Friday, August 3, 2007

Petunia

Tuesday night, Kyle and I are out for a late walk in our neighbourhood. On our way home, I hear a cat meowing and call it over so that I can pet it.

.....
We pause on the sidewalk to hear more meowing and a weird rustling noise. But no cat. Then, all of a sudden, the cat appears and Kyle and I nervously take a step backward. The cat is not walking toward us but dragging herself furiously in our direction with her front paws. Her back legs and tail are motionless, trailing in the dirt behind her. She scooches up to me and starts dragging herself around my legs, meowing and waiting for some love.
...
"Oh crap. I think this cat has been hit by a car or something."
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"What should we do?"
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"I don't know. We could take her to an emergency clinic. But I'm afraid to pick her up. I might hurt her."
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Meanwhile, the cat is still meowing and trying to get some affection. I nervously lean down to pet her. She definitely doesn't seem in pain and keeps scraping herself along the sidewalk between Kyle and myself. As we look down at her in the dark, we see something smooth discoloured on her back end. Kyle and I both think it must be road rash.
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"I could go home and get a box while you wait with the cat."
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"Hey! She's wearing a diaper. A little purple plastic cat diaper!"
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"Weird...So she's probably okay."
.......
"Yeah, but who would leave her outside if her back legs are paralyzed? She can't run away from anything and would get herself worked in a cat fight. She must have escaped."
.......
It's eleven o'clock. Kyle starts looking toward the nearby houses to see if any have lights on. He notices a woman standing in the window of one, watching us. By this time we've probably been standing around for five minutes discussing what we should do with the cat. Kyle walks up to the house and knocks on the door. I can overhear their conversation from where I stand petting the cat.
.........
Friendly Woman: Oh you scared me!
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Kyle: Um...do you have a cat that doesn't walk so well?
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Woman: Oh yeah. That's Petunia! She's a paraplegic. She's been like that for three years. Most people clue in when they see the diaper.
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Kyle: Oh okay. We thought maybe she'd escaped.
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Woman: No. She loves to run around outside. She doesn't know she's challenged and she's not in any pain. We built a ramp for her at the back door.
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Kyle: Okay. I just thought I'd check.
....
Meanwhile Petunia is still happily dragging herself in circles on the sidewalk beside me. Shaking our heads and laughing, we head home in the dark with Petunia following us for a few metres before we outpace her.

5 comments:

DaveJenn said...

That is really weird! I don't get the diaper thing ... but I guess if you can't walk properly then you probably cant take a dump without getting it all over you. Can you imagine changing a cats diaper??

geeksbewithyou said...

Man! Talk about a tasty coyote snack waiting to happen.

Sounds sweet though.

Avey said...

Why do people have such a hard time putting animals down? Sometimes it's more cruel to keep them around then to just end it. That is such a weird story. What did Heather think of it?

kinneyland said...

How very odd.
It's weird the lady just assumes no one would think the cat is hurt or missing and try to help it.

Heather M. said...

That is really weird. I missed the end of the story when you were telling it tonight. A cat diaper?! Weird.

 
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