This page is dedicated to my two cats, Rusty and Simba who don't seem to mind being treated as babies by me. They show me so much love and affection that I don't know how I could live without them. They are my substitute babies and they are nearly human! They know everything I say to them and I know everything they say to me too. We have an understanding, Rusty, Simba and I. They need me and oh, how I need them to fill that void in my life! I am their mummy and don't they know it! I would give my life for either one of them, and I'm sure they would do the same for me.
Rusty (my ginger cat) was diagnosed with the killer diseases 'Feline Aids' and 'Feline Leukemia' when he was two years old. I was told the dreadful news on the morning of my wedding. I was told he should be 'put down' there and then! Of course, I couldn't go through with it, even though I knew he was suffering. Not on my wedding day! I was SO angry at God and the world. I went home with Rusty and cried into his fur as I cuddled his limp body. 'God', I cried, 'you took all my babies from me and my other pets too, why do you want this poor cat as well? What have I done wrong for you to want me to suffer SO much?'
I went ahead and got married that afternoon but the day was spoiled. I just wanted to get home and see my poor baby who was dying all alone. My sister-in-law slept at my home that evening so my new husband and I could stay in the beautiful hotel that we had booked. I just wanted to go home, deep inside, I wondered if Rusty would hold on until morning.
The next day I prayed earnestly to God to heal my very ill cat. I asked HIM to forgive me for getting mad the day before. I hoped He was listening. I watched Rusty lose weight rapidly, I could feel his bones within a week. He was wasting away with not eating. I fed him small amounts of salmon (his favourite) from my hand to try to make him eat. I cried as I told him he just HAD to eat it. Poor Rusty did eat when I asked but then he would be SO sick just afterwards. I continued to pray for a miracle. I could not take any more pain in my life. Rusty was ill for three months, I was accused by many for being cruel keeping him alive. The vet had said he would live two or three days. Rusty had days when he was SO well, and then some when he was dying again. I kept up hope that his recovery would come.
Within six months Rusty was becoming more like himself. He gained weight, started to play again and brought me a mouse for my breakfast. I was thrilled at his progress. He went from strength to strength, and eventually fully recovered. He is eight years old now and has amazed the vet and everybody else who knew his situation. I just thank God for listening to my earnest prayers and showing me a TRUE miracle. Nobody seems to know of another cat to survive two killer diseases that Rusty did. I'd love to hear from anybody else who has a survivor like him.
Well, four years later I felt 'broody' again. Of course I could not have a baby, my fourteen losses had left me sterile, but I COULD have another 'fur baby'. That is when my husband and I chose a little bundle of fun that we named Simba. He was adorable, black and white with a little tortoise-shell mixed in. I loved him immediately but was worried at how Rusty would react to our new addition. I needn't have worried. He treated Simba as a baby and let him cuddle up to his furry belly when he needed comfort. They were adorable together. It was Rusty that taught Simba to catch mice in the field behind our home. He even shared his own mice with Simba and let him bring it to me as if he had caught it himself! I knew it was Rusty's mouse really as Simba was too young and slow to catch one, but I admired Rusty for letting Simba take the credit!
My two cats are eight years and two years old now. They bring me a lot of pleasure in life and I have a reason to go home each day that I go out. They hate me leaving them and wait by the window or door together until I return. I never leave them for long. They sleep on my bed and my husband often has to lay on the edge of the bed to give my cats more room! Simba sleeps next to my head with his arms around my neck while Rusty curls up beside me, the more mature one.
I am so thankful that God gave us animals to love. I don't know how I could have coped being childless and not filling the void with my pets. I have SO much love to give, and my cats gladly take it and return it.
My story of cats is not really so happy. When I was losing my babies I would take in a stray kitten and pour my love into it. I did it many times over the years but they never reached the age of one! They were poisoned (three) run over by a car, died of unknown causes, fell from a great height to the death or just died of simple illnesses. I was at my lowest when I lost my precious fur-babies. I cried and was depressed for months afterwards and I still think of them all today.
They are all buried in my mother's large garden, she says she has a pet-cemetary. She has, and I'm grateful to her for the little funerals and prayers we said as they were buried. My mother knew how much they meant to me, because of all my lost babies. She also understood that those pets were my substitute children too.
I DO hope that there is a place in Heaven for pets. I'm sure that there is as God loved animals so much He saved two of each kind on Noah's ark. I also believe that if you pour love into an animal and that animal feels love, then it goes to Heaven. I hope so, for my fourteen lost babies will be surrounded by my loving pets in Heaven, playing happily together. For now, I have Rusty and Simba in my life, and for that I am grateful to God. |
