Cammie's New Adventure

Cammie will be leaving me. A lady from Regina saw her on the rescue-group's website and would like to adopt her. In case you are not from these parts (and most people in the world are not), Regina is about seven and a quarter hours away from Lethbridge, where I live. One assumes that that time is under ideal driving conditions and travelling at about sixty miles per hour.

Regina is, I think, twice the size of Lethbridge, and the metropolis of Saskatchewan, so a question was asked as to why a cat from hundreds of miles away was chosen. This lady (I will call her Beatrice, though that is not her name) simply likes blue-point Siamese cats. There is nothing wrong with choosing a cat based on her looks; there must always be a starting point for one's attention. I have spoken to Beatrice and I am sure Cammie will find a very good home with her. The point is that there was no other cat closer to Regina with whom Beatrice was taken.

The plan at this point is that she and a friend will be driving to Lethbridge on the first day of May to collect my little foster-cat.

This will be a hard parting for me, I think. Cammie is not like many other cats. A cat such as, for instance, Tungsten, would adapt well to a sudden change. It would not have fazed the late Bear-Bear much at all. But Cammie was very distrustful when she came to me. It has taken months, nearly a year, for her to reach the stage she has reached. This certainly does not mean that she cannot trust another person; far from it. But time must be given. Patience is needed. It may be six months before Beatrice has Cammie on her lap. It may be three months before Cammie lets a new person pet her.

I may be wrong about this. It may be that Cammie, now that she knows there are humans whom she can trust and who will treat her well, will be more open to receiving the attentions of others. In any case, I see no reason why, given time, she won’t settle in at Beatrice’s and make a home there for the rest of her hopefully very long life.

Cammie is a cat for whom one must work. She isn’t an instant pet, so time and patience is the key to winning her over. That is my worry. I can tell someone that it may be a long while before Cammie will welcome any touch, but experiencing her reticence is another matter.

Advantages to Cammie’s prospective new situation are that there will be just one other cat, an easy-going fellow her own age. I don’t worry about Cammie integrating with other cats. She will tell them how it’s going to be, and that’s that. With a feline roommate who won’t bother her much, the adjustment should be relatively simple. After all, Cammie knows from her time with me that most cats may be either ignored or put in their places. There will be more people getting to know Cammie. This will be confusing for her at first, but as Beatrice has family, her new cat will be getting to know them simultaneously to getting to know Beatrice. Cammie may soon come to trust several humans, and that will make life much more enjoyable for her.

Nonetheless, it will be hard letting my foster-cat go, especially as her departure is coming so soon after the BB’s. Of course, Cammie’s leaving is much more desirable than Bear-Bear’s, but it will still leave a space that won’t be filled. The Earth fills holes in itself with dirt and rock; the body heals wounds so that they are often invisible. The gaps among the objects of one’s affections last forever.