As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,
I wrote about my cat yesterday and then cleverly deleted the post. I was trying to be smart by copy and pasting the post into open office so that I could edit it more conveniently. I don’t really like wordpress’ spell checker. Instead of copying it I chose select all and then hit the delete key.
So I’ll try again so that I can put into perspective something my wife told me today.
Around two years ago, I was sharing some of my fond childhood memories of the many cats I owned, which inspired my wife into wanting a cat as well. I liked the idea mainly because I think it’s good for kids to get some experience with animals. Plus, I love cats. After looking locally for a cat without any success, we decided to get one from a friend of my wife, who lived about an hour and a half by car from us. Remember, Muslims are not allowed to buy or sell animals like cats and dogs, which means the pet store is out of the question. We ended up with two cats pickles the smart one and chutney the dumb one. They were quite cute little things but it didn’t take long for them to get on the bad side of my wife. They stank, their food stank, they shed their fur and scratched everyone and everything.
After a while, we tried to make them spend some of their time outside without any real success. Then I had to leave for a few months and my wife decided that she was going to get rid of them. Mostly, because of cat smells and fur but also because we didn’t have much money and following the Prophet’s salallahu alayhi wa sallam advice she put them out and did not let them in even after a few days of them crying by the back door. Finally, my wife caved and let them back in but she convinced her cousin to take the cats for her boys.
Ah Shame, I walked away from the computer to get my coffee and when I returned I found my daughter playing with the computer and she moved away for the page where I was writing this post. Remembering yesterday, I told her that if she lost the post daddy will be very cross. That’s all I had to say and she broke down in tears. Such a sensitive little girl.
Back to the story:
When the cats got there, my wife’s cousin let them outside and they ran away. We thought it would be the last time when seen either of the cats, but after a few months chutney made her way back to our house but now a bit more streetwise and no need for us. She would occasionally take a nap in our backyard but would run away when ever anyone tried to approach her. All in, she spent a year outside on her own.
Eventually, I was able to coach her into coming into the house so that she could eat and so the girls could play with her. My oldest plays with the cat so nicely, stroking her and so on. She says that chutney is her baby. My youngest gets very excited. She starts jumping up and down and tries to grab to big fists full of her fur. Unfortunately, we learned that even after a year this stupid cat hasn’t learned that she needs to use the toilet outside…
Even last night there was an ‘issue’ with the cat but that didn’t stop my wife from asking me if we could get another kitten.. AS IF! I would let her but what a glutton for punishment… what if we ended up with two semi-retarded cats?
