Saga of Loki

“No, Seven is asleep on the sofa.”

I went outside on the cement patio following the sound of a kitten meowing. There he was, a fluffy white kitten with blue eyes huddled in a corner of the patio next to the house meowing pitifully.

Just yesterday I had been complaining that I never had a white cat with blue eyes like in the cat food commercials and there he was. I lured him out of the corner in spite of his hissing and growling with food and water.

“Don’t feed him!”, said Ishmael. “If you feed him, he’ll never go away. We agreed no new cats. We already have one and I’m tired of feeding and cleaning up after this one. Two is going to be twice as much work.”

I couldn’t listen to him. The poor thing was hungry and scared. I fed him and gave him a bath because he was infested with fleas. He scratched and bit me, but he was so miserable with fleas I did my best to clean him up. I posted on Facebook to try and find him a home because Ishmael was right, we didn’t want another cat. At our age a kitten might outlive us and then what would happen to him? No one answered my Facebook query and by the next day I changed my mind. I had become too attached. I decided to keep him. After all, if I die before the cat one of my grown kids will take care of him or find him a new home. He was half wild, more feral than tame. He was mad at me for giving him a bath, but he got over his temper after a couple of weeks. He lets me pick him up for a few minutes and purrs when I pet him.

I wanted him to be an inside cat so he would be safe from stray dogs, and a raccoon that comes around at night. But after he pooped on my recliner (I had to trash it and buy another) and peed on my white bed quilt, even though there was a litter box close by I decided he would have to be outside. He is allowed into the enclosed patio but not inside the house. The problem with this is he gets so very dirty. With all his fluffy fur he can’t seem to clean himself like most cats. So, my white cat is sort of beige or grey. I’m afraid to give him a bath because he bites and draws blood and because he stays mad at me for a long time. That’s how it went with Loki living outside and coming into the enclosed patio to sleep and eat.

Then one day Loki appeared to have one side of his face a little swollen. “Ishmael, does Loki look a little funny to you?”

“No, he looks okay”, said Ishmael. The next day he looked more swollen. I tried to look after Loki and put some hydrogen peroxide on the wound, but he is so fluffy I couldn’t find the wound. He protested trying to bite me when I dripped the medicine all over his cheek. The next day his face got worse and started to seep, so I took him to the vet. I warned the vet that he was a biter, but he just took Loki in another room to treat him. When he came back Loki had been shaved where the wound was and bandaged. The vet had also given him his vaccinations and some flea medicine and even something for worms. Five hundred dollars later I took Loki home. He didn’t trust me to pick him up for months but at least he was better and had no more fleas.

We have had Loki for a year now. It’s time to get him neutered. He let me put him in the carrier but then got very angry and tried to bite his way out. When I got to the veterinary clinic, I took him out of the carrier and put him in my lap. Surprisingly he cuddled in very close and hid his face in the crook of my elbow. I could tell he was terrified. I felt sorry for him but I’m hoping getting neutered will stop his fighting with other cats and also curb his nasty habit of spraying and pooping in the house. Then he can have a safer life indoors. When I brought him home from the vet’s he hid under the bench in the patio room. He is either mad or just scared. I just hope he can forgive me for taking him to get neutered.