AEDM - Day 18 - Kya's Story

Some of my readers already know Kya's story as it happened but, for those of you who don't, I thought I'd share it here for Day 18 of AEDM. 

Growing up we always had dogs and if someone had told me years ago that I would be a cat owner, I would have said, "No way!"....until Kya. 

On Good Friday, April 19th 2019, we had a late evening storm move through leaving rain in its wake. I went outside the front door to take a bag of rubbish to the wheelie bin and this cat immediately ran up to me under our front entrance roof, meowing like crazy and rubbing against my legs. I would normally shoo cats away if they came into our yard but I just felt like she needed shelter from the rain. I put out some milk and dog biscuits which she scoffed down fast and seemed to settle in for the night. 

I had lost my precious fur-kid, Cody, in early February to Cushing's disease. He was 12 years old.  On top of that, I was due to have major hip tendon surgery a couple of weeks later — the last thing I needed to worry about was a cat. I'd never seen her around before but I figured she belonged to someone. Kya had no plans to move on especially when Aaron (youngest son) went out the next day and bought her a bed, a scratch post, a cat toy, and cat food. This was all set up right outside my front door.

A couple of weeks after my surgery, her owners showed up at the door which was when we found out Kya's name. They weren't even interested in taking Kya home which I found a little odd. They admitted a few weeks later that they had in fact brought a new kitten into their household and Kya didn't get along with it. So that explained why she showed up at my door. She had pretty much been turfed out in favour of a new kitten, poor thing. 

By this stage, Kya discovered we had a pergola at the back of our house and settled herself in there. She seemed very content to be here.

I was quite worried about her roaming about at night because, in our area it is law that cat owners must keep their cats within their own house boundaries at all times and they must be kept indoors at night. This is because of the damage they cause to our native wildlife. I was in an awkward position because Kya wasn't actually my cat and she only came indoors for short stints at that time through the day. I dreaded the possibility that she would get caught in a cat trap and be taken to the pound to meet a nasty fate or come to harm by other means. 

As the months went on, Kya was still here and indoors 80% of the time. The owners made one failed attempt to take her home. She went with them for one night and they were back at my door early the next morning where Kya walked back into the house like she owned it and immediately started demanding her food. Apparently she hadn't eaten at their place. The owner asked if I wanted to keep her and she would gladly change all the microchip details and ownership into my name. It was a done deal and all organised the same day.

So there I was, a reluctant cat owner, but I'd rather she be here where I was committed to looking after her.   I was a bag of mixed emotions after losing Cody and, the day Kya came back was bittersweet because we had to say goodbye to Jack, our other fur-kid who we rescued. He was around 14 years old. I wasn't sure I was ready for another fur-kid. However, she was growing on me big-time and part of me felt that Cody had guided her to my door.

Once she was officially mine, I organised for Kya to be groomed by the vet. With her fur being medium to long, she was very badly matted, particularly at the rear end. The owners said she'd never been groomed before and, while Kya may look like she is in shock in the pic below, it's more because she is still not fully over the anaesthetic which they give a lot of cats for grooming. She will now get groomed twice a year.

So that is Kya's story of how she came to be a member of our family. 

Kya has been an indoor cat 100% of the time since she became officially mine on October 2nd, 2019. She is 7 years old and a sweetie 99% of the time....more on that 1% in a later post. I have grown to love her deeply. She sleeps on my bed every night. She meows like crazy when I go outside to hang out a wash or just out somewhere in the car. She has become quite attached to me also.

To see what the other AEDM participants have done for today, click HERE. 

At the beginning of the year, Kya's previous owners moved away but came to see her one last time. I learned that their new kitten who, at that time, was 8 months old was already pregnant. I was surprised they hadn't kept her indoors until she was desexed. Their attitude was, "When the kittens are old enough, we will just hand them into the RSPCA." Sorry but that sort of attitude is why there are so many homeless cats being put to sleep in pounds/shelters.  Pet owners should be responsible and get their pets de-sexed. Enough said.

If you are interested, you will find links to Cody's and Jack's Tribute posts in my sidebar. We still miss our boys terribly.

I hope you are all staying safe and well. 

Love, Light and Peace to All.