Tweetie's Latest Act

Day by day, Tweetie keeps getting a little better. The vet said his back legs are recovering faster than his front legs, so he walks with a hunched-over gait with his hind legs threatening to overtake his slower front legs. He still gets wobbly and trips or falls over, and he still gets mad as hell each and every time it happens, with a pissed-off, narrow-eyed glower as he rights himself and glances around to see who witnessed it and whether anyone is daring to laugh.

Even knowing how far he still has to go, I am so grateful for how far he has come from the terrified look in his eyes when I found him, completely unable to move, sprawled beneath the desk. I don't know how long he lay there, unable to get up, unable to do much more than meow once he heard me get home. I hate the very idea of him being scared and alone at all.

The first day he growled at the vet, my heart leaped with joy. Tweetie's back! The vet looked genuinely hurt and asked, "Tweetie, are you mad at me?" I explained that no, grumpy is his natural attitude, and a sign he is feeling better if he has the energy to be crabby and make it known.

Tweetie has developed a new trick when he doesn't want to take his antibiotics. Apparently the liquid medicine doesn't exactly taste like tuna or salmon or mouse. When he sees me coming with the medicine dropper, he suddenly sinks to the floor and stiffens up like he is paralyzed again, his eyes flickering to the side to see how his latest performance is affecting the crazy lady who chases him with medicine twice a day. So far this melodramatic act hasn't gotten him out of taking his medicine, but he tries it again each day anyway, just in case.

Once the medicine is down the hatch, he leaps up indignantly, miraculously cured, full of attitude and defiant, hmmphing to himself as he stalks off to take a bath and ponder the injustices of the world.

I was snuggling Tweetie after one such performance when Gary commented, "He's a brat."

Then he added, "Hard headed and stubborn, just like his mom."

Apparently Tweetie isn't the only talented performer in the household. Gary is a regular comedian.