Tomorrow is a pretty eventful day for the site on all the things that July 27 means so I’m posting this landmark early, the day Nemo came home to become part of our family.
Over five years ago, Somara was working in Georgetown and while on an errand she saw something tumbling off the shoulder. Upon further examination, it was a kitten who had just been hit by a car! She pulled over to investigate the animal’s situation and fortunately he was still alive. The jackhole that hit him only ran over his front-left leg so Somara rushed him to the vet. I don’t know if he was frozen in terror like the dog I rescued but the little monster bit her on the knuckle as if he were a pit bull. All part of the shock according to the vet yet some days I wonder with how much he misbehaves.
Somara notified me of the whole incident by e-mail and I agreed to help pay for this kitten’s injuries. Eventually we decided to keep him because most people don’t want a maimed pet. Due to his unknown origin plus the demonstration of his vise-like jaw, Nemo was quarantined by the vet until the day we brought him home. At first, he lived in Somara’s office for a week to get accustomed to us. The other three (Wicca, Molly and Miette) suspected another creature and when he decided to venture forth, Nemo was welcomed in the usual cat fashions: hissing, growling and swatting. The real surprise was Miette’s sudden willingness to play with him. Wicca dislikes all cats and Molly attacks any cats to assert her alpha role, thus they’ve never changed their attitude toward him.
There was an ongoing argument about his name too. I wanted to call him Ashe since Bruce Campbell’s infamous hero is missing a hand. I could use Photoshop to put a chainsaw on him for Halloween jokes. Somara insisted on naming him Nemo, Latin for “nobody” and it became more fitting with the Pixar movie the following Summer. I wouldn’t say his injured paw was lucky neither as it was for the cartoon fish. It had to be cleaned and covered with fresh bandages every so often. Then there was always the lingering possibility of the whole leg having to be amputated. By 2005 we and our vet decided the leg would be fine which was a relief; one of his bad habits is to stick his bum paw in the water dish and then he leaves a wet trail for a while. The bandages only prolonged his mess-making ability. I think he’d miss the leg too as he uses it to set up a rope-a-dope move against Molly.
Despite having a bad leg, he’s all cat. Nemo hates taking a bath, fears going to the vet, pisses on things when he’s mad at you and the girls have delegated the responsibility of pestering us when they’re hungry to him: he knows how to knock down books, bang on the blinds and pull on the carpet; anything to generate noise.
Somara shot a couple little movies of him playing with a sock full of catnip and put it to some music I was saving for a special occasion. Check out how full of hell he is at five years by clicking here. Enjoy.