Lily was our boat cat. We got her when she was barely 8 weeks old, and the boat has always been her home. She was afraid on land. She liked it best when we were underway and flying fish were presenting themselves to her for dinner. She liked standing on the transom of the dinghy and reaching in to the water for fish or even just for leaves passing by. When she was afraid of something on a dock, she would take flying leaps in to the water. When we were on passages, she would keep whoever was on watch company…and if there was work to be done on the boat, she faithfully supervised.
Having a cat on a boat is the best and worst thing we have done over the years. from worrying about entry in to countries we arrive to, and figuring out how to take a short trip inland for a few days is always agony. Not to mention having to carry and replenish heavy bags of cat sand, and food. But having a furry friend to hang out with in the evening or while on a long night watch underway…there is just no better friend to have on a boat.
She hated to be cuddled, she never purred once, and she fought with Patrick like a mean dog. She adjusted to every scenario on the boat that came her way, from revving engines, luffing sails, and grinding winches which did not phase her. She puked the first time we set sail, and then never did again. She would look to me for comfort in storms that we weren’t gonna sink…that was her biggest fear. I had to keep my calm for her…She learned to pee on a heal, and loved sushi. We held her while she was spayed, and when she came awake with one ovary in and one out. She was our silly Lily.
But a few years ago, in Malaysia, they were not able to immunize her for anything anymore. She had a constant fever, and suspected cancer in her lungs or nearby. They did not feel this was operable, nor would we put her through this trauma. She was terrified on land. They told us she had less than a year left.
She was always a feisty cat, but in her last few months of life, maybe she was uncomfortable with her fever, or maybe she was feeling progressively more pain. She would meow at visitors inviting a pat, and then haul off and scratch or bite them, alongwith a vicious hiss. She was hissing at her mamma, and wailing for her daddy when he wasn’t at the boat, and lashing out at momma when I tried to comfort her pitiful wales. She started biting through my skin, with bone crushing chomps. It was time to let our little boat friend go.
Patrick could not bear to be in the room when the vet injected the lethal fluid. But I had to hold her, and say a final goodbye. As the fluid entered her veins, and she collapsed in to me, I realized it was the first…and last time she would lean towards me. I had never once felt her full body weight against me. Yet for the first time, she actually was leaving me in a very final way. Before she only left me to stand a safe distance away. I have felt sad and guilty for weeks…maybe we should have tried harder to save her…she really was a special cat.
I spent days crying trying desperately to find a new little companion to fill the emptiness I felt. The SPCA would not adopt to me, since they have very strict rules about home visits for a year, and I could not guarantee they would find me every month for a year. They tried to make an exception, but their founders would not hear of it. So I joined Facebook and WhatsApp groups locally, and spread the word that I was looking for a furry friend.
It was important to me to try to find a cat who would be more affectionate this time. Lily always liked her daddy better… and would curl up next to him while he worked at the computer, though she rarely allowed anyone willingly to pick her up. When I did pick her up, I always held her paws so she wouldn’t get scared and scratch me. She never sat next to me…never ever uttered a purr, and never wanted me too close. Even though I was the one that made sure she had everything a cat could need or want, and comforted her when she was scared or held her steady when she couldn’t pee because the boat motion was just too rough, she liked me the least. Patrick says it was because I didn’t play with her as much as he did as a kitten. I cuddled her more…but apparently that’s not so important, or it wasn’t with Lily.
Coati…
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Someone told me to get a boy cat this time…citing that they are more affectionate, particularly to thier moms. I wanted another tiger cat…a tabby…with some white, but the other colors were not that important to me, though stripes or dots are always so pretty to me. I looked at dozens of kittens, mostly ones who were weeks from leaving their moms, and who didn’t really have personalities yet. But no little kitty was capturing my heart, except possibly a couple of girls.
Then a woman sent me an SMS on my phone. I am still not sure where she found me. She had just gotten a little kitten about 3 weeks ago, but for some reason her little pug dog was terrorizing it. He was a tiger, 12 weeks old. A little older than I wanted, but I promised I would come take a look, and did just a few hours later. South Africans don’t invite strangers in to their homes…it’s simply not safe. I was met in the driveway with this little boy named “Thunder”. He was terrified and when I sat in my car to get him out of the scary wind, he just wanted to go hide on the floor. I needed to know if he could warm to me, so against his will, I scooped him up and held him close. I wasn’t getting good vibes. But…then…he started to purr. Lily never purred once in all the time I knew her. But Thunder was purring. In fact his whole body was purring. I shut the door, soaked this up, and looked this little fellow over. Patrick noticed his longer than usual hair…and that he was a little old, maybe too old to be adapting to a boat…and talked the lady in to letting us have him for 2 days, and bringing him back if it wasn’t working out. He was sure I’d be allergic to him, if nothing else. It’s true…I’m very allergic to some cats, often longer haired cats. And for some, I am not at all…I can deep breathe in to their fur, and nothing. I was nuzzling this little boy and breathing him in, hoping for no sign of the sniffles….and nothing. And he was still purring away.
We took his vet card, a little bag of the food he had been eating, asked if he was litter trained and we drove home. He wouldn’t be satisfied on my lap…he had to watch out the window and meow excitedly at everyone and everything we passed.
When we got back to the boatyard, Patrick carried the groceries up the ladder, and I carried “Thunder”. I layed down on my bunk with him, and put him on my chest. Within 45 minutes of coming home, he was purring up a storm, kneading the soft blanket we shared, and was nestling in with me. I spent the rest of the day and the whole next day cuddling with him, soaking up those purrs. He would walk up the length of my body and come up to my face and rub my cheek. If I put my finger on his paw, he would wrap his other paw over the top. We were now inseparable. Then I realized he was crawling with fleas! So I went and got a small dose of Flea Away…a local concoction here in South Africa. I followed the directions carefully. I had researched it and knew that it would stimulate the nervous system of the fleas to the point of killing them. Within a few hours, I had Coati on a yellow blanket so we could see the fleas falling off her. I picked one at a time off of him and drowned them in mandarin vodka to be sure they were dead for sure. The fleas got quite active and ran all over poor little Coati who bit and scratched to get them off. I pulled them off as fast as I could, and put those in vodka too. There must have been 200 of them. This medicine will fight to kill any eggs too. I will reapply it again in a months time. Then I will switch over to Evolution since it kills more things. Maybe that was our bonding experience. h knew exactly what I was doing, and by the next morning he was flea free.
Patrick asked 2 days later if we were bringing him back, and I looked at him like he was crazy. What??!!? I have gotten more love from this little baby boy than I got from Lily for 7 years…there is no way we are bringing him back!!
Then I promptly broke out in tears, feeling so guilty for loving this little boy so much already, but giving up my Lily maybe too early. Even though Lily wasn’t a cuddly cat, at all, and was really a pretty ferocious tiger if we are to be honest, nobody could have asked for a better boat cat, or watch companion. She just didn’t have affection, as we humans know it, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t adore that cat.
We decided to rename Thunder to “Coati”. A Coati is an animal from the raccoon family, who lives in S America. It’s tail is nearly as long as its body, striped, and has a mask on his face, around his eyes. So put little masked kitten, with a long striped tail is called Coati. He doesn’t seem to know Thunder or Coati yet. But give him time..he’s a little smarty. I am trying to figure out to teach him to swim here, since there are crocs in the water here, I think I have to use the bathtub in the yacht club restroom!
He has adjusted to the sanders vibrating the hull, and loud music, and sudden crashes. He jumps around the deck like a monkey, and doesn’t mind the fresh breeze anymore, and pine cones surprising him as they get blown on to the deck. He looks longingly at the ground, but though he is brave ( he already is running up and down the companionway), he seems to know the metal ladder down to the ground is just not something he can try yet. I hope we can be in the water soon, since there are a lot of cats and monkeys around here that would LOVE him to venture down that ladder by himself. Mamma can only watch him so much. If it looks like he may try the stairs, he will have to be locked in at night. During the day he enjoys playing with momma or sleeping within 12 inches of me. During the night, as typical for a cat, he runs wild on deck, bounces off walls inside.
He has, however, NOT fully adjusted to Patrick yet. Patrick probably moves a little too quick, and has less time for him since he is working hard on the outside of the boat for 12 hours every day. I think Patrick may remind him of that big, fast rowdy, abusive pug dog from his baby days at the last house. Once he realizes Patrick is just gonna pet him or cuddle him, or play with him, his guard goes down. Hopefully in the next week or so, Patrick gets a purring machine who loves to hand him tools, and supervise his every move.
I still miss my Lily, but Coati is filling that hole, with love and laughs every hour of the day now. Thank you Lily, for sending Coati to give me those purrs and cuddles you know I wanted but just couldn’t seem to give me. You are my angel for sending such a little love. I will remember you forever….and I forgive you for the bites, and scratches…I’m sorry momma couldn’t do more for you.
Here are some photos of Lily first…and then Coati. You will see a lot more of Coati I think 😉
Here
Introducing Coati…
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