Ariel
(“Lioness of God”|noun)
Ariel’s Story
A new litter of kittens had just been born at the neighbor’s farm, that I was invited to see by my sister. I couldn’t wait! When I arrived, tucked away in the barn wall by their momma cat, was the most angelic site anyone can imagine in a barn: a little pile of sweet, white fluffies (with one stripy) on their happy snow-white momma. They meowed tiny little baby meows as momma purred away. Nicknamed the “the Angels,” they tumbled around on top of each other like happy kittens do. One in particular seemed to be extra friendly, and tried her hardest to climb up the barn board to greet me. I melted, and picked her up, holding her in the palm of my hand.
Two weeks later, a magical day came. That little friendly one showed up in a white easter-style basket, with a tiny pink ribbon around her neck. She was my early gift for my birthday! She joined our little home, already ruled by the full-personality Tinkerbell. I named her Ariel, which I later discovered meant “Lioness of God” thanks to a baby name book I picked up one time.
She quickly brought undeniable life and personality to the house. She would only fall asleep on my neck, purring so loud she rattled. She followed me everywhere. I took two steps forward, she took two steps forward. I took two steps back, likewise. She tried to copy everything I did, like cooking, or drinking from styrofoam cups I brought home from work.
Sadly, the older cat did not share my delight in her. Ariel tried to play with her, and she hissed. Ariel tried to eat with her, she hissed. Ariel tried to nurse on her, she hissed. Ariel tried to follow her, she hissed. One day, Ariel followed Tinkerbell up to a dangerous point of the roof, above our second story apartment deck. As Ariel clumsily tried to cross the peak, the big cat reached out and pushed her off the roof! I watched in horror as she lost grip on the roof claw by claw, then fell about 30 feet down, smacking hard on a cement step below. I saw her immediately bolt into the nearby bushes in animal instinct, likely to die in peace.
My heart was racing, my mouth was dry, I could barely breathe. This poor, sweet, life-filled little kitten just experienced one of the most terrifying outcomes of cat bullying, and was probably going to die. I ran down to see her, and found her barely breathing, with blood foaming out of her nose. But still able to look around with her eyes.
A few weeks earlier, some leisure article reading had said to put an injured animal on the hard surface of their crate, and try to not move them as you transport them immediately to the vet. Well my vet wasn’t capable of handling emergencies, but luckily there was a vet hospital close by. The emergency vet took her back, kept her for 3 hours, then finally came to give me the news.
I braced myself for hearing the worst. I mean, how could anything survive a drop like that? The veterinarian showed me her X-rays, explaining how she had cracked her hip off the spine, cracked it again in another place, and bruised her heart. “But, you can expect a full recovery” the vet said professionally, as I blinked, and gave a confused “what?” “Yes, you can expect a full recovery. Because she is so young, she is still growing and can heal herself. We do 6-8 weeks of ‘crate recovery,’ then see how she is doing.” I was shocked, but beyond relieved to get such good news.
On the way home, we stopped by petco to pick up the dog crate she was to live in for the next 8 weeks, and the paint tray for her litter. She got pain medicine twice a day, and spent the first three days just laying there, dragging herself into the paint tray when needed. Over the next few weeks, I watched the incredible built-in resilience that I think we jokingly nickname “9 lives,” as she healed, recovered, and began to get active again in her little cage. My respect for cats grew, as did my realization that they really do need their humans to educate themselves on their behaviors, and how to prevent harmful things from happening.
Fast forward 10 years, and Ariel now lives the life of a queen. She gets her own favorite food, gets played with daily, gets loads of attention including outdoor exploration time, and even gets a hummingbird feeder for her bird watching enjoyment. Her owner’s guilt over that fall has worked in her favor ever since.
