Silke comes Home, the first story

Silke comes home!

Hola! I am Silke! Silke is a German’s girls name, the German’s say Zilka. But my Forever Human says Silka, many though, call me Silky!

I was born in a country called Spain with 3 brothers and was around 2 weeks old when my eyes opened for the first time and I could see them. My Mother was fluffy and warm, kind and gentle. Human hands sometimes picked us up, very gently.

Humans do not smell like cat. They smell of many things, including human!

As we grew, we played and fought. Mother taught us as much as she could too. My brothers played rough sometimes, they are bigger and stronger than me, I had to fight back harder and rougher to teach them respect.

One day 2 of my brothers disappeared. Then another. Then there was just me and mother cat. I was sad. I missed my brothers to play with, and snuggle up to.

Humans came and picked me up, some are rough, some kind. I did not like being picked up.

I learnt to wriggle, scratch, and bite as well as making warning yowls and growls so that they left me alone.

As a cat you can learn some words human’s use. But not all. Sometimes we try to say them back but it is not easy for us even though we can make more sounds than a dog, and use chirrups, miaows, screams and growls to express ourselves. Often the sound of a human voice tells us all we need to know, from soft kind whispers to shouts. We don't like lots of noise.

Our tails are totally out of control and always tell you how our mood is.

Cats are moody. Mostly calm, but upset us and we get angry quickly.

We are sensitive creatures, with ears that hear better than a human, whiskers that detect air movement in the dark and help us to react fast in a fight. We can smell much better than humans too. Not quite as good as dogs, but almost. We also like to taste smells with a special part of our mouths. Even our fur is sensitive, and we feel air movement.

Our tongues are rough, like sand paper, it helps with our grooming and getting meat off a bone. Our paws are very sensitive which is why we don't like humans touching them.

And we have teeth and claws to hunt, and fight with.

Negra! people kept saying…That is Spanish for black….Many people do not like black cats….I am jet black. I am a cat. My fur does not change anything about me. Except that I can hide in the shadows and pounce on your ankles because you cannot see me!

I am a friendly cat like my mother, just don't pick me up, so humans are fine with me in fact I like them.

I knew I needed a forever human, like my mother has.

A human family took me away one day. I was sad. I never saw my mother again.

Cats are full of love but we cannot give our love if we are scared. I was taken to a gentle old lady. My super sense of smell told me she was old and not very well. She did not play with me, but wanted to cuddle me. There is so much of that I can take. Especially when you are a mischievous kitten.Play is what I want! She tried but a sick old lady is no fun for a kitten. I was feisty and frustrated.

She took me to the vet, and I had a strange experience of going to sleep and waking up with a sore tummy. I had had an operation to stop me having kittens. Though I did not know this. I was fine within a week or so.

One day she did not get up to feed me. I went to her bed to find her. She was cold. I knew she was dead.

A rough man, one of her son’s came. I did not like him and when I was near the open door, he yelled at me saying I was Mal suerte…bad luck in Spanish. He chased me out of the house. I was on my own.

I had not been out much and lived mostly indoors so did not know my way around. A large dog came for me, silent and intent on killing me, I ran under a parked car he could not get me there. I knew then dogs were trouble, especially big ones. It growled at me. There was so much noise all around me. So many smells and sounds. Which are the important ones?

I was confused and scared.

I watched a cat amble down the street, it was obviously on its own territory, the dog appeared out of no where and only at the last minute did the cat know it was in trouble, it got in one swipe of its claws raking the dog before the dog grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, shook it violently until it was dead, then carried it off to feed her pups. Dogs are trouble. I did not know they could kill us cats so easily. From now on, I will give dogs hell if they get near me.

I came out from under the car and started walking on the side of the street, I recognised that cars stayed on the road and I was safe at the side. I did not like the big trucks, they were huge and noisy and very scary.

I was a little hungry, so I follow my nose to food smells. I was chased away by people shouting Mal Suerte! Gata Negra! Bad Luck Black Cat! in Spanish. Now I was confused, kind humans gave me food but most humans seemed to hate me for a reason I did not understand.

I kept walking following my nose, always wary with escape routes in case I needed them.

A huge Tom cat came out of the bushes screaming war at me! We had a quick fierce fight, I got scratched but I bit him hard, so he came off worst. I walked away, he did too. No cats really want to fight. but we will in defence, over food, over territory, and kittens. We don't want to get hurt, because we are predators and live by killing rats mice and birds. We also scavenge like rats.

I found a bin on its side, and found food. It smelled but I could eat it. I then went looking for somewhere to sleep. I found a little place under a thick bougainvillea and went to sleep. Cats spend 3/4 of their day asleep so it was well into the night before I woke up. It was cold.

I licked my scratch, and scratched my itchy bits. I came out from the bush, stretched, and found somewhere to sharpen my claws.

Following my nose, I could smell humans having BBQ. I waited patiently until they went quiet, and went to inspect their bins, there was some meat on the bones, my rough tongue ripped it off quickly, I went to their swimming pool, and drunk, just as I had finished a dog came through the fence heading for me. I bolted as fast as I could into the smallest space under bush I could find. The dog wanted me, its huge jaws came into the bush I raked its nose hard with my claws, it leapt away whimpering with a bloody nose. Ok, now I know how to attack a dog, aim for the nose and go in very hard. Ok. I know. I learn fast. I stayed under the bush until I was calm, then walked off.

I seemed to be in a better neighbourhood, it was quieter. I could smell other cats around so was more worried about them than anything else. But I found a street with no traces of cats. I found food too and a sleeping place and a pool to drink from. Tomorrow I would mark my territory by peeing on things.

Late that afternoon I checked on my food source it was still there, some old cat biscuits, in a large ripped torn bag, but because they are in a dry place they still tasted Ok. I peed on everything to make sure other cats knew this was my space. I took a tour of what I wanted as my territory and peed everywhere.

I found a cosy thick bush and made a little nest there. I went to sleep dreaming of a forever human to love and be loved by. Like Mother cat had.

The days went by and the weeks, the weather turned hotter. A family came to live at the house where I had made my claim. I miaowed at them and once I trusted them, allowed them to stroke me. They began to feed me fresh biscuits.

Slowly we inched towards being friends but I was not allowed in the house, they said a word I did not understand.

One day they moved out. Gone. But kind gentle lady with brown eyes brought me food every day. One day she brought a man. A kind man a man I liked straight away. Could he be my forever human?

He came the next day and caught me in a travel box, then took me in the car. I yelled loudly. He talked to me in a soft voice.

We got to his house, he fed me wet food and dry food I was so happy. The next day he took me to the vet, her name is Rosa. She inspected me and injected me then sprayed me with some smelly wet stuff.I was happy to go back into my box. My next visit she gave me the strange sleep and my tummy hurt. (Rosa found out that I had had an operation to stop me having kittens).

My forever human was there with his soft gentle voice.

We went many times to see Rosa and always I felt less itchy. I would not let my forever human do anything to me but Rosa, could and did . I knew she wanted to help me. If my forever human thought I needed to see her so be it.

One day my Forever human took me to a cat Hotel, shut me in a small cage with my things and left me. Well it was not that small I could run around and play. My toys were with me. So although I felt sad he had gone, I thought he would be back. At the hotel they came and fed me every morning and night, and in the mornings people came and played with me. Other cats were there too, some coming and some going. All the cats were neutral. No one was on territory so there were no fights. The mood was slightly sad, our forever Humans were not there, but it was OK.

One day my Forever Human came to get me I was in my box in the car and I yowled at him loudly. When we were home he let me out of the box I made a huge fuss of him and followed him everywhere he went.

He brought me a new toy a “flying feather” on a stick! I can run jump, pounce, and much more I love it!

This is my forever Human. Mine. No one else’s. I love him. I am home.

#ChildrensStories