I Cried Out For Clyde

                                                                            Attribution: Alfa100us

Image: A Typical Clyde Pose When it Slept, Very Unlike other Cats

Source: Wikimedia Commons (here)

Upon  my daughter Azlin’s Commencement

she stayed on for a few months in the States

Clyde, a Scottish Fold came into her life.

It shared the apartment with her other house-mates

Azlin got attached to it and didn’t have the heart

but to take it back home.

At the airport Clyde in its cage was watery in its eyes

'meowing' pleading to be released. Azlin was shedding
tears unashamedly on the couch next to it sadly
thinking Clyde would be alone in the cargo hold.

It went through quarantine for  a few days upon

arrival. Again tears freely flowed before Clyde was

brought home to meet with the rest of our family.

It was such a joy!  Being a house-cat

it set in motion the routine for the household for

the few years following. 

It would lay down at its own corner upon 

layered ‘beddings’ or otherwise loitering

around the house, chasing and messing with the pieces

of strings or little rounded objects that we bought.

The fabric lounge set was subject to frequent

scratching before it got ‘shooed’ away every

now and then

Daily chores of scooping the ‘balls’ of pee and poo

from the ‘sand’ and replenishing same, a refreshing

bath occasionally when ticks invaded the silky fur

rare visits to the vet and even being left at the

Pets Hotel when the family went out of town

for a few days. Not forgetting buying the cat food 

pellets and sand from the Pet Shop every so often.

This went on for a few years of Pet bliss until one day

it suddenly went heavy on both hind legs and

was dragging itself about.

The vet confirmed besides old age there were

some complications of its colon and lower parts

of its tummy. It so happened it was due for surgery

when most of the family members were

away in Alor Star about 500km up north.

My daughter was at the vet but was called

back to the office we were later told.

The surgery took place anyway and Clyde was
alone with strange people around him.Clyde
did not make it.. When the sad news was conveyed,
I cried out as the rest of the family.

We had Clyde buried in a shallow grave at the back-yard

But the sadness and tears lingered on for a few days.

More so when it seemed that prior to surgery when Clyde

did not get to see us it broke its little heart. The vet staff

said this could have hastened its demise. It seemed possible.

Animals have strange ways of knowing if the family members

were close by or not. It could have survived  if we had been

there to give the moral support.

We felt terribly sorry we were not there when 

Clyde needed us most!

Written for Kim's hosting at Poets United  to include as prompt - I cried out -
Verse First and to write in the first person