We got a tiny kitty on this home leave. Her name is Çağrı (Ch-ah-rih), Turkish for Invitation, or maybe more accurately "Welcome." (You can't correctly pronounce the undotted "i" unless you put your teeth together to try to say it.) We named her this because it is the name of the last home we had - the Çağrı Apartment building in Çığdem, Ankara, Turkey.
My kitty has anxiety.
Every time we return home from one
of our weekend car trips visiting supporters, Çağrı greets us fairly warmly,
running across the tops of all the sofas and chairs in the living room, biting
and demanding we play with her the first 10 minutes we are home. She is a very
social kitty, following me all over the house throughout the day, not ever wanting
to be in a room by herself. I've never seen a kitty like her.
My dear daughter has anxiety.
She was a stressed baby because we
had to evacuate out of Peshawar at 9/11, when I was 4-months pregnant with her.
My mom almost died that week due to cancer, and was rushed to the Mayo
Clinic...the same week. We had 36 hours to pack up our apartment and fly
to Germany, and by the end of the week, I was bleeding from the stress.
Dear Daughter came 1 week early, at 2.2 kilos. She has had anxiety ever since she was born, and has been working valiantly to fight her way through it on numerous occasions and in numerous situations as a TCK. I'm so proud of her.
Dear Daughter came 1 week early, at 2.2 kilos. She has had anxiety ever since she was born, and has been working valiantly to fight her way through it on numerous occasions and in numerous situations as a TCK. I'm so proud of her.
Twice now upon returning home, Çağrı
goes and pees on Dear Daughter's bed. Çağrı's done this twice to the bed, right
after I've returned home, longing to sit in my paisley red chair and put my
feet up and use my chair back massager and drink a glass of red wine. (Yes, the
kitty litter box has been clean enough).
Instead, I'm washing all of Dear
Daughter's bedding, including her down comforter. Again.
Dear Daughter complains loudly,
"I hate the cat, I hate the cat. Why
does she do this to me!!??!!!*#&#
She goes to Google and researches,
"Why does my cat pee on my bed?" And here is what she
reads:
Some cats urinate on their owners’ beds if the owners work long hours or travel. Sometimes the inappropriate episodes occur either when an owner is out of the house or out of town, or the cat may wait until the owner returns home. It is a cat's way of communicating how unhappy or stressed he has been over your absence(1)
Now Dear Daughter proclaims, "I
love my cat, I love my cat, I love my cat. She loves and misses
me."
Isn't God good to give my anxious
daughter an anxious cat so they can love each other in yet another transition?
(We are getting through the 20th move in 18 years and 5th Country Home set up,
and Dear Daughter is adjusting to American public highschool for the first
time.)
(1)
http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-cat-pee-on-my-bed
