When the past doesn't control the present
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A rescued cat slowly learns to trust - and love - again
Although it happened a few years ago, one dog I saw at the vet’s has stayed in my mind.
He was beautiful, a steel-grey “Lang-an”, a Thai-style ridgeback. He was lying calmly at a woman's feet, and while I admired him, one of my vet’s assistants came over and reached for him. The minute the dog saw his outstretched hands, he let out a scream and cowered against the woman’s legs.
Later, the vet told me that the dog has been attacked by a drunken man, who beat him with a plank until he fell unconscious. A woman found him and brought him to the vet. The dog was in a coma for days, but when he woke up, he mistrusted everyone - except the vet, who had nursed him, and the woman, who had saved him.
I’ve never forgotten the look the dog’s eyes, his complete terror, and I prayed I would never see it again in any living thing.
Alas, I have seen that look again, just a few months ago, when Varee, my three-legged cat, joined the household.
As I’ve mentioned before, I met Varee last year, when I visited a woman living in a small house in Samut Prakan with 50 or 60 cats.
Varee had already lost her foot and was nursing new-born kittens, whom the woman had laid on the floor. The woman didn’t know how Varee had lost her foot, nor did she remember how often the cat had been pregnant.
I should have been suspicious because of her lack of knowledge. Varee’s kittens died a few weeks later anyway, about the same time that the woman told some rescuers to take all her cats away because she was bored looking after them.
After some time with the rescuers, Varee, vaccinated and neutered, came to our home. I thought she settled in nicely, approaching all my other animals in a friendly way, although she tended to avoid me.
Varee must have been under great strain, living in a strange environment, but I didn’t realise it until she had been with us a few weeks.
She was sleeping on a table, and as I passed, I reached over to stroke her. Varee bolted out of her sleep and threw herself against the wall. For the first time in years, I saw the same fear and terror that I’d seen so many years ago.
How upset I was! I’d wondered what sort of life Varee had had when she was at that woman’s house, and now, by her actions, she told me.
We’ll never know how Varee lost her foot or why her kittens died. I’m sure she and her babies suffered from neglect, and now I suspect violence as well.
Slowly, Varee has relaxed, finally realising that she is safe here. She now shows a loving nature, following me around, asking me to scratch her ears and to hold her. I’ve never seen that look again.
How fortunate she makes me feel to know her and to watch her transform.
She’s taught me a lot, too, how you can suffer great deprivation, but in a loving environment, you can overcome memories of the past.
