I had been nagging my husband about letting me have
a female cat so I would have some company when alone at home and I would have the company of another
female as I was constantly surrounded by boys. In the winter of 1993 he showed up with a white with
gray on the back and face tabby kitty. The little thing was not more than three and a half months
old. From the first sight I was in love.
The pet store where he got Tabby told him that it
was a female, so I named her Tabitha. About a month went by and Tabitha spent most of her time with
me or sleeping in my husband's beard when he came home from work and one day, while rubbing her
tummy I discovered that Tabitha was a he. You can imagine my amazement and heart brake when I
discovered such a mistake. Of course, I immediately called my husband to the office and told him
about the discovery and how heart broken I was to discover that my dear friend was a male instead of
a female. I didn't love him less because of it, but it would take me a while to get used to his new
gender.
The name was immediately changed from Tabitha to
Tabby and I didn't pay attention to him for about two hours. After the two hours I couldn't resist
him anymore and we went back to the way we were before. He would come to me and fall asleep in my
lap and then I would put him on the couch and I would continue doing whatever is that I was doing at
the time. It was like having a baby. Unfortunately, the baby grew up and he became an independent, I
don't want anything to do with you, cat and once again I grew lonely. However, there are certain
things that he demands as of today. One of them is that when I am in the kitchen doing dishes or
cooking, he sits next to me and I have to pet him with my foot, and that when he is eating someone
has to be petting him with his or her foot. Other than during these two times, he very seldom comes
to us to be petted. Nonetheless, he is always around one of us even though he keeps his distance.
One day he woke up not feeling well. He would lick
himself and make hissing sounds even when we got near him. A day went by and we decided to take him
to the Vet. We found out that his urethra was crystallized and he required hospitalization. I was
heart broken one more time. How could this happen to our baby? Haven't we taken good care of him? We
found out that it was the type of food we were giving him. The food he was eating was very high in
sodium and that caused the crystallization of the urethra. We also found out that this is very
common in cats and sometimes they died as a result of it.
After spending three days in the
hospital he came home. He had a lot of medication he was supposed to take and we gave him those
pills religiously. He also came home with one of those things that look a like lamp shades over his
head so he would not lick himself and make it worse with his saliva. Among the medication they gave
him there was a tranquilizer he was to take for about four days. It was sad to see him when the
tranquilizer took effect. He would look drugged and then he would just plop and go to sleep for
several hours and when he woke up, he would be groggy and cranky. His diet was changed and special
food was to be gotten from that day on, which we did. He improved and finally got well. Since we
changed his food and his diet he has not been ill and he has become a huge, over weight, spoiled
cat.
We also have two other cats and we give them the
same type of food and attention Tabby gets, but they are another story.
