Anyone here ever hear of 'wolf-children'? Mowgli in Kipling's Jungle Book was one... apparently there really have been some. Strayed or orphaned children found and raised by wolves.
I think I'm a cat-child. I was really more parented by a cat than by either my Nmom or Edad (E for Enabler)... and throughout my childhood my Nmom must have known this because she frequently expressed hatred for the family cats (never dogs) and did a lot of things that I now realize were intended to harm or indirectly kill my cat in particular.
Such as, every morning, letting the cat out when (a) my mother knew she (the cat) would follow me to the school bus stop, (b) there were hot-rodding jerks all over the neighborhood and pets did get killed, and (c) both I and my Edad had repeatedly asked my mother NOT TO DO THIS. So, every morning, I left for the bus stop, my evil B**** mother let my cat out, my cat would run after me meowing, I'd pick her up and bring her home, I'd miss the bus, and my dad would drive me to school. After a while he just took me to school, period. But he couldn't collect me, so I varied my route home from the bus stop every afternoon. That way my cat wouldn't learn to go there and wait for me.
But when I got home! We'd play tag (chase each other around the outside of the house), and hiding games, and if she couldn't find me she had a unique call she'd make. I knew better than to stay hiding if I heard that sound, because she was distressed. In the evening she'd go into my room and stand and yell, because she knew I should be doing homework... at least, she knew I should be at my desk doing something. And it was she who knew my bedtime, and she who fell asleep on my bed, night after night, with her little kitty head tucked into my upturned palm. I fell asleep to a purr lullaby.
When I had severe strep throat, she never left me except to eat and visit the kitty loo. [Later on, two other kitties kept me from dying from pneumonia in much the same way.] I'd wake up to find her watching over me, like a little sphinx on my pillow.
Despite my Nmom's efforts, the kitty lived to a ripe old age, and when we were both still very young she had one litter of kittens (and moved them into my room as soon as they were old enough to move - and had me babysitting them - what a gift of trust!)
I've gone to some lengths for cats too - it's not all one sided. Years after this kitty had passed away, I rescued two feral kittens by feeding them closer and closer to my apt., then just inside the door, then across the living room [shut the door, voila, pets!] - it took six weeks of careful work after that to tame them, but then we belonged to each other for seventeen years, and I put off taking a dream job overseas until I knew for sure I could buy their cat food there. They went with me. It was a package deal. And they came back with me too. These are the ones who saved me from pneumonia. And when they became terminally ill, I cared for them and sat with them and held them and sang to them and helped them fight as long as they found enjoyment in their lives and wanted to continue fighting, and then held them close as they went peacefully to sleep. [And was devastated, and a zombie, for months afterwards.]
From time to time I seem to lose my ability to connect with people. I'll watch people interact and it seems as though there's a plate glass window between us - had this pretty much all weekend, and hated it. But thank God, that glass wall never goes up with cats. No matter how isolated and cut off I feel, my cats are always warmth and light.
