Fibromyalgia:
Cats
Goats
Joseph
Joseph is a very large (weighing around seven or eight kilograms), grey, Persian cat. We acquired him in 1998, at the age of three-and-a-half years old, when we moved to Kaiwaka. His previous owners (the people we bought our house from) were moving to another country and weren't able to take him.
In the first six months of living in our new house in Kaiwaka, I could have cheerfully given him away to someone else - anyone else, PLEASE!! He can be a nasty piece of work when he wants, biting, scratching, etc, and he has the strength to back up those claws with menace. I just didn't know how to cope with that on top of the stresses of moving to a new town, with a completely new life, and also with the death of my father just two months after we moved.
But, as time passed we got used to each other and I discovered his gentler side; now he is my cat - not mine and Nigel's (that's Tabby's role) - but MINE; that's his decision, and I have little say in the matter. :-) He likes to sit with me, either next to me on the sofa with his rear snuggled in against me, or on my knee in the chair. I keep a towel on the arm of the chair to whip over my knee if he looks like hopping up, as he likes to knead with his strong, sharp claws while he sits there purring his head off. He also enjoys sitting on my knee with his front paws up on my chest, so I can adore him and tell him how wonderful he is. Until I inadvertently do something to irritate him and he bites me and jumps off, that is!
Irritating Joseph is not difficult, unfortunately. With his long fur, he often has knots, which must pull something dreadful at times. I can understand why he displays such a bad mood at times - I think I would too, if my hair was pulling like that! I attempt to brush it when I can, but ordinary combs just laugh at his thick fur - in fact, it isn't fur, it's wool. HHe smells like a wet jersey when he's wet, and it acts like the wool on a sheep, too. Poor boy. :-( When I can (ie, when he will let me), I cut off knots as they form, but in spring the appear so quickly it is impossible to keep up with them and he becomes a mass of knots.
In February 2004 I had him shaved for the first time, and the results were so good I will be doing it again. As I write, it is September 2004, and I'm planning to take him back to the vet's at the beginning of October for his summer 'haircut' - if this cold southerly wind has gone away, that is! You can see in the photos below what a difference the shave makes to his appearance! The vet did a wonderful job on him, leaving his 'mane' intact, which looks very impressive in winter. He wasn't too sure what to make of it when I brought him home that day, but he did seem to be a lot more comfortable, and not constantly seeking the draughtiest spot in the house.
[It's now the summer of 2006-7. I decided after last summer's shave that we wouldn't be doing that again. Although the shave does him no end of good, he seems to have difficulty handling the anaesthetic that is required, and I seem to have an ill cat every Christmas. Instead, I've been trimming off knots with a pair of sharp, blunt-ended (so I don't accidentally stab him) scissors, and the vet trimmed his belly and the larger knots I'd been unable to reach when we visited for his annual shots. He seems to be cooler with his shaved belly, and we're keeping the knots under control.]
I would never, ever deliberately choose a Persian cat after my experiences with Joseph. Although I love him dearly, I think his fur is a burden to him and I wouldn't wish it on any cat living in our warm climate. Along the same lines, I wouldn't purposely choose a white cat, because of the problems with skin cancer that they often have. Why put yourself, or the cat, through all of that?
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