Yesterday my dear cat Sussie died. She was the most affectionate cat you could find.
I already had a cat at that time and my wife found Sussie in the middle of the winter outside in the snow. Scared, freezing and dirty. Just a small kitten maybe 6 months old. We could not imagine someone throwing out a cat so young in that way. But then maybe she had escaped. She was a young cat but very smart. At 6 months she new how to open a door by hanging on the door handle.
The first time I saw here she was so weak. I was in bed while my wife gave her a hot bath. As soon as she was dry she ran straight to bed and just wanted to lie right next to me. I don't know why but she wanted my comfort.
When we moved to Uganda we took the cats with us and Sussie has lived there ever since. From being an indoor cat she became a free cat who never went more than 100 meter or so from the house, by her own choice. She loved being out, lapping up the un, but she never forgot the feeling of being left out in the cold so she would always run back in the house.
As a cat she lived a very good life. Even if I travelled a lot there was always someone in the house looking after her. We never even rented out the house when moving to Dubai as I wanted her to have a good place to stay even if I could not be there all the time. People thought I was crazy, but I loved my cat!
She would be as independent as a cat can be and if she didn't want to be patted there was no chance to catch her. She however always came to me, jumping up in my lap, purring away.
Some people love dogs and some cats and I am for sure a cat person. While she would not make a sound when there was a threat she was very good as a watch-cat. Any time there was a threat outside I would simply look at were Sussie was looking. Long before anyone else she had already scouted out people coming close to the house, night or day. She was also very good at determining friendly people from not so friendly people. As there is a lot of mice, rats, snakes and other animals crawling around in Africa she had plenty to play with. For us it was very good. We never had any rodents or other animals in the house or even in the garden. The occasional Gecco would not survive for long.
Sussie became 12 years old.
My dear Sussie will always be remembered.
2 comments:
Nice Blog :)
I received a question in relation to moving a cat to Uganda and this is my reply;
I am not sure what the rules are currently in Uganda ( I moved my cats in
1998) so it might have changed but otherwise this is how I did.
When I brought my cats over from Sweden I flew via London thus had one
transit stop (flew British Airways).
1. First I had to make sure the cats had a Full health certificate to
prove they had the required vaccinations and did not have any diseases. A
Veterinary in your country should be able to supply this.
2. Make sure you have or get a, by the airline, approved cage for
transporting your cat and make the proper arrangements with the airline
well in time.
3. Make sure you have the absolute minimum amount of transit stops. While
airports are to be good there is loss of luggage at some including
animals. This is also why I flew on a more expensive ticket via
London/Gatwick rather than via Brussels and Amsterdam. (thus check record
of airport in case it has changed. I had flown a multitude of times via
all 3 so knew pretty well the loss rate) (Amsterdam having a 50% loss rate
at the time often due to allowing shorter transit times than London)
4. You will most likely not be allowed to see your cat at the transit
point but normally you can be able to talk to whoever is the caretaker in
case it is a longer transit.
5. On arrival at Entebbe airport they brought out my cats among the normal
luggage (though hand carried) and then I had to show the health
certificates before bringing the cats in. I did not do any more
formalities than that.
6. In case you will be returning back after living some years in Uganda
you will most likely have to put the cat in a quaranteen back home for 3 -
6 months. That is, at least in Sweden and extremely costly affair.
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