My favorite SPAZ asked me to write about our furry cat story. I adopted Asteris (Asteris means star) when he was an adult, 3 years ago. Right now, he is approximately 6 years old.
This time, I was also asked to write about our difficult times. Difficulties… What is the difficulty in front of such a love story?! My Asteris is my family. Since I have him in my life, I feel like a part of my soul became real and I am always having this part by my side. The last months, he is always cuddling in my arms, like a baby. The little star never climbed on me (he never sat, nor walked on me), and we thought his otitis had affected his balance. Finally, he proved to us that he only needed his time until he could offer us all this purring and this warmth.
My Asteris has FIV (most probably he took it from his mom). Because of that, he has some gastrointestinal issues that we are trying to fix, but he actually lives with them. So many tries with doctors and infinite messages with Tzela from SPAZ, in order to find the right food (dry, wet, ready, cooked). Just imagine how it is to find vomit and diarrhea frequently (some days it was multiple times) at your home. I don’t care though! The only thing I care about is for him to not be in pain and to eat healthy, so FIV doesn’t affect him anymore.
They say that cats – like every animal- leave fur behind them. My Asteris has his blankets everywhere around our home. I don’t care that my house isn’t always perfect. With him sitting on my feet while I am on the sofa, I feel joy, relaxation, euphoria… At night, I can’t sleep if I don’t feel him purring on my legs and in the morning, he patiently waits for me to wake up and play with him.
They say that cats are revengeful. In reality, cats have nothing revengeful. For everything they do, they have a reason. The only thing we should do is to observe their movements and their needs, and we will understand what they need. Let’s think… Is this something we do with other people? It’s time for us to learn to observe each other, thanks to our experience with the cats.
Asteris is the opposite of revengeful. He is such a cuddly and people- oriented cat, but he also gets scared sometimes and gets stressed. When I have visitors, I ask them to not ring the doorbell to open the door because he gets scared, but to call me. Then, my little Star sits with us and lets everyone cuddle him. He even lets my little nephews, that their hands are still a little clumsy. Asteris letting the kids pet him, makes them feel so loved and joyful. Also, the kids after their education on how to approach Asteris, they learned how to respect every animal on their road and to neither scare them nor get scared by them.
They say cats can’t get trained. Without any experience with other animals, I see that Asteris hears some words like “come” and “sit” and of course he knows how to decode every movement, every habit and every emotion I feel. I remember one night that my heart was beating really fast, he sat on my heart purring all night.
I don’t really know what to say… I have so many beautiful and funny memories with my little Star. I will conclude with probably the most difficult, but also the most important part. When I decided to adopt Asteris, everyone was asking me “But how will you handle the loss?” And I responded “How would I throw away everything that we will do together, everything that we will offer each other, while being afraid of losing him?” Actually, I haven’t really come to terms with it. Many times I think about loss, I just want this thought to disappear from my mind and my heart. I just want for him to live many, many years, to be healthy and not in pain, and for me to be by his side when this time comes. Because Asteris makes my routine and my life full. He offers my unconditional love and company, and he is my kitty and I am his human!
My mom and Tzela, thank you for being by our side. Asteris knows that you will take care of him like I do and he sends you his stardust and lots of joy and positive energy!!
