Scent of a woman

WHILE THE mini-zoo continues to struggle with the construction season, there is a slight improvement in our lifestyle – and all due to modern science.

The booms, banging and buzzing have really caused all of us considerable stress, even the fish and turtles on the patio.

Oscar the oscar fish continues to lie flat on his gravel in his tank, his way of protesting, I think, against the upheavals in his environment, although he still enjoys his daily meal.

The little turtle, I’m sorry to say, died a few days ago. He stopped eating, refusing even to be force-fed. Slowly, he became weaker, dying as silently as he had lived.

The cats and the doggie are suffering in a different way. The older animals have come down with respiratory problems. Mekhala, my white lady, is the weakest, since her immune system is affected by her feline Aids (Fiv). She is now taking antibiotics for a lung infection and wants only to be left alone to sleep.

Manohra, the Wild Child, won’t let her, attacking her whenever she can. As the youngest cat in the herd, Manohra, so far, remains strong, continuing her undisciplined attacks on the other cats. She loves to sit outside Yoyo’s bedroom, where he sleeps at night, and yell at him, as in “Let me break through your screen door and attack you!”

Yoyo yells back, and Phantom, the eight-kilo cat on the other side of the floor, joins in the noise. He’d love to jump on her just to shut her up.

Talk about feline noise pollution!

Manohra, though, has another unpleasant habit. She’s seen how Thep, one of the soi cats, sprays occasionally, and because she seems to want to be one of the boys, she’s started urinating too.

Plastic bags, papers, even my clothes have all been blessed by this Wild Child’s unpleasant habit.

Yes, female cats sometimes urinate to claim territory, and since Manohra considers herself in competition with all the other cats, she’s pretty much claiming whatever she can.

Finally, my vet offers a solution – a hormone injection, which should reduce Manohra’s bad habits.

These hormone shots are usually used just when a female dog or cat is about to go into heat. If the owner doesn’t want his female to get pregnant, the injections prevent her from ovulating and attracting the interest of the opposite sex, at least for around three months.

Some owners think that hormone injections are an easy method of birth control. No. In the animal’s life, they should be used once or twice, certainly no more than three times.

Injecting the hormones regularly will cause deterioration of the girl’s sexual organs, resulting in terrible infections that can be fatal.

Manohra, however, is already neutered. We don’t have to worry too much about her sexual organs or the number of times she receives those injections.

After she returns from the vet’s with injection Number One, she curls up in a corner and sleeps. In the evening, she starts on her nightly rounds, but she’s not interested in yelling at Yoyo or Phantom.

In fact, she seems almost friendly. All the other cats stare at her in a new way. Everyone’s neutered, but the aroma of a female scent – even if it comes from an injection – is very attractive. A beautiful woman walks into a room, and everyone, both men and women, turn to stare at her, admiring (or envying) such perfection.

So Phantom and Yoyo look at her with interest. Even Mekhala, despite her illness, notices the difference.

Manohra herself seems to like the attention. Anyone likes to be admired.

Smiling her cat smile, she rolls over on her back, a sensuous, graceful creature, a Wild Child no more.