This is the story of my cat and my dog years ago, when I was 11 years old. I don’t recall how I got my first cat but she was tiny enough to hold with my two little hands. She was probably few days old and had the most innocent eyes ever! I called her Kitty.
I was happy to have Kitty in my life but I also wanted a puppy. Few days ago, my neighbor’s dog had delivered a pup. He was probably as old as Kitty. I persuaded my parents to get me that puppy as my neighbor had been wanting to find an owner for him. He was a small ball of fur. So cuddly! We brought him home and named him Persi.
The moment Kitty and Persi saw each other, they kept staring at each other for a good few minutes and I kept looking at them from a distance, bewildered. I wasn’t sure if I understood what that meant. Next few days, proved that I was right. We had provided them with a humble carton lined with linens to sleep. Kitty and Persi had been trained to not come on our beds and Persi had also been potty trained. Kitty did not need potty training.
During the night I often used to see them cuddled up together in their bed and sleeping peacefully. They had found a companion in each other. One morning, I saw Persi sucking Kitty’s nipples and Kitty was lying there peacefully. May be he had also found his mother in Kitty. But, unlike the common notion – a cat and a dog can never be friends, Kitty and Persi were inseparable. They proved that living beings cannot be confined to a set of generalizations. We loved each other dearly and played with each other every single day. Too often Kitty would clamp onto my top and we would go for walks around my house. As for Persi, I loved holding that ball of fur and making him chase me. But sometimes, I loved to see just the two of them. We had become a wonderful team. Our days were merry and everything was perfect.
One afternoon I was reading a book while sitting on my bed; Kitty climbed on to the bed and softly slipped beneath my book and settled in my lap. This was not usual, but nevertheless I loved it. The day ended peacefully as usual. The next morning, Kitty stumbled badly. We took Kitty to the only vet in our area and found out that our Kitty had mistakenly drank the insecticide that had puddled in our backyard after the spray. Mixed with water, it looked milky white. The vet gave an injection to Kitty and Kitty was brought home. Her retina had completely dilated. I was told that Kitty had been given an overdose of the medication and the vet couldn’t do anything anymore. I was devastated. I was told that she needed to drink water to flush out the extra dose of medication to get better. My Poor Kitty! By now her body had begun to stiffen. I brought a bowl of water and a spoon to feed her water. I put her on my lap and tried to open her stiff mouth and feed her water with the spoon. She didn’t take in the water, no matter how much I tried. I wonder if she knew what was happening. My mom told me that it was a lost cause, but how could I leave my Kitty to die. That whole day went in trying to feed Kitty some water, in vain. I went to bed dreading for the next day. Next morning I woke up to realize that my fears have come true. Kitty had left us forever. I wouldn’t be able to look into those innocent eyes ever again. I couldn’t speak a word to anyone for I was choking on my tears and my little ball of fur had been crying for he had lost his friend, his companion, his soulmate. Persi had felt lost and cried every night for the next few days and I had been too sad to talk much to anyone.
When I look back, I feel so lucky to have shared that love with Kitty and Persi. I was not their owner, I was a dear friend. Their love for each other and me went beyond the separation of species. Their story is a powerful lesson to overcome the sense of separation we feel with each other on the basis of color, race, gender, status, and everything else. Love needs no reason, hatred does.
Contributed by – Alka Grover
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