Aimi has an odd story to tell about how Long Cat came to be in her life. She says that she opened her front door one morning and spotted a cat sitting on his haunches in deep contemplation.
He was seated in the huge plastic tray filled with clumping cat litter that her multiple cats use as their community toilet.
“The cat wasn’t doing his number one; it was just staring into space. As I approached, he did not even jump with fright; he just continued sitting there, staring,” Aimi recalls.
Aimi says that on closer inspection, she realised how sick the cat was. He had mange all over his body, especially his ears but it was worse on his head
“I had learned from past experience with other rescued stray cats that mange is caused by parasitic insects that burrow under the skin. But this case was especially bad and painful for the cat, I am sure,” she says.
There was a swelling on the cat’s forehead between his eyes that seemed to be filled with pus. She says his head looked distorted and too big on such a skinny body.
“What I also noticed was that this grown cat had a long body, accentuated by a long, mildly bushy tail that was the same colour as the black patches on white fur decorating his back, making it look like a hair extension. The cat did not make a single sound and looked so pathetic.”
Aimi remembers that this was during the holy month of Ramadan, and she and her husband decided to do the “right thing” and help the cat.
“Perhaps because it was resigned to his fate or was too sick and famished, he seemed very docile. I picked him up with a piece of rag for protection and easily carried it into a pet voyager and drove to the veterinary clinic.
“Along the journey, I could see his dark round eyes turning sideways to look at me. I temporarily named him Long Cat. His whole body occupied the length of the carrier.
After receiving an injection at the vet’s, Long Cat left as soon as he was released from the confines of the cage.
Over the next few weeks, Aimi caught glimpses of Long Cat around the neighbourhood.
“He had a large roaming territory. I don’t know for sure if he had an owner. Maybe he adopted many “owners”. At those times that he chose to come to my house for free food, I applied as much medication on him as I could,” she says.
His condition slowly improved but the scars were deep and even though the mange on his ears eventually healed, he was left with some scars, hairless patches and a floppy left ear.
“Because we did not chase him away, Long Cat assumed he had full visiting rights to my house. I once caught him having a siesta on the elevated bed I had prepared for my own cats.
“On another day I opened the door to my bedroom and saw him staring out my window like it was the most natural thing for him to enter someone’s house and invade their private quarters,” she says, laughing.
Months went by until one morning when Aimi spotted Long Cat lying on one of the steps outside her bedroom.
“He really stank – like he had come out of the sewer! I saw an open ulcerous wound on his neck. The skin (and hair) had gone, exposing a round patch of raw flesh.
“That was when the Florence Nightingale in me kicked in. Wearing a pair of disposable gloves, I used cotton balls with disinfectant to clean the wound and the surrounding area.
“This was followed by generous squirts of an antibacterial and anti-fungal liquid (which he disliked) before he was rewarded with some food,” Aimi says.
Almost like he knew he was being helped, he turned up every morning at the stairs and the cleaning and treatment was repeated. It wasn’t until three weeks later that the smell was gone for good, and the wound began to dry up.
“Long Cat has multiple choices of houses in the area to visit. But he now seems to want a free pass to my house. Worse still he tries to intimidate my youngest cat and occasionally howls loudly, making me a bit embarrassed as the neighbours probably think I’m his owner,” Aimi says.
Well, as Ernest Hemingway put it, “no animal has more liberty than the cat”. And it seems Long Cat has exercised his liberty to choose Aimi’s house.
“But his choice will cost him. He will have to be taken to the vet to be neutered,” says a determined Aimi.
All the best Long Cat – it’s for your own good, dear boy!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PET: FMT Lifestyle readers are invited to send in pictures (landscape format) and a short video (if any) of their furry, scaly or feathery friends to [email protected]. Don’t forget to include details like your pet’s name, age, breed and a short story about them.