So we had this cat – it was called Nyip.\u00a0 Having a cat meant that we did not have birds in our garden, which was bad, but more specifically, we did not have birds in our fruit trees, which was rather nice. One Sunday morning, our cat Nyip got run over in the road.\u00a0 As the daughter put it, “it was crossing the road, and a car came, and bonk! ran it over”.\u00a0 So we didn’t have that cat anymore.\u00a0 Well, at least, not in working order.\u00a0 We were almost late for church.<\/p>\n
Right on cue, evidence of mice appeared in the garage, chewing up everything except rat poison, so we need to replace the cat.<\/p>\n
Now, I should mention, that when we got this cat Nyip, it was a girl cat.\u00a0 Girl cats are nice, because they have cute kittens, and they get all aggressive with you when you try to play with the things, not to mention how aggressive the little things themselves are.\u00a0 Anyhow, as time went by, we wondered increasingly whether “it’s a female, I think” was more “I think” and much less “it’s a female”.\u00a0 So, when we came back from the vet, we had this cat, this boy<\/strong> cat, called Nyip.\u00a0 Years later he became a flat cat, and then we only had his mortal remains, which didn’t control rodents in the same way that they did when they were alive.<\/p>\n So, we organised this other cat.\u00a0 We decided that we should get a girl cat.\u00a0 The same little girl that wanted to see how rabbits lay their eggs<\/a> said she would like to see how cats have kittens.\u00a0 This is an important learning experience that we fully support.\u00a0 Besides this, being six is a full time job, and any distraction on the side is welcome.<\/p>\n So we got the cat.\u00a0 She came with lots of complementary fleas.\u00a0 We washed ten off it in the sink on the first day, and another 4 the next day, and another 3 the next week, and then we gave up.\u00a0 Silly cat doesn’t like being bathed. The wife stopped objecting to the darling animal being called “fleabag”, even though her proper name is Astrophe.<\/p>\n Astrophe is a great name for a cat, you have to admit.\u00a0 It even sounds<\/em> like a girl cat.\u00a0 We took her to the vet, to get vaccinated.\u00a0 This reminds me – I wonder about people who don’t vaccinate their kids (you know who you are), whether they vaccinate their pets, sheep, cattle and goats ….\u00a0 Anyhow, the vet vaccinated the cat.\u00a0 He washed her in vicious viscous flea-repellant stuff, and mentioned, with great compassion that there was something to tell us about. She is a boy cat.<\/p>\n So, that is the sad tail of our cat Astrophe. This has been a learning experience for all of us. Was it the vaccination that did it? We’re not quite sure, but the next time we take a cat to the vet, we are going to make sure that we do not let the animal out of our sight, and so, hopefully, avoid a recurrence of this sex change. If you are considering vaccinating your cat, please be careful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So we had this cat – it was called Nyip.\u00a0 Having a cat meant that we did not have birds in our garden, which was bad, but more specifically, we did not have birds in our fruit trees, which was … Continue reading