Litty – the magic cat

Puddy littered. This was certainly not her first litter but it was definitely her last. Somehow we had just not been able to muster up enough courage to get her operated and Puddy being Puddy, was not to be stopped by pills, unlike some of our other cats. We were rather worried as her half-yearly crop consisted of four rather scraggly kittens and she did not look her usual self. Maybe, she hankered for a boy child. Meanwhile our senior most cat, decided to deliver just one kitten- Calvin / Mahi (Dhoni with his team won the World Cup on the same day) Puddy decided to appropriate Mahi while Circuit settled for Puddy’s cutest kitten – Litty.

I still remember walking into Puddy’s nursery. There were four kittens – all females. Three looked like worms and one like a little rounded beetle. As they grew older they got prettier. The beetle had long fringes and don’t ask me why, reminded me of Ms Tagore in her film Love in Tokyo! That’s how miss Beetle got her name- LIT, short for ‘Love in…’

At first all went well. She gave us no cause for concern. It was Bittu, who was so thin that she seemed to sway in the wind, who had us alarmed. It took us sometime to realize that Litty, unlike her siblings, preferred to sit rather than run around the room. Soon we found that she was dragging her hind legs. We panicked. Puddy had had a kitten which had lost its ability to walk and despite our efforts failed to make it.

We monitored her closely. We tried to persuade her to walk by giving incentives but to no avail. We fancied seeing her improve but it was not working and we resigned ourselves to the knowledge that we were to have a cat who would not walk.

At this juncture something happened. We gave up on our previous vet who had failed us each time and during a crisis-situation and so moved on to another vet. We gave the doc a call and when the assistant came we were a little disappointed. He was not very hopeful but prescribed some steroids and told us that even if she walked she would never be like the other kittens rushing around or jumping on things.

Litty is a gentle cat and not one to take her problems in her stride. To see her watching her siblings playing around really broke our hearts. One of our rescued cats, Pokey operates on just her front legs as her hind quarters have got damaged after an accident. Pokey is faster on her two than many are on their four- you just aren’t allowed to feel sorry for her! Litty was different. She looked so sad about not being included in the kitten games.

One fine morning, N screamed out to me that Litty was trying to walk. I rushed in to find her in action. At first progress was slow but there was no doubt that the medicine was working. The day she managed to jump into a shelf full four inches above the ground there was major celebration in the house. At times while in the kitchen I would feel I was wasting my time. What was I doing cooking, when I could be watching Litty perform her little miracles?

Litty surpassed all expectations of the vet. She is no different from the other cats. Yes, she is a little shorter which makes us lovingly call her Muchkin or as my husband says the Dachshund cat. I think she’s more of a retriever for she is always bringing back caps of pens etc. if they fall of the table. With a feathered hat she would pass off as Puss in Boots! But really, she is miracle personified- I can never look at her and not feel awed! It is these little miracles in life that makes life so wonderful.