and an almost-familiar environment (I learned my new place again in just an hour or two). My heart filled up with joy and light returned to my world.

Mum has been home for nearly 2 months now and the memories of our time without her are fading fast. We are getting so much love; even more than before. We are a family again.

As for mum’s cancer, she said she is ‘in remission’ and that she wouldn’t have to leave us again for so long. Phew. I’m crossing my paws super-tight that it stays that way because as we both agree, neither she or I would want to go through that again!

Moet

Catch up with Moet on these social media platforms:

www.instagram.com/moetblindcat
www.twitter.com/moetblindcat

www.facebook.com/moetblindcat
www.youtube.com/c/moettheblindcat