About holes in bodies and in homes
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The feline family takes over Thong's personal space as the unfortunate cat continues to recover at the vet
TWO WEEKS past the New Year celebrations, and my household is facing bad news and good news.
Thong, the accident-prone soi cat, continues to recover at the hospital from the massive infection across his chest. The two holes, where the vet had to cut out dead tissue, are slowly beginning to fill with healthy tissue.
“Slowly” is the word. The poor cat spends his nights and days wrapped in bandages to keep the wound sterile and stop him from cleaning the wounds himself. His best friend Thep isn’t allowed to stay with him because he might pull the bandages off and try to clean the wounds too.
’m not allowed to visit Thong either. The cat would be happy to see me, of course, but when I left, he would be under greater stress, not understanding why he couldn’t come with me.
The good news is that at first, the wounds mended slowly, but day after day, the mending itself has become swifter.
We still don’t know when the holes will heal completely. From photos the vet sends me, I expect at least two more weeks or maybe four.
At first, Thep stayed inside the house the entire night and day, but now, he leaves in the morning and returns in the evening. He no longer patrols the soi at nights the way he used to.
I don’t know exactly why. It may be that Thep still expects Thong to appear, crawling out suddenly from under a turtle tub, perhaps, or from behind a plant pot.
I have seen, however, the strange cat, the one who injured Thong so badly, wandering around the patios of the houses on the soi in the evenings. Perhaps Thep, no fool, stays inside to avoid an aggressive cat twice his size.
It’s not likely that an animal understands the meaning of “death”, but Thep certainly understands “absence”. Perhaps slowly Thep is accepting the fact that Thong is no longer in the house, no longer present, no longer existing in his life.
What a heart-breaker!
With Thong gone so long, however, another concern has surfaced, one involving all the animals, including my poodle-pup Wan-Wan.
Important to all animals, including the turtles, is territory. Each cat owns a piece of the house, and if another cat enters the territory, we have huge fights, as the owner tries to drive out the invader.
Even the dog has her own piece, and if another animal wanders near, tiny Wan turns into her own version of a Rottweiler. Even her best friend, the Wild Child Manohra, isn’t allowed in her space.
On the other hand, the animals have also worked out a “time-sharing” plan. At certain times of the day, a cat might give up territory, allowing another cat to take over for a while. It might be one hour or two or even more. I don’t know how long, but the animals do.
When the time’s up, the “owner” takes over his or her property again.
Inside the house, Thong has his own territory too, a piece of the third floor during the day, and a piece of the second floor at night.
His stay at the hospital, though, has left a hole in these arrangements, one that the other animals have gradually begun to fill while he’s been gone.
No one seems to be waiting for Thong anymore, except me.
So now I worry: when Thong returns in two weeks or four, will the other animals let him take back his territory – or will there be yelling, screaming and perhaps even fights before the household returns to normal?
Is “normal” too much to hope for?
