As I have done the past three years, I wanted to write a
special post for Dolly’s Third Birthday. On her First Birthday I wrote about my
top twelve moments from the first twelve months of her life. On her Second Birthday I blogged about the past twenty four months with Dolly and some of my
favourite memories.
Note: I also blogged about the day I got Dolly; and you can
read that here
To mark her Third Birthday I’d like to tell you all my three
favourite things about Dolly…
1.
“She’s a trooper!”
A good few months ago now, Dolly became
poorly. She was wrongly diagnosed twice (first with a urine infection, and
second with Cystitis) and eventually after lots of antibiotics and medications,
I took her to the local emergency vets ready to demand that she have tests if
they tried to send me home. The entire time, Dolly was still Dolly. Just
quieter. Subdued. She plodded on though. It turned that out that she had blood
clots in her bladder. She had a barrage of tests, scans, and medication but she
pulled through and came out the other end! I worried that she’d become
aggressive after hearing that the staff had to sedate her for any interaction
with her because she’d been so vicious.
But actually; she was nicer than
before! I think that, she’d been treat the way she had (she was left to sleep
in her own pee because they were apparently
too scared of her and didn’t want to sedate her unless necessary) with all of
the restraints and pain and now she appreciated love and affection so much
more! It was probably the most scary experience with Dolly but she pulled
through and afterwards, when she was cleaned off and had had a nice meal and a
nap, Ronnie (my Fiance) said she was a ‘trooper’ and I couldn’t think of a
better description for her. 
2.
Her quirks.
I think that most animals/pets will have
this; a particular habit. A way they like things to be done. A strange way that they like things to be
done! In Dolly’s case, she likes the smell of catnip but not actual treats with
catnip in. She likes sitting and watching people in the rain but not actually
going out in the rain. She likes it when her scratch post wobbles about and she
nearly falls off but doesn’t like any other object that can suddenly move. She
likes heights but is useless at landing on all four paws. She’s completely
litter trained but will go to the toilet on my bed if she can get away with it.
She likes to roll around on her back, exposing her fluffy tummy (she’s a MaineCoon) but won’t let anyone but me tickle her tummy. She likes to roll around in
front of the armchair but doesn’t actually go under it. She likes talking to
birds but gets scared when they come near her. She likes watching the laser pen
dot but isn’t interested in actually catching it. She likes feathery toys but
hates when her fluff gets stuck in her mouth when she’s grooming. She likes
getting cosy on the settee but prefers to sleep in a cardboard box. When she
comes running to the door for you but then goes off and doesn’t want to know.
3.
Her ways with people.
Dolly is a very complicated cat. I’m sure
many pets pick and choose the people in the household that they like best but
Dolly just takes things to a whole new level! When I first got her, I was still
unwell and there was one instance when the Police thought that I lying
unconscious in my home so they caved the door in. Dolly was home alone (I was
already in Hospital for an overdose). For a long time, after that, she had
problems getting along with anyone who dared come in the house. It got to the
point where one of my support workers refused to come in unless Dolly was
locked in another room and after she attacked me I talked to the Behaviour
Therapist at the Vets about giving her up. She had a few months of an
anti-anxiety medication (for cats) and now… Obviously she lives with me and so she
has the best, most stable relationship with me; she lets me tickle her tummy,
get random bits of dirt off of her face, and stroke her whilst she’s sleeping.
But there are times when she’ll scratch me and do an angry meow when I even go
near her. Second to me, I think she probably sees Ronnie the most. She’ll have
some really good, loving moments with him; rubbing up against him, running to
greet him when he comes over, going on his lap, having her chin scratched… But
nine times out of ten, she’s usually rubbing against him because he’s feeding
her, and she is usually just crossing over his lap to get to somewhere else…
She does seem to have befriended my support worker and cleaner though; letting
them go near her and often even stroke her! And she loves my Mum most of the
time. She’s even jumped onto my Mum’s knee and lay down, purring and nodding
off to sleep. But when Mum goes to stroke her when she’s on her scratch post…
She’ll bite her hand off!
Dolly’s biggest achievement this year?
Featuring on the NATIONAL BBC News!!