My story this week is to express appreciation for the SPCA, their workers and the work they do to save abandoned, ill and disabled animals.
Serabi came into my life in 2009 after a long negotiation of having a new pet and a cat, after having had dogs all my life and having to recently put my beloved Pupper dog down due to oral cancer.
The deal was made when a friend offered to check on my house when I was away to feed and offer comfort for her.
Serabi was only two years old, but had been beaten, abandoned and abused as a kitten and was living a hard survival outdoors. She was hardcore feral.
Serabi is grey — her healthy and happy body shimmers with different shades from black to nearly white in the daylight.
She came to the house in the standard cat cage and simply disappeared into the dysphoria of my downstairs. She hid well and for the life of me, I could not find her for months.
I knew enough to let her make her own decisions.
Then one day, she decided to communicate, coming up into the kitchen with a loud “meow.” Not for a lack of food and water, which I had already put out for her.
She was demanding a change in our relationship – on her terms.
You never just pet a feral animal. A hand is seen as a weapon of harm no matter how gently it is offered. Even after months of being together, she swatted my hand and I thought that she hit a vein as it bled so much. Pets, like humans, remember times of terror and react to protect themselves regardless of whether the person they injure just wants to help.
It is not the person, but the hand.
We recovered from that event, with her being more friendly and less fearful and feral, almost as if she regretted the swat.
I was careless one night in May several years ago and she escaped silently into the evening.
She was gone for nearly seven months and I resigned myself to the reality that dogs or coyotes had taken her.
Then comes a call from Great Slave Animal Hospital to say they have Serabi in their care. I was astounded.
She sagged into my arms when I picked her up to bring her home. She remembered me!
She no longer has a desire to go outside by herself. I imagine her saying, “I am too old for this s**t!
She now preferred the more comfortable cat life, learning how to purr, plump our bed, happy to have food and water without begging or issue.
As she ages, she has a cat staircase up to the bed. In order for her to hop on the couch, I shortened the legs of the small, nearly useless stackable tables and covered it so she does not slip off.
And she is defensive of our home and prepared to help if needed. She is on high-alert for middle-of-the-night knocks on my house door.
Patience and years of care is the solution to harmed youngsters of the human kind.
In talking about abused kids, take the time for them to develop trust in you before you try to touch them. I used all I knew from my own experience in being abandoned and passed from one foster home to another. I was lucky, I only had five – with one being brutal.
Abused kids share similar effects of harm, with fearfulness, speech loss, hair loss, uncontrolled shivering and fear of hands. The same veined hands that make magnificent tools and art can be the weapons of aggression to young children and pets.
Your job as observer is to pay attention and work to achieve relief of such.
It is said a “person” (used to be man) that kicks a dog will kick a kid and partner.
Neglect and cruelty to an animal is a sign of other aggressions within family.
I acknowledge the SPCA and the Great Slave Animal Hospital for the care they give to our wonderful pets and other creatures, that need veterinary assistance and homes.
If you can donate, please do.
Thanks.
