sneakersmartinisandsequins

Oh what can I say about my furry little housemate. We’ve only been together for about 9 months but it’s been a roller coaster.

So as discussed in a previous post I have some pretty spectacular anxiety. Not helped by the executive dysfunction that the ADHD brings. So every amazing advocate that I follow and some friends and family said that getting a pet would help with this and be the best thing ever. I was a bit stuck in my old apartment, a top floor setting and cream carpets really ruled out a little COVID adoption. But once I bought my own place and got set up I decided it was time.

Growing up we had a Jack Russell called Champ he was pretty sure my Mum belonged to him and didn’t like anyone else sitting next to her, he had ideas above his station and would try and intimidate massive dogs and once even a horse. We also had a cat called Daisy. She was basically feral and mainly rejected cat food for birds and butterflies she caught herself in the garden.

So when deciding what kind of animal I should get I initially leaned towards dog, but with no backyard I didn’t think it would be fair. So Cat it was. I knew I wanted a rescue and started looking last August. Now I do think things through, worked out a budget and all that. Had a plan to get a pair of bonded kittens so they would have each other for company and to play with. I planned to go and see a few different ones before making a sensible decision. But the other side of that coin is then throwing all these plans out of the window and adopting a pedigree cat on a whim. I saw this ridiculous smooshy face on a rescue website and had to go and meet her.

She was almost 3, was used to being by herself and her family were relocating back to China and didn’t want to put her through the travel. (Or so they said, they might have had other reasons on reflection). Her name was Cookie, she’s a British short hair and I literally bought her home on the same day. Us British girls need to stick together. Now here’s a lesson. I love a new hobby every five minutes and now this decision means I’m in for the long haul. A cat is not just a hyper-focus but for life.

I changed her name to Edie, like Edie Sedgewick. Model, actress and Andy Warhol’s muse. I do see a resemblance.

But as she is a Lady and Crumpet was a suggestion from my Niece, Lady Edith Crumpet she became.

We got through the first week pretty unscathed with her just hanging out in my tiny office so she could feel safe and get used to being here. The second week she came out in to the main house. By the end of that week she had peed on literally everything and was walking with a pretty impressive gangster limp. She’d fallen off a load of stuff in that week as she leaped on tables and banisters to explore and promptly fell off the other side.

So off we went to the vets to get her checked out. Right now I should point out that as a planner I got pet insurance the day I bought her home, but guess who didn’t read the bit about it not kicking in for 30 days. Oh how I wish I’d read that bit.

Off we went to find out the cat I’d got to help with my anxiety had anxiety herself, and the stress of moving had given her a UTI. The limp was also probably all linked. I mean poor girl, but seriously!!

One round of antibiotics and she still wasn’t better, so on to the next ones and that cleared it up, but now there was blood in her urine and the limp was worse.

Ok let’s chuck in an X-ray and see what’s going on. The results of this lead to me thinking I should have named her Lemon.

My little 3 year old furry birdbrain of a cat has spondylosis of her spine, arthritis in one knee and a hip dysplasia probably caused by all the falls on the other side. She also had a bladder stone about 1.5cm across. I’d had this cat for all of about a month at this point. What the hell had I got myself in to. Sometimes the universe does just take the piss.

My vet suggested the best thing would be surgery to take out the stone as it was too big to dissolve through diet and could be dangerous and she was definitely in pain. I was offered a free consultation with the specialist to look at her hip, they could also advise on the stone. So I get there they basically tell me they can do the stone today. Her hip can wait a year or so if it’s not bothering her too much. So I left the cat, went home and picked her up the following day totally whacked off her chops on ketamine. I paid the many $1000s confident that I have insurance. But of course that UTI two weeks in was a bladder issue so this now counts as a pre existing condition. What!!! The cat I’ve owned for a month has just cost me how much!!!

So as I sat in tears regretting getting this bloody cat, whilst nursing her back to health and wondering why my karma is so bad, someone said to me what if it’s not your bad karma, what if it’s Edie’s good karma that bought her to me. Had she ended up with someone who couldn’t look after her she might have had a very short and painful life.

So here we are about 7 months after all of this took place. She is basically living the life. She only eats special stupidly expensive food, she has a monthly trip to the vets for a pain management injection and I get to gather her pee once a month so we can stay on top of any issues. In return she destroys my house plants, runs to see me when I get home from work, and is finally a lap cat which when she’s purring away does actually makes me feel calm and reduces my anxiety. Finally.

Probably a load of Valium would’ve been cheaper. Oh god, a lot cheaper. No don’t think about it. Just look at that face!!!