It was back to work today after 11 days holiday. Friday might seem a funny day to start work again, but I didn’t have any holiday left, didn’t want to book a day on overtime and I had the thought that only work a day and another two days off. Everything seemed to be under control at work, although due to the new computer software there were a few problems to say the least. It was just as well I started today as one colleague was on a course and another was ill. I wasn’t bored and I had enough to do.
Actually one thing made me a bit sad. As you may know now and again I tend to write stories about my cats and other cats. I like to use cats I know as I can describe their temprement much better. In one of my recent stories, Reservoir Cats 13 I introduced Kimberley as the mother of one of the cats in the story. Kimberley is one of the cats that lives at the farm belonging to a friend of mine. My friend breeds Persian cats and I have got to know them all with time. She loves her cats and been through many births and illnesses that they have had. Kimberley has been at the farm as a lady cat for at least 6 years. About 6 weeks ago she again gave birth to 6 kittens, the father being Diego, the farm stud cat. After 3 weeks one of the kittens died with a heart problem. At the same time my friend and her family (she has 7 children) noticed that Kimberley had balance problems and kept falling over. She was also loosing weight and so she was examined by the vet who diagnosed a brain tumour. This was so sad, and eventually Kimberley had to be put to sleep. My friend was then left with 5 motherless kittens who, in the meanwhile, had all contracted a virus. The vet diagnosed their illness and gave them the necessary medicine, although they were still not eating. My friend then started feeding them herself with a syringe regularly once every 1-2 hours as she was worried that she would loose all of them.. The little babies were all cuddled up together near the heating system and did not have the strength to eat on their own. Eventually they started recovering and now there are 5 motherless kittens at the farm. Two have already been sold, but are not allowed to leave the farm until middle of December, when they are old enough, and three are still available.
My friend's daughter works in the same office where I work and told me about this this morning. I felt so sad that Kimberley is not longer there, but my friend said that because her mother had been feeding the kittens and looking after them they now seem to think that the family is their mother. They have often had kittens, but never so devoted as they are. When she comes into the kitchen in the morning they are already waiting for my friend's mother and of course the food they get. They are now gradually getting off the milk and starting to eat something a bit more solid. When I looked on her web site this morning and saw the kittens I think I would have liked to have taken them in myself, but my 3 cats at home would probably not be very happy about that. If you visit the web site, you will have to click on "KATZENBABYS" to go to the page with the kittens. The text is in German, but I have more or less said everything here that my friend said. She also mentioned that their father Diego is often together with the babies. He usually doesn't bother so much with his offspring, but probably he realises that the kittens have no mother any more. So now I will go and dry my eyes - I am just a big softie when it comes to cats and kittens.
No comments:
Post a Comment