Meine Engel

As real as "vampires" are, so are angels. Mine happens to be in the form of a huge housecat, Twiggy Nala. 'Nala' because of her Lioness-like appearance... shes a real beauty honestly, with her huge lamplike golden eyes. "Gelden Auge" I call her oft. She takes such wonderful care of me, and shes not even yet two years old. We share the same birthweek, though I do not know the exact day she was born.

She got her name due to her size when she was an infant. I rescued her at only three weeks from the shelter, starved, covered in diarreah, with ribs poking through her fur and her intestines poking slightly out her backside because they were so malformed and swollen due to the lack of mothers milk. She had been on dog food, which was so unhealthy for a kitten that shouldnt have been even weaned yet. Her ears were pitch colored with mites. She was only the size of my hand, and she was terrifyed of the world. It had abandoned her. She had been a dumpster baby, and she tried to go through my trash though I fast broke her of the habit. It took one time of my telling/teaching her how to use the litter for her to know how to use it, she is such a fast learner. I also showed her how to get up the four steps I built up to my bed, because she was too small to reach it. Now she can even open the door, and leap across my room, open plastic containers, and understand english commands better than a dog. She points to something if she wants it, brings a toy if she wants to play, fetches, and even runs up and wipes my tears off with her cheek when I cry. She makes her "are you ok?" sound as well, and also makes that sound every time I cough, sneeze, or get upset. I've listed out at least 70 sounds she makes and their english translations, though I know she makes more, much more. She has a sort of sign language of her own that shes taught me as well to help me know how to better communicate with her.

I was so ill when I first got her home... We both stayed in bed all the time. It was before I had gotten any treatment for my Lyme and I was dying, literally. She never left me. I never left her either, feeding her yogurt and goats milk through a dropper and talking two fingers- all that could fit between her hind legs, and rubbing her belly at night so she could sleep because it felt like pop rocks were inside her, and she was in so much pain. It was the only thing that helped. That and singing. Every time Id stop, shed mewl, and I'd have to start again haha until she finally really WAS asleep. She didnt like the ear cleanings either, and she cried, but she sat still. She let me clean her eyes when they got gunky, and her nose when it was too mucusy. She was only a baby, and some one had to teach her to keep herself up. Her least favorite was when Id wipe her tushy with a clean cloth or tissue. She didnt like to lick down there, and often she let it get dirty. She did lick it once, after she saw G.G., Jason's ticked silver-black english shorthair do so, but she made the most hilarious face, furiously scrubbed her tongue, and never did so again. Much to my mothers frusturation, she began to wipe her butt on the carpet and the back of the couch like a dog. We gave her her own little carpet to do so on which we frequently change, problem solved.

When she was tiny, I was often afraid to let her down around the house. I was grateful that the first few weeks she was afraid to leave my room unless I was with her. She was so small, when she would disappear under my dresser I was sure I would never see her again, like Alice in Wonderland and the rabbit hole. But she always came out. She got stuck as she got bigger, which lead to me leaving the drawers out in the awkward phase in which she was small enough to get under but too big to get out from underneath. Now though,  at a size bigger than my torso and probably related to a mountain lion somehow since she is STILL growing, she cant fit at all which is fantastic since I dont have to worry.

See my mother had this beloved cat named Hermit. Hermit passed before I was born, but I've heard so much about her, and apparently she resembles one of my beanie babies quite closely. lightning-like bolts of dark gray all down her head and sides and a gray body with...eyes a color my mother cannot remember. I cannot imagine forgetting Twiggy's eyes, I hope I never, ever, ever do (speaking of, guess who walked in and is staring at me from the new box&complimentary bag I gave her!) Hermit passed away when she got stuck behind a bookshelf, panicked, and wrenched her neck and broke it. Thats why I panicked about Twiggy getting stuck always. My bed is far away from the wall because a "game" she liked to play (with a huge grin on her face) was climbing up the side of my bed by pushing herself between it and the wall. I always had to help push the bed away because her squeals of effort.. Which somehow she enjoyed cos shed always come back and do it again.. panicked me. As an overbearing mother I heard squeals of despair and cries of beign stuck. Which she never was, she was just always trying to wedge herself in more. Finally I moved the bed away from the wall. Then we just played tag in the space, as she darted in and out from under the bed and I tried to tag her and she my hand before I could pull it back.

She got too big to sleep by me, and I thrashed around too much in pain in the night for either of us to get a good nights sleep. So I got her a Kitty bed on a scratching post- with two little toys to dangle on either side underneath!- that elevated it to the height of my bed and put it right adjacent. She was elated to have her own space, but she quickly outgrew it. It moved into the basement, where it fits G.G. perfectly.

I got the girls.. Twiggy really, this big bunk bed for kitties. It has a tunnel between two scratching poles, and then they support a large bed which fits her perfectly. The top bed is supported by only one pole and is smaller, though is the one they always fight over to sleep in. It looks out the window at night when I can open the curtain, though I rarely do... I do when they ask but I should more.. It has a blanket in it to keep it warm and the edge of the blanket drapes down to the bottom bed making a tent. Since the bottom bunk is on level with my bed, I can play with Twiggs easily when shes there, usually peek-a-boo or playing with a straw or something.. or when shes in or on the tunnel directly under. Since she rarely goes in the tunnel but preffers to sit on it, I store toys inside for easy access. Somehow it seems like I lose them all so fast again haha.

Moving on.. I taught mom the beginning steps of how to belly dance today! It was fun, I directed from my bed and she danced to the dvd. I tried to show her some stuff, and she was really starting to get a little at the end. I took a video when she didnt realize. I think it was very good for her self image, she is always saying how fat she is, when she isnt, and she just had on a sports bra and sweatpants then, and looked very nice- her stomach wasnt big, her hips were nice and curvy, her waist small, her breasts large. She looked hot! I sent a copy to my Dad's email hahaha. She even said she thought she looked good when she saw herself. She really did.

Twiggy lovvves my mom. She follows us both around like a puppy. She likes my Dad a lot too now, she was afraid of his giant looming height at first, but hes a sweetheart and very gentle and won her over with his being so tender with her. She likes his height now, because he carries her like a baby in his arms all over the house whn she rubs up on his legs. Jason took the longest to win her heart, but he did so with lots of playtime and snacks. 'you dont just get a cats heart, you have to earn it". I dont remember where I heard that, or read it. She greets him every morning, and they play often. She likes his lap, I think because shes big and hes warm with long legs. Dad wishes soo bad the cats would go in his lap, but i think he is too thin! he refuses to eat fried foods he needs to indulge once in a while haha fatten himself up just a teeny bit.

I'm exhausted. Theres loads more to Twiggy, but I'll tell it over time. Tomorrow I will.. don't worry be back haha :)

@>--->------ Jenny