Meet Dusty
by Dusty My name is Dusty and I now live with Jessie, Sassy, Right and Left. For 15 years I have been an only kitty and suddenly I am number 5 in this crazy, noisy, fun-filled family. Things are starting to settle down a little, but I only get along with Jessie right now. My human always kept me trimmed like a lion, which made everyone laugh, humiliating I know, but my Fafur loved it. When he got sick he didn’t brush me, or take me to the beauty shop like he usually did, so now my fur is starting to grow long and is matted quite badly. My new Meowmie, who is actually my Auntie Barb, says that I am going to go to the beauty shop this week, heavy sigh..... that must mean a hair cut is in my future. But she promised me that when she gets all the mats out and I let her brush me properly, I won’t have to have another hair cut. She says I am high maintenance, whatever that means. When I was living at my house, my fafur got sick and went away in a big white car with a red cross on it, Auntie Barb came every day to my house to make sure I had food, water and my litter box was clean. She would talk to me and once in a while try to pet me, but I wouldn’t allow that. The only human I love is my Daddy, and I have never allowed any human but him to pet me. Then one day a few weeks after Daddy went away, Auntie Barb came to the house and started cleaning and moving furniture around in the living room. She said my Daddy was coming home! Later that afternoon a big truck came to the house and delivered a lift, wheel chair, oxygen, nebulizer, hospital bed, hospital table, and all kinds of medical things, everyone was busy setting things up, so I hid under the bed. Auntie Barb said that we could take Dad for a ride in his new wheel chair and I could sit in his lap if I wanted to. The next morning Auntie Barb was there and bustled around making sure everything was ready for the big day, coming home day for my Daddy! And home he came, they brought him in and put him in that stupid looking bed, and things slowly settled down to a new routine in our house. Auntie Barb moved right into the house, then she pushed a small end table next to the bed so I could use that to crawl into bed with my beloved Daddy. We spent hours cuddled together, Daddy and I. On the bad days when he was agitated or was having a hard time, I just scooted to the edge of the bed, but I stayed right there. Every day nurses and doctors and volunteers would come and give him a bath, shave his whiskers and tend to his needs, and I stayed right on that bed making sure they did things just right. The nurses and volunteers got so used to me being there, they even changed the bedding with me there, but most of the time I would move to the table while they were doing that. If for some reason I had to make a quick trip out of the room they always asked where I was. But all too soon I noticed that things were changing and that my beloved Daddy was getting ready to go to the Rainbow Bridge and I didn’t leave his side for anything. I curled up as close to him as I could get and stayed right there. One day Auntie Barb was holding his hand and talking gently to him, and I was curled right up to his chest, and he took the softest little breath, and just slipped away. I stayed for about 5 more minutes then got down from the bed and went into the bedroom and hid under the bed. My Daddy was gone. But Auntie Barb gathered me up later that night and took me to her house and it has been like a big circus ever since. Maybe one of these days things will settle down. I get along with Jessie ok, mainly because she just ignores me, and Sassy wanted to be friends at first but I didn’t, now she doesn’t like me very much, but she is nicer to me than the boyz. Right was so upset that he cried pitifully for a week and now his hair is falling out. But Left, he is terrified of me and won’t even eat till I go back into the bedroom, silly boy kitty. When I first got here Auntie Barb put my carrier down in the living room and after a little while let me out, but everyone that was curious about me while I was in the cage, got real mad when I came out, so I ran like the wind for the bedroom and hid under Auntie Barbs bed. I didn’t come out for days, the next morning she put a litter box, food and water down for me next to the bed I was hiding under. The minute she had the litter box set up, I was out from under that bed in a flash, used the box and ran back under the bed. It has been a month now, and I wander around the house and eat meals with everyone (that is always melodramatic to say the least). I like to join the family at night when they are all in the living room watching TV, but the boyz seem to have a problem with that. So to encourage me to stay, Auntie Barb gives Sassy and me some treats, Jessie and Left don’t like treats and Righty won’t come near me. But as time goes on, things get easier. Right doesn’t cry anymore and some of his hair is starting to grow back in, Left will come in the kitchen for meals if Mom is with him, Sassy and I both sleep on the bed with Meowmie with a minimun of drama and Jessie still wanders around like nothing has changed in her world. Things will never be normal again, but if we all try to get along, it will get better. Anyway, this is who I am, and how I came to be a part of the BFCC Zine.
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