Thursday 28 January 2010

The Art of listening

So the Cat's meowing and her meows are loud, incessant.

She's moving here and there, walking in and out of rooms, up and down the stairs. She even sits outside by my plant pots and then wanders back in. All the time she is yowling.

She moves to her food plate piled high with shredded chicken and sniffs, sniffs, sniffs. Then she wanders away and meows some more. I am at my wits end. I don't know why she is doing this, thinking that maybe she is about to have a fit, or about to collapse or worse.

She keeps moving to her food plate and then wandering off in all sorts of directions, her meows loud and hollow. I am fretting to beyond reason. I think she is about to have a stroke. The world around me collapses in one big whirl.

And still she continues to howl.

An hour or so later and I realise why. At first I couldn't smell it, at first it smelled normal. But when I dared move the bits of chicken aside, the odour was more certain. The meat was rancid. Not out and out stinking. But there was that unmistakable whiff of something gone bad.

A fresh pack of cooked chicken later and the Cat is gorged and grooming herself. She is quieter. She is purring.

I think to myself, what an idiot! The Cat was trying to tell me something. Instead I chose to listen not to her but to my fears.

And worse, I gave into them.

Thank you, Cat. Lesson learned.

:-)

11 comments:

fairyhedgehog said...

It's so hard when they meow and you can't work out what's wrong! Don't be hard on yourself about it. You were both doing your best!

Kea said...

Clever Cat! I'd have been wringing my hands, thinking dire thoughts. Hyper-t, dementia, something worse. Glad all is well. :-)

Theresa Milstein said...

I was concerned when I began to read your post. With all your cat's been going through, of course you were going to think she was trying to tell you that something is wrong.

The fact that she wants some good (not rotting) food is great!

Jinksy said...

Do we have a new version of Friend Phoebe's Smelly Cat Song here? :)

Old Kitty said...

Hi KarenG

Yes - the Cat is a very clever cat! thank goodness!

:-)


x

Old Kitty said...

hi fairyhedgehog

poor Cat was really trying to tell me something, wasn't she really? poor thing!

:-)

x

Old Kitty said...

hi Kim

So, so true! I was near enough about to ring the emergency vet!

:-)

x

Old Kitty said...

hi theresamilstein

It was such a relief to finally discover why she was acting the way she was, really and truly!

x

Old Kitty said...

Hi jinksy

thanks for popping by and making me laugh!!!

"Smelly cat, smelly cat.. lalalala!"

I remember!

LOL!

x

Ann said...

Did Cat give you the "its about time you figured this out" look when you approached the bowl? I get that alot from puppy.

Glad to hear all is well with Cat

Old Kitty said...

Hi Ann

LOl! Yes she did!

But she's used to me by now!

I do so like The Look Louie had in that pic of his after his trip to the groomers!

Awww!

x