Feral Cat Behavior

Getting out of the car with a sack full of groceries, the sack burst open and cat food cans rolled out on the ground. One rebellious can decided to hide underneath my car. When I bent down to retrieve the can, as I reached for it, I felt and heard something pop in my shoulder. “Uh oh, “I thought, “not again!”

Originally fighting this shoulder injury had taken me took over two years. X-rays and MRI’s revealed no torn rotator cuff as originally suspected by my orthopedic doctor, but instead I had severe tendonitis, arthritis and scar tissue built up. Pain killers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory drugs were only band-aids. They covered the hurt for a little while, but as soon as the high went away, the pain returned. Not until I went into alternative medicine as a means to control the pain, did the pain leave. Three months of acupuncture treatments had done the job. I had been pain free for about 8 months.

Now I knew that I had seriously re-injured the shoulder. Movement was limited. Unable to raise my arm over my waist and fighting major pain spasms, I stumbled into the house. Lying down on the couch only increased the agony. Tears of pain and frustration poured down my face and I grabbed for the Advil bottle, a heating pad and went to lie down in the bedroom.

Easing myself down on the bed, openly sobbing from the pain, I heard my cat Guinevere leave the safety of her bed. Guinevere had been with us for about 6 months. Horribly treated by her owner, the abuse he inflicted on her left her unable to move in cat-like style. She had been rescued from the shelter and now inhabited our master bedroom. A chaise cushion on the floor and heated bed mat provided her with a low-lying comfort zone as she was unable to climb without major difficulty. A friend of mine had thoughtfully provided me with carpeted cat stairs that she used from time to time. The stairs were propped against the bed.

I could hear her get up and start the climb unto the bed. This endeavor took several minutes as she tried to maintain her balance in her stumbling gait. Soon she was beside me. I was lying on my good side with my back toward her. I told her that I welcomed her presence, but there was no way I could move and pet her. She answered me by climbing up and onto my shoulder. Using her front claws, she gently hooked them through the blanket that covered me. She eased herself up and over the most painful part of my shoulder and neck. Then she settled her full weight down on me. Although the added weight increased the pain, I had no energy to remove her. Then she began to purr and the sound was different. Not like anything I had ever heard her make before. Her head, so close to my ear directed her purrs right into my ear canal.
We both slept this way all night.

In the morning, I found I could move the arm, and instead of constant pain there was only a gentle ache. My neck which was so stiff the day before showed great improvement in movement.

I talked to a friend of mine that morning. Dusty is a wonderful, intuitive, intelligent lady who knows cats. She told me about studies that reveal that cats can use their purrs much the same way a physical therapist uses electrodes to shock frozen limbs and stiff muscles into movement. The MHz which the cat puts out is comparable to the machines without the shock factor.

Amazing to me, is the concept of this cat with a broken body, being empathetic enough to understand my pain. Intuitively she knew she could help me. Perhaps return the favor of me removing her from the shelter and bringing her into our home, by her offering her warmth and healing purrs in gratitude for the save.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 11:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.