Thursday 18 June 2020

Farewell to Papuś

Out cat died today. Papuś was 18. She came to our house as a kitten, born on Wujek Janusz's działka in Żabieniec is 2002. When she arrived, she'd been outside in an early frost (having run away during a previous attempt to scoop her up and bring us over to us. The morning after her arrival, I found a small, furry triangle on the kitchen floor. On closer examination, there was blood coming from one edge. It was the tip of her right ear; frostbitten, it had fallen off.

She was always a bit wild; not trusting humans fully until her old age, when she'd miaow whenever she wanted to be stroked, scratched or have her fur combed. Before that it was just  'miaow' = "I want feeding" or 'miaow' = "I want to be let out".

Below: 2007; overfed by Pani Zosia, Papuś was quite chubby as a five-year-old cat. But this was a happy time for her, the only pet in the house, if chased around a bit by Eddie.


Below: fat cat, Easter 2013.


Things took a turn for the worse for Papuś when a new cat arrived in 2013 - Lila the stray from Łódź. Matters got worse when Lila got pregnant and gave birth to four kittens. One died, two were given away, but Lila's firstborn kitten, Czester, ended up staying. A beloved cat, Czester was everyone's favourite. Papuś was relegated to a supporting role. Sadly, Lila died of feline immunodeficiency disease in 2015; shortly after Czester was run over by a speeding car on ulica Karczunkowska. That left Papuś once again as the only cat in the house.

Her last few years were probably her happiest; the human children grown up and left home, no feline rivals. Fed properly, her weight returned to normal.

Towards the end, she'd go out less often, just a couple of times this summer did she miaow that she wanted to be let outdoors. Cats age better than humans. Even at the age of 15, she could still take a running leap and make it up to the kitchen window, sitting patiently on the ledge waiting for a late-night human to let her into the house. 

Sleep would occupy most of her day in her old age, but she would also spent time wistfully gazing out of  the window looking at the garden or the drive. What was she thinking? Memories of younger days? Or still scouting for shrews and other rodents that she was once adept at catching? These were the last photos I took of her alive, 10 May 2020.



Looking at me. "What's male human pointing that black thing in front of his face at me?"


This morning, I brushed her fur; shortly after a massive storm brewed up. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Papuś left her usual spot on the lounge and took refuge in her basket under the stairs. Two hours later, she was still - dead - bereft of the life that had been in this feline body for 18 years.


I buried her in the far end of the garden, besides Lila. As I did so, I was singing Lonesome Valley by the Fairfield Four, from the grave-digging scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Where are their souls now? All in God, God in All.

This time last year:

This time two years ago
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics reviewed

This time three years ago:
Now it belongs to the ages - on Great Works of Art

This time four years ago:
More Brictorian Liverpool

This time five years ago:
Łódź - city of tenements
[Gosh! five years since I bought a flat there!]

This time six years ago:
Liverpool reborn

This time seven years ago:
What goes round comes around: retro is cool - again.

This time eights years ago:
Warsaw's southern bypass by this time next year?

This time nine years ago:
Stand Easy! - a short story

This time 12 years ago:
God Save The Queen - I mean it, Ma'am

8 comments:

Mat said...

I'm so sorry for your loss. A pet is like a member of the family and I can understand it can be really hard for you when she's gone now.
There is a beautiful and sad Queen song about cat's death - 'All dead, all dead': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQHi1QXboo

Michael Dembinski said...

@ Mat

Many thanks for your kindness. Brian May's lyrics feel more appropriate to poor Lila, but what a lovely song - entirely unknown to me!

Michal Karski said...

Sad to lose a little friend. We lost ours back in March. He found his way to us because he had belonged to a couple who were splitting up and couldn't keep him, so a friend of theirs gave him to another friend, who gave him to us. This was back in 2011. I didn't think we'd be able to keep him because I am usually allergic to cats but I was fine with him. His name, according to the first friend, was Armani. My wife said she wasn't about to stand at the kitchen door shouting 'Armani', so our son decided to call him Arnie. So Arnie it was and somehow it suited him. It was only after he died that the first friend discovered from one of the original owners, who was Kenyan, that his actual name was not Armani, but Amani, which is Swahili for 'peace'. We still miss him. Amazing how attached you get to the little creatures. Best wishes.

Michael Dembinski said...

@Michał Karski

Friends of mine from university had a succession of cats and dogs, and their advice is that male cats and female dogs are better pets than female cats or male dogs. Our dear Czester was the life and soul; female cats are not particularly sociable. Having said that, Papusia was at her best - most communicative - in her last few years. I will indeed miss her.

Jacek Koba said...

Cats - they take your heart (dogs merely give you theirs)! The only true poetry in motion - so a poem and a story (in verse) to warm your hear and put your Polish language skills through its paces: Cats, no less liquid than their shadows, by A.S.J. Tessimond, which I am sure you know, and ... the story to which I grew up, whose magic I shrouded myself in, and recited after lights-out in times of anxiety (including now): O Krakowskim Kocie, by Hanna Januszewska. It is illustrated by Jan Marcin Szancer, which is like saying: anything illustrated by Arthur Rackham in Britain, which takes you to another world. If you have trouble finding the latter, I will gladly email it to you.

20 years ago I roamed the streets of Warsaw with a zoom lens camera and documented the life of Warsaw alley cats for a magazine called Kocie Sprawy. An experience not to be forgotten!

Gordon Hawley said...

Michael,

I'm so sorry for your loss. My dear Sylvester died in 1998 and Riffie in 2007. I still miss them both. One day we will all be together again.

Gordon

Wilkbury said...

Michael,
I am really sorry about your loss...
Cats have been with me almost since I remember and it's always a hard time when a furry friend goes away...

Michael Dembinski said...

@ Jacek Kuba, @ Michał Karski, @ Gordon Hawley, @ Wilkbury

Many thanks for your supportive words - a period of healing is in order; my wife is contemplating a pair of vivacious kittens for the autumn - we shall see. I do miss Papuś - still can feel her moving silently about the house.

Cats have souls, for certain.