How my cat taught me unconditional love
Imagine: It’s the first blizzard of a winter in Northern Ontario. A boy is walking home from school when he notices a small kitten struggling through the snow towards him. He is obviously lost.
This scene took place in 1996. The boy was my nephew.
She couldn’t ignore the shivering kitten, so she took it home, even though her father is severely allergic to cats. He set up a makeshift house for himself in the downstairs powder room as far away from my brother-in-law as possible. Inquiries were made in the neighborhood to see if anyone knew where the kitten came from, but no one claimed it.
The next day, my sister called me on the phone and asked if I wanted a kitten or if I knew someone who would take one. Her husband was having trouble breathing, so she was getting desperate. Although she wanted to help, she did not wish to have another pet, as she had a large Russian blue cat named Nikademous and a Terri-poo dog named Teddy. I told her the best thing to do was pick up the kitten and try to find her a new home.
You can probably guess what happened. As soon as I saw her, I fell in love with her. She came home with me in a cardboard box and they called her a Sufi because she had recently organized a Sufi meeting. She was a long-haired tabby with a definite attitude who soon established herself as ‘queen’ of the house and, despite her small stature, she terrified Nika and Teddy.
Nika soon resorted to living in the basement, as she never knew what the little furball would do next… neither did I. I began to dread going downstairs in the morning and coming home from work. I found one disaster after another.
Things would often shake during the night and I would find plants lying on the floor, or lamps or decorations overturned. Sufi once sent her food bowl flying from the windowsill where she had put it out of Teddy’s reach. The bowl landed in his water dish, which broke into several pieces, flooding the kitchen floor.
Every time a visitor came, I would jump onto their shoulder from the back of a kitchen chair…much to their surprise! This became a serious problem as he got bigger, as he would dig his claws in until he got a good grip!
Plants were her favorite toys… except for Teddy’s tail, which he often wagged enticingly in front of her. She loved to hit him off the couch when he came to me to pet him. Her tiny claws would get caught in it sometimes and since she was so small, she ended up shaking her!
Another favorite hobby was playing with toilet paper. If the end dangled, it would jump up, catch its little claws in the paper, and run until the whole scroll fell apart.
Another memory is forever etched in my mind. I went downstairs one morning and found one of my favorite plants lying on the floor. It’s not that unusual! I was getting quite adept at cleaning up Sufi, so I potted the plant back up and vacuumed up the spilled soil.
The roots of the plant had dried up a bit, so I got out the plastic jug I kept under the sink to water my plants. When I picked it up, the handle broke completely and the jug full of water fell to the ground. I was left holding only the handle!
I quickly mopped the floor, watered the plant, and got ready for work since I was now pretty late…and more than a little upset.
I had a date that night after work, so I ran home to take Teddy for a quick walk. When I opened the door, a strange noise reached my ears. He lived alone, so this was a bit disturbing. At first I couldn’t make out what it was, but when I opened the door, I recognized it as the vacuum cleaner!
I cautiously went to the room where I had left the vacuum cleaner that morning (hadn’t had time to put it away). It was one of those style of boats with a switch on one end and I guess Sufi must have jumped on it and started the engine.
I have no idea how long it was running or how long Teddy was huddled in the corner under a table with a definite ‘bad dog’ expression on his face. The vacuum cleaner had always scared him, and sadly, he had left it near her basket. That normally wouldn’t be a problem for him, but when Sufi started the engine, I guess Teddy must have been so scared that he peed on the bed in fear of him!
Sufi kept being Sufi and causing chaos in the home for a long time, kept playing with the toilet paper and my plants, and breaking my decorations. Over time she learned to behave better, but she is still the ‘queen’.
Why did I put up with all this? You will ask yourself! Well, Sufi had an endearing quality. From the first day I brought her home, she loved to snuggle into my chest just under my chin while I watched TV. Something strange happened when she did this: no matter what challenges she had faced during the day or what she had done to upset me, my anger just melted away! All I could feel was unconditional love for the little furball purring on my chest.
Sufi taught me that when there is unconditional love, all is forgiven.
As of this writing, Sufi is 12 years old. She is still the ‘queen’ of the house, sleeping at the foot of my bed and ‘catching’ the socks and underwear, as she has been confined to living indoors and can no longer chase squirrels or birds. She has a unique way of communicating her displeasure whenever she’s left alone for too long, even though I acquired Sassy as her mate for her a few years ago. (Nika couldn’t stand her and she gratefully joined another household when I moved to the other side of Canada a few years ago.)
But… she also continues to give and receive unconditional love. Whenever someone is upset, she seems to sense it and insists on giving them kitten kisses anywhere on their anatomy that she can access, then she snuggles into the person’s lap. It doesn’t matter if it’s me, my daughter or a visitor, she treats everyone the same, unconditionally!