My cat taught me something UNEXPECTED!

Say Hi to my 3-year-old cat Bittu and his 7-year-old mother Sittu.

Bittu was born on my neighbor’s terrace and I remember seeing a lot of crows hovering a few feet above his birth spot, waiting for the right moment to pounce on him. That sight made me feel extremely protective towards him and its always been that way since then. He was quite a cute , playful and smart little kitten and used to jump around a lot.  During winters, he cuddled up to the warm oxygen pump all day and during rains, he found comfort on one of my old Tshirts which was his temporary mattress.

Over the years he has been an integral part of our everyday routine. He turns up every day,  at the balcony with his mother at 7 am sharp for breakfast. After a heavy breakfast, he and his mother both wander off only to return back to the balcony at 12.30 pm for lunch. Then they both enjoy their afternoon siesta and Meow their way into the kitchen at 7 pm for their supper. Interestingly, 70% of their waking hours are either spent licking themselves clean or scratching their claws on every piece of furniture available. This ensures that he never misses a chance to hunt down pigeons and we never experience the annoying existence of rats.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I am so fascinated by my cats is because such a small animal contains so much independence, dignity, and freedom of spirit. Unlike a dog, a cat’s personality, is never bet on a human’s and it demands acceptance on its own terms. Unfortunately, this behavior is often termed as “selfish” by humans because cats can be so indifferent towards humans. Dog owners will have noticed that, if you provide your dogs with food, water, shelter, and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food, water, and affection, they draw the conclusion that THEY are God. I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two weeks.

So how did my Cat teach me my Biggest Life Lessons?

As it so happened one day, I was going through an existential crisis and it was an uneasy day. I was walking around on my terrace, wondering how life was turning out. I was very dejected at that moment because life was not supposed to control me and I was supposed to be the one controlling my life. I was deep in my thoughts when out of nowhere a pigeon loudly flapped its wings and flew above my head. As my eyes ran across the floor, I saw Bittu slouching on the floor. He had silently snuck behind a plant and was waiting for the right moment to attack, but he had missed his catch. I felt bad for the poor cat.

Bittu then casually walked up and sat next to me in silence. He continued to sit next to me for a while and then suddenly became restless. He started doing things that normally calmed him down and gave him a sense of satisfaction. He licked himself clean for the umpteenth time, scratched his claws against the pet stand, and then hopped onto a chair to reach his food box. He kept meowing for 2 minutes, rubbing his body against my legs, as a sign of affection. As my attention shifted from my worries to fulfilling his wants, my energy shifted and I felt more relaxed. I felt relieved to have a friend who distracted me from my worries and calmed me down. As I happily obliged him with his favorite treat, he relished every bit of his food, licked the milk bowl clean, and then slept on his mattress like a King.

“Such a good life” I wondered.

A week later, Bittu limped into our balcony and sat there in silence. His pain was obvious to us, as his sad eyes and limping legs seemed different than usual, but he did not make a big deal out of it. He had scratch marks all over his legs, one of his legs was bleeding, his arm was fractured and he looked like he had just walked out of a mess. Clearly, he had fought a stronger stray cat. We couldn’t see his plight and tried to call the vet. But the vets were not available as the lockdown had just begun. I tried to cover his wounds with a cloth but he just wouldn’t let me come close to him. He would fiercely growl, which I had learned was his way of saying, “Stay Away!!” I felt quite helpless because here I was, unable to see his plight whereas he was busy putting boundaries on me, which I needed to respect. As concerned humans, the more we tried to get close to him and heal him, the more he shooed us off with his teeth. Finally, we gave up. He usually meowed if he wanted our attention or food, so we let him be, thinking that he would Meow aloud if he wanted anything. So, we went on with our day. Bittu maintained his silence for a few days, meanwhile allowing us to care for him as per our routine. Finally two weeks later, without a vet, he healed completely and was back to his normal happy go lucky, silly self.

A few days after my cat had healed, I found a couple of neighbors shooing my cats away. The cats were making unusual, weird noises in their part of the terrace in the wee hours of the morning. Both the cats ran off, only to return later during the day and repeat their mating encounters in our part of the open space. They continued this loud mating madness all through the week which slowly reduced our tolerance levels with the cats. As we raised our boundaries by not entertaining and learning ways to handles situations like these, our cats learned to respect our expectations and follow through. That was the last time we experienced this mating madness.

Initially, all these memorable experiences only seemed like random events. But were there huge life lessons for me in these real-life events? I think so.

What do you think they are?

To be continued in the next post.