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Life with
Tommy |
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TOMMY would have turned three in March. But instead of birthday treats, there is just the cold, hard earth where the black and white tomcat is decomposing. Rescued by our dogs, Patches and Cadbury, Tommy was responsible for several firsts in my life. For a long time, I’d hated cats, thanks to several negative encounters with them. However, the sight of the wet shivering days-old kitten tugged at the heartstrings and we had to save it. The vet pronounced the kitten a “she” and advised us on how to care for it. Over the next few weeks, my housemate Leng brought the kitten – now named Mayumi – to work where colleagues helped bottle-feed the feline. Mayumi became Tommy when I discovered – after a visit to another vet – that she was actually a he! Freshly separated from his mother, Tommy craved body warmth in the early weeks and would encircle Leng’s neck or mine for a snooze. He was melting my dislike of cats and this became apparent weeks later when the dogs led me to a second kitten. Rescued from the drain where she’d fallen, the feisty Coco became playmates with Tommy and quickly adapted to the dogs. Tommy was the first feline I’d ever bathed and while he hated the routine, he was always careful not to scratch me. Whenever we called him, if he were nearby, he’d respond with a short “meow”. Sometimes, we’d call from the balcony and see him scamper across the road, into the house and upstairs to where we were. |
Often, he’d walk up to within patting distance then go limp on the ground. This “trick” never failed to elicit a smile from us. One night, he returned drenched and dirty, a big hole at the side of his stomach. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t as bad as it looked. Shortly after, we had him neutered but it was too late to stop him marking his territory, that is, spraying his urine indoors. Unlike Coco who loved to follow the dogs on their walks, Tommy preferred to stick close to home. When he wasn’t lounging near the dogs, he’d be lying in the dry drain beside the house. Early this year, Tommy underwent surgery to remove a dislocated claw that was turning septic. When the quarantine was lifted, he bolted and returned only to eat before dashing off again. It took a while before he settled down. In February, we moved house. Aware of how cats could be traumatized by the change, we confined them for a few days. But we did not factor in the presence of stray dogs. Once, we had to rescue Tommy and Mickey (a kitten we’d adopted four months earlier) when the stray dogs got too close. One night, Tommy and Coco did not return. The next morning, we found Tommy dead – with his throat slit – in the yard of an unoccupied house. As I lifted him, I heard a meow and for a while, I thought he was still alive but his stiff body told me otherwise. We buried Tommy near the house, under the scrawniest tree in the hope that he might nourish it. I was sobbing buckets but I know Leng’s pain ran deeper because they had bonded while I got over my dislike of cats. |
With Tommy gone, we now worried about Coco. Sunday and Monday passed, but no sign of her. Early Tuesday, I found her sitting just outside the sliding door waiting to be let in! Five days after Tommy died, we found his body “exhumed” – and decapitated. I did not believe the stray dogs had attacked Tommy earlier because the slit throat was inconsistent with the injuries a dog could inflict. This time, we buried Tommy just outside the compound of my house. Two weeks later, right where we’d first buried Tommy, the skull of a small animal suddenly appeared. Was it Tommy’s skull? Did it matter, really? We are now paranoid about the cats’ safety. Because we got them off the streets, we don’t want to curtail their freedom but we make sure they are indoors at night. Sometimes they are not home when we want to turn in so we go looking for them. It’s been seven months since Tommy died. We vowed not to rescue any more cats to avoid heartache when they died. But seeing how aloof Coco is with Mickey, we decided he needed a playmate so we got Asher Dasher. The new kitten fitted in straightaway and Mickey’s having a great time with his new pal. We have moved on – Tommy would have approved.
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