Swat…swat…swat…”meow” swat…swat…swat..swat..”Meow!” SWAT….SWAT…SWAT…”MEOW!”
Opening my eyes, I see Fiona’s caliconess staring at me. For the last few minutes she has been swatting my cheek lightly and meowing. “Mom…mom…wake up!” I groan and roll over looking at the clock. 6:00 a.m. Two hours later than she normally wakes me up. Closing my eyes trying to sink back into the oblivion of sleep, Fiona is relentless. Finally after the umpty-dozenth swat, I get up.
I know what Fiona wants. She doesn’t want her ears rubbed, she doesn’t want to be petted or spoken to. She doesn’t want food. How do I know? I can hear the grinding of the water fountain in the kitchen. In the middle of the night, this kitchen oasis has run dry. Fiona wants water.
She doesn’t want a bowl of water set on the floor, a trickle of water from the kitchen sink or a drink from the hose. She wants her fountain fixed and she wants it NOW…MEOW!
She paces relentlessly below me as I struggle through sleep to dismantle this older Drinkwell Fountain. Like a caged lion she weaves in between my feet and when she thinks this is taking entirely to long- she swats my leg with her claws unsheathed- OUCH!
“Will you knock it off?” I say to her below. “This thing ain’t easy to mess with.”
Finally, fountain disembled, cat hair cleaned from the pump and put back together, I pour the water into the reservior filling it and plug the unit in. The minute it starts to whirr, she ceases her pacing and goes over to catch the water spilling over into the bowl.
I look down at this calico girl amused. Maybe she knows something I don’t? Perhaps this is her fountain of youth- her entertainment for the day. A satisfying drink of water when so long ago water and food was denied her as she struggled to live within the confines of a small bird cage. Whatever she thinks, she is happy now and her purr takes over the room. Maybe, instead of the coffee brewing on the stove, I should just kneel down and join her at the bowl- especially if it is a fountain of youth!
Oh I know that sound. We have a couple fountains in our house – one of which sprung a leak witin the first week – I couldn’t figure out what the sound was at first but then I found it. The things are hard to clean and when they get cat hair in the pump it is a pain – but leaking was not something I expected. There is something about the fountains that the cats just love though – which is a good thing.
Amazing… You are totally the rock of the cat world. Fiona knows it!