Tazzie
Without Prejudice
There is always one animal that you are going to miss more than any other. My younger Sister rang me today and she's just had to have her dog, Jessie, put down. Jessie the wee little coffee thieving black dog of hers from Beachmere. Her time was up, she had cataracts and ran out in front of my Brother In Laws car and was hit in the leg. Xrays were going to be $500 and she was 11 and was not well. The vet confirmed their worst suspicions, it was time for Jessie to be put down.
I was reminded of my favourite animal, who I had to have put down, Tazzie. I was only supposed to have her to mind for a few weeks. A friend was moving and couldn't take Taz with her. I was glad to take care of her. The friend and her boyfriend had had Taz from a kitten, taught her tricks, adored her and the boyfriend was gone and the friend distraught. She came to me late one Sunday night and was to be mine for the next few years.
The friend never cam to collect her and when I was moving had to ask her to be minded by the friend who had given her to me in the first place. She had a child by then and Taz was not used to her anymore and scratched the child, so I had to move quickly and fetch her back
For the first week when she was just an "adoptee" she hid from me. She would not come out no matter how I tried to coax her, with treats like Atlantic Salmon and tuna. I ignored her, finally, and then she disdainfully decided to greet me and befriend me. Then she became Taz. The friend and boyfriend had decided to dub her Natas, which is satan spelled backwards and as I didn't want any harm to come to her I just dubbed her Taz.
She was a character of a cat. She thought she was a dog for a start. If if I sat or lay on the couch she would sit with me. After a while of sleeping above my head on the couch back she would come down to visit. I would pretend to be asleep and she would head butt my head, if I still ignored her she would lick me my cheek, then bat my cheek with a paw. And if she still had no response from me, she would nip me, just gently and I would always laugh and play with her.
I would lie prone on the floor with my head on my hands and she loved this game best of all. She would head butt me and then prance up and down my legs, knead her paws into my not unsubstantial butt. She would do that and purr with delight. The friend told me later that Taz had been a Mum and a good one, but she was then spayed and I didn't have to worry about kittens.
Taz was part Russian Blue and the breed are very affectionate and loving, mischievous, too. She was my companion, my Dag of a cat. When I would drive in the driveway, she would bound out from where ever she was, almost as if she had been standing, waiting, a silent sentinel,. She would bound up the driveway before me and wait for me to get out. Then she would bound to the back door and stretch out to the door knob with her paw, like a demented "Skippy, the bush Kangaroo clone". She could barely wait for me to open the door and would yowl and get in my way as I struggled with keys.
Sometimes during the night she would decide to bound down the hall, barrump, barrump and leap onto my bed in one big catapult, shattering my dreams and scaring me half to death. If I shut the door she would scratch on it till totally peed off I would get up and open it. She then would creep and creep across the bed till she was sitting on my head, literally, as I slept. That was her favourite position and from there she would purr like a running fridge.
In the end I had to have her put down and was one of those people that sob at the front counter of the Vets. I had to be taken into another room and fed a cup of hot tea as I was scaring the other clients with my sobbing. I sobbed for weeks on and off, and decided then and there I was never getting another animal as they die. I never have and I never will. Taz was the perfect animal as far as I was concerned and was meant in the end to come to me as I was to her.
Love Janette
There is always one animal that you are going to miss more than any other. My younger Sister rang me today and she's just had to have her dog, Jessie, put down. Jessie the wee little coffee thieving black dog of hers from Beachmere. Her time was up, she had cataracts and ran out in front of my Brother In Laws car and was hit in the leg. Xrays were going to be $500 and she was 11 and was not well. The vet confirmed their worst suspicions, it was time for Jessie to be put down.
I was reminded of my favourite animal, who I had to have put down, Tazzie. I was only supposed to have her to mind for a few weeks. A friend was moving and couldn't take Taz with her. I was glad to take care of her. The friend and her boyfriend had had Taz from a kitten, taught her tricks, adored her and the boyfriend was gone and the friend distraught. She came to me late one Sunday night and was to be mine for the next few years.
The friend never cam to collect her and when I was moving had to ask her to be minded by the friend who had given her to me in the first place. She had a child by then and Taz was not used to her anymore and scratched the child, so I had to move quickly and fetch her back
For the first week when she was just an "adoptee" she hid from me. She would not come out no matter how I tried to coax her, with treats like Atlantic Salmon and tuna. I ignored her, finally, and then she disdainfully decided to greet me and befriend me. Then she became Taz. The friend and boyfriend had decided to dub her Natas, which is satan spelled backwards and as I didn't want any harm to come to her I just dubbed her Taz.
She was a character of a cat. She thought she was a dog for a start. If if I sat or lay on the couch she would sit with me. After a while of sleeping above my head on the couch back she would come down to visit. I would pretend to be asleep and she would head butt my head, if I still ignored her she would lick me my cheek, then bat my cheek with a paw. And if she still had no response from me, she would nip me, just gently and I would always laugh and play with her.
I would lie prone on the floor with my head on my hands and she loved this game best of all. She would head butt me and then prance up and down my legs, knead her paws into my not unsubstantial butt. She would do that and purr with delight. The friend told me later that Taz had been a Mum and a good one, but she was then spayed and I didn't have to worry about kittens.
Taz was part Russian Blue and the breed are very affectionate and loving, mischievous, too. She was my companion, my Dag of a cat. When I would drive in the driveway, she would bound out from where ever she was, almost as if she had been standing, waiting, a silent sentinel,. She would bound up the driveway before me and wait for me to get out. Then she would bound to the back door and stretch out to the door knob with her paw, like a demented "Skippy, the bush Kangaroo clone". She could barely wait for me to open the door and would yowl and get in my way as I struggled with keys.
Sometimes during the night she would decide to bound down the hall, barrump, barrump and leap onto my bed in one big catapult, shattering my dreams and scaring me half to death. If I shut the door she would scratch on it till totally peed off I would get up and open it. She then would creep and creep across the bed till she was sitting on my head, literally, as I slept. That was her favourite position and from there she would purr like a running fridge.
In the end I had to have her put down and was one of those people that sob at the front counter of the Vets. I had to be taken into another room and fed a cup of hot tea as I was scaring the other clients with my sobbing. I sobbed for weeks on and off, and decided then and there I was never getting another animal as they die. I never have and I never will. Taz was the perfect animal as far as I was concerned and was meant in the end to come to me as I was to her.
Love Janette
