Living on the edge
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She may have only three legs but Varee dosen't know the meaning of disabled
ON A visit to my house, a friend begins to look serious. Very serious.
“Laurie,” he says, “your cat is making me feel nervous.”
I’m surprised. This guy likes animals. How could a cat make him uncomfortable?
Why?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s going to fall down and hurt herself.”
He points at Varee and shakes his head. The three-legged cat is relaxing in one of her favourite places, on a little ledge above the stairs, where she can observe everything that’s going on.
I understand. For my friend, Varee is the best example of “precarious” he’s ever seen. The ledge is quite narrow, and Varee, with her three legs, may not have the best balance in the world.
He thinks she’s in a dangerously unstable position, likely to fall at any moment.
For me, Varee is perfectly safe. I doubt that she’ll fall.
When she first joined our household, before I came to know her, I expected that she would never be able to act like a “real” cat.
Within around three minutes, Varee had run up to the top floor and fallen asleep in the patio.
Since then, she’s taught me a lot about being disabled. For her, “disabled” has no meaning. If she can do it, she does it. If she can’t, she finds another way.
My friend doesn’t realise it, but Thong, one of the soi cats, leads a much more precarious life.
The boy has spent a great deal of his life on the soi, but he doesn’t seem to have learned anything from his lifestyle.
While his friend Thep can jump from a roof to a tree to a wall to the ground in beautifully graceful motion, Thong is more likely to crash half-way down, injuring a shoulder or a leg in the fall.
Any insect or spider in the house heads straight for Thong, who ends up with bites, scratches and bumps. Any germ around attacks Thong first, and the poor cat ends up at the vet’s for long-term treatment.
He’s certainly living a precarious life, so dependent on chance in an unpredictable world where the only certainty is that sooner or later (probably sooner) he’s going to take a trip to the vet’s.
Where is he now as I write? Of course he’s at the vet’s. Yesterday, he came in from the soi and curled up to sleep. When I went over to pet him, he wouldn’t even open his eyes.
By the evening, he had a fever so high that it was difficult for him to breathe. When I lifted him to give him medicine to reduce the fever, he cried in pain.
I began to think he had a lung infection.
When the vet checked his temperature this morning, though, it was normal. His lungs were normal too. So, no lung infection – but he was sick. I know he was sick. Cats don’t fake illness.
Perhaps he had injured himself. Perhaps he had fallen off a wall. Again.
He’s now under observation at the clinic, just to see if any other problem will develop in a day or so.
You know, I’ve known lots of people like Varee and like Thong. Some people have disabilities worse than Varee’s missing paw, but they lead their lives as fully as they can. Their disabilities turn them on paths to finding out what their abilities are.
I also know people like Thong, whose ability to end up injured or ill is almost extraordinary.
Can you choose whether or not to lead a precarious life? I don’t know, but for this new year, may I and my mini-zoo wish all of you the good luck to recognise your abilities and to survive any precariousness that life may bring you.
