When it comes to bad luck, I can’t think of anyone who had more than his fair share of it like Sinan. I found Sinan while going for treatment in a nearby clinic; a two months old kitten with his mother and two siblings all suffering from bad flu. Sinan was the worst of the three. He had a severe eye infection that if not treated would make him lose his sight, the way it happened to my cat Kiki. So, I took upon myself the mission of treating the whole family by passing by everyday to pop pills and put eyedrops for them. It wasn’t easy of course, the kittens kept climbing up the nearby tree and their mom was missing most of the time (plus the fact that the clinic owner wasn’t an animal lover at all. I had to pray hard every time I left my car that I don’t bump into her!).
Sinan wasn’t getting any better with the treatment, so I decided to take him to the vet. He recommended to increase the dose of the eyedrops as one eye now was semi-blind. Luckily, we still had a chance of saving the other one. The only solution to this dilemma was to adopt him and add him to the residents of Kitzania (to my Mom’s dismay of course!).
Sinan stayed indoors with us for a month till his eye got better. It was a total nightmare trying to put him out. He was overwhelmed by the number of Kitzanians who met him at the doorstep. Once placing him on the ground outdoors, Sinan climbed my leg and reached my head where he stood there meowing in distress. It was a gradual process till he got used to other cats (and it became his habit to climb my shoulder and stay there like a pirate’s parrot, cute at first but painful now as he grew in size and weight!).
A couple of weeks later, Sinan was sick again with continuous diarrhea. He was back to the clinic again and had to stay there for almost a month as he wasn’t responding to any treatment. The vet decided that it might be some sort of food allergy and let him come home again. Sinan was happy to be back to his old room that he shared with Kiki - who hated his guts the minute he walked in and kept slapping him around.
To avoid the tension between the two, I decided to let Sinan spend the evenings in the cage outdoors - I wasn’t really comfortable with the idea of him roaming around with his bad eyesight. The plan went well till the storm arrived and Sinan was in the cage at the time. When trying to bring him indoors, Sinan panicked and ran in the pouring rain, climbing the big mango tree and howling in total distress. With the aid of the helper - fortunately an expert tree climber - we managed to bring him down, drop him in a cage and rush indoors as the water was reaching our ankles. Sinan was soaking wet and in shock that he got over fast after a hearty meal and a good sleep!
A couple of weeks back, Sinan developed a wound on his back for no good reason. He kept scratching it and it kept bleeding. He was put on a course of antibiotics that helped healing it. Despite all his misfortunes, Sinan survives with a positive attitude: being playful, loving food and showing a streak of dominancy (now he slaps Kiki back!). Let’s hope that 2020 brings him better luck!
(Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com)
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