One day about 6 years ago I got an excited phone call from Sue. We were going to get a Siamese kitten. A friend had an alley cat that produced a Siamese kitten with every litter and with a little persuasion from Sue, she promised us the next one.
We waited patiently for kitty breeding season, which happens twice a year. And then we were informed that mamma cat was pregnant. Great excitement.
Our friend told us that the Siamese kittens were born white and changed colour as they grew older. This was an interesting fact we did not know.
Like expectant grand parents we waited patiently for the arrival of the new addition to our family. Fortunately kitty pregnancies are not long and soon we were told that the new litter had arrived and sure enough there was a white one. More great excitement.
The wait was coming to an end. In about eight weeks and we could bring the little tike home.
After about four weeks we could not contain ourselves any longer and traveled the 30 kilometres to Despatch, to see our new kitten. The excitement was now reaching breaking point.
When I looked at the little ball of white fur I realized that something was wrong. I knew that the white fur could change to the Siamese tones, just as Lipizzaner horses start out life black and turn white as they grew older. But ……. the big but was, would a pink nose turn brown.
The excitement waned.
We waited patiently for kitty breeding season, which happens twice a year. And then we were informed that mamma cat was pregnant. Great excitement.
Our friend told us that the Siamese kittens were born white and changed colour as they grew older. This was an interesting fact we did not know.
Like expectant grand parents we waited patiently for the arrival of the new addition to our family. Fortunately kitty pregnancies are not long and soon we were told that the new litter had arrived and sure enough there was a white one. More great excitement.
The wait was coming to an end. In about eight weeks and we could bring the little tike home.
After about four weeks we could not contain ourselves any longer and traveled the 30 kilometres to Despatch, to see our new kitten. The excitement was now reaching breaking point.When I looked at the little ball of white fur I realized that something was wrong. I knew that the white fur could change to the Siamese tones, just as Lipizzaner horses start out life black and turn white as they grew older. But ……. the big but was, would a pink nose turn brown.
The excitement waned.
After a respectable interval we went home. After much debate we were convinced that this was not going to be the real thing……….. of course we could hope. And how could we change our minds now that it was accepted as our kitten.
And so the waiting continued. The excitement, somewhat diminished.
The day finally arrived and we went to collect our new kitten hoping for a miracle. Hope let us down. The fur was as white as ever and the nose ……….. still bright pink. We were now the proud servants of a white cat.
Names, we had to have a name.
Naming a kitten is like naming a child. Somewhere out there the right name is waiting, the question is how do you find it. My first suggestion was Pinkie. This was met with outright rejection and a total humour failure. Perhaps understandably so. It reminded her of a German Shepherd dog that I had given the unfortunate nickname of Pinksh, because of his unseemly dog’s manners and lack of decorum. The association was too strong for Sue’s liking (she has a very vivid imagination) and my suggestion was short lived, very short lived, so short lived in fact that it was dead as soon as I suggested the name.
As it turned out names were irrelevant. We soon discovered that she was deaf. Another of nature’s idiosyncrasies, just as tortoise shell cats are females, white cats with blue eyes are deaf.
So she now has many names. My daughter calls her Dee Dee, I named her Wit Blitz (White Lighting) because of her habit of running around the living room at full speed after her meals, and sometimes we refer to her as the White Thing (or White Fing) because of her penchant for shredding furniture – scratching posts are beneath her dignity.
Her disability has not stopped her from living a normal life. She behaves like any other cat and meows and preows with the best of them, but has no volume control.
She also has her own kitty sign language, which she deigns to respond to when she feels like it. Cats are like that, they live life on their own terms, always ensuring that you get just enough affirmation to feel honored that they have taken an interest in you, or graced you with their presence.
The name she understands best is a crooked finger pointed in her direction and waggled up and down. If she is in the mood she will let out a preow and come running.
And so the waiting continued. The excitement, somewhat diminished.
The day finally arrived and we went to collect our new kitten hoping for a miracle. Hope let us down. The fur was as white as ever and the nose ……….. still bright pink. We were now the proud servants of a white cat.
Names, we had to have a name.
Naming a kitten is like naming a child. Somewhere out there the right name is waiting, the question is how do you find it. My first suggestion was Pinkie. This was met with outright rejection and a total humour failure. Perhaps understandably so. It reminded her of a German Shepherd dog that I had given the unfortunate nickname of Pinksh, because of his unseemly dog’s manners and lack of decorum. The association was too strong for Sue’s liking (she has a very vivid imagination) and my suggestion was short lived, very short lived, so short lived in fact that it was dead as soon as I suggested the name.
As it turned out names were irrelevant. We soon discovered that she was deaf. Another of nature’s idiosyncrasies, just as tortoise shell cats are females, white cats with blue eyes are deaf.
So she now has many names. My daughter calls her Dee Dee, I named her Wit Blitz (White Lighting) because of her habit of running around the living room at full speed after her meals, and sometimes we refer to her as the White Thing (or White Fing) because of her penchant for shredding furniture – scratching posts are beneath her dignity.
Her disability has not stopped her from living a normal life. She behaves like any other cat and meows and preows with the best of them, but has no volume control.
She also has her own kitty sign language, which she deigns to respond to when she feels like it. Cats are like that, they live life on their own terms, always ensuring that you get just enough affirmation to feel honored that they have taken an interest in you, or graced you with their presence.
The name she understands best is a crooked finger pointed in her direction and waggled up and down. If she is in the mood she will let out a preow and come running.
4 comments:
Wow, the kittens are very cute...anna :) btw I had to steal your clock widget, now I have to find a blog wall to hang it.
Hi Anna she is photogenic and can be quite charming some times
Smiling, did all the other Siamese kittens from previous litters grow up to be the "Siamese that wasn't" also? Ahhh, truth is she's beautiful! Enjoy! I've always heard a solid white cat is good luck, so looks like you're surrounded!
Hi Singleton, she is a character, but she was the exception. The others are all the "Siamese that were"
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