TheBanyanTree: Merlin

[Jodene]

I am so happy that Meelin had that nice welcoming committee.  I asked  
my Mutley to welcome him, too.


Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 25, 2012, at 11:33 PM, Roger <woodcatau at gmail.com> wrote:

> Merlin
>
> The chubby male tabby cat with white chest and paws came to us just  
> two and
> a half years ago, the self-appointed guardian of a very young female  
> kitten
> that Barbara the cat rescue lady two suburbs away had scooped up  
> from death
> row at a Sydney shelter just 24 hours before. When we looked at their
> papers we found that he was about fifteen months old and she was  
> thought to
> be four months old. He was quite confident, moreso than might be  
> expected
> as he had been treated badly during his first six months; she,  
> however, was
> very shy and insecure and beneath her long haired fluffiness there was
> little substance. We named them Merlin and Midgley.
>
> During the weeks and months that followed we blessed the fact of  
> having
> adopted Merlin at the same time as Midge. Without fail he was her  
> shadow,
> teacher and protector; without him we would have had serious  
> difficulties
> in getting her to do anything. Not that he himself was perfect by any
> means. He was often clumsy - whereas she rarely moved without  
> knowing where
> she was going and how to get there, on his own he rushed headlong into
> situations causing mayhem and breakages galore. She quickly learned  
> their
> meal routine, accepted her portion, consumed it deliberately,  
> methodically
> and without pause. For him mealtime never finished; nothing edible  
> was safe
> unless it was in a container with a secure lid. So in this sense the  
> two of
> them would be opposites for some time to come, Midge light and
> insubstantial beneath her furriness, Merlin overweight.
>
> From their first night in our rented house in Canberra they slept  
> together
> in the laundry along with our patriarch ginger tom Woodstock. Each  
> morning
> when I let them all out the kittens as we called them would eat and  
> drink
> from the same bowls watched over by the older cat. The house not far  
> from
> the NSW south coast to which we moved in June last year is open plan  
> and
> there is no way they could be isolated - yet they still slept  
> together,
> during the winter in front of the kitchen stove where it was always  
> warm
> and in the warmer months anywhere that was comfortable.
>
> In late December Merlin began to have problems with furballs. We  
> sought
> vet help for him and dosed him with laxatives without much success.  
> For a
> time he stopped eating but then gradually the difficulties seemed to  
> cure
> themselves and he became somewhat like his usual self. Then, early in
> January, he collapsed and tests run by the vet said he was severely
> anaemic. I brought him home last Friday, over the weekend he seemed  
> to be
> improving then early Tuesday morning he collapsed again so we rushed  
> him
> back to the vet.
>
> (There is a garden in the sky where the sun shines every day, the  
> grass is
> always green and there are paved and unpaved paths for residents and
> visitors  to walk or run upon. There is a wall around the garden, a  
> gate to
> gain entrance and just inside there is a pool kept full and alive by a
> waterfall. The guardian of the garden, a Golden Dragon, lives in the  
> cave
> behind the waterfall and during the day suns himself on a handy rock  
> from
> where he can watch over the gate.
>
> At 6am on Wednesday 25th January 2012 the gate of the garden opened to
> admit a tabby cat named Merlin and then closed quietly behind him.  
> Eagerly
> awaiting him was a reception party of six - a German Shepherd  
> (Lucy), an
> Australian Silky Terrier (Dylan Thomas), two tabby cats (Bosun and
> Alberta), a black cat (Spot) and an alpaca named Tourmaline.)
>
> Roger