I'm a journalist, semi-retired. I write about environmental issues, mainly fracking. I've also begun a book about the cats in my life. Doris Lessing's PARTICULARLY CATS . . . AND RUFUS is one of the truly great animal books, and an impossible act to follow, as is MY DOG TULIP by JR Ackerley. But I may persist . . . . In late May I saw an ad for a young female Bengal whose owner was leaving for the Dominican Republic for his work; he couldn't take her with him. I knew something about Bengals, having done a lot of research about cat breeds after the last of my beloved trio of Siamese siblings died at nearly 20. I'd originally decided a Bengal probably wasn't the cat for me, but having seen the ad I went to visit her and committed to her. I was so naive I didn't ask for pedigree papers - on the other hand the pedigree wasn't uppermost in my mind. She was a lovely cat with the most beautiful, perpetually astonished-looking eyes! You've all read my distressed complaints about Bella's temperament. Many thanks to Sherry for taking me to true task; this was indeed my problem and not Bella's - I'm at a stalemate in my work, no longer travel as I used to do for reporting, so I'm at home probably too much. It's something of a kind of forced retirement and I'm having BIG problems adjusting. I guess I just got fixated on cats . . . . well, anyway. What was I going to say. I've been in touch with the sister of Bella's former owner, and she has given me information about Bella that makes me understand my lovely cat better. For instance: her ferocity at the vet's -- she turned into a demon, growling, hissing, clawing. One vet simply gave up. At the next clinic they had to swaddle her to take her temperature and her blood. What I didn't know was this: she had a terrible experience of being spayed. I don't know exactly what happened, but it was very traumatic for her. The sister of her former owner just brought tears to my eyes when she told me. She also said that Bella is "very needy even though she may not seem to be" and that she needs lots of affection. Which also brought tears to my eyes. So I promptly went into the living room where Bella lay on the dining room table and began kissing her all over and talking to her. Whereupon she licked my face many times. I cried. So there we are. This has been like the rocky start of a marriage! I've composed a song for her and for those of you with knowledge of music I'll transcribe it at some point. The lyrics are: "Hello, my Bella, Bella, Bella. Hello, my Bella Bengal cat; hello, my Bella, Bella, Bella. I love you, and you love me, and that is that!"
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