It’s Bebe, my bunnehcat! She “helps” make things sometimes. Usually by picking out supplies, or by unwinding half a ball of yarn while I’m making something… she means well, and has a lot of fun!
I got Bebe from the Humane Society shelter ten years ago. No one is really sure how old she is, but she was estimated to be about a year and a half old. Actually, I didn’t pick her. I had passed right over her. I wanted a cat that was… not too old, but not a kitten either. Someone interesting-looking, out of the ordinary. I was walking by her cage to a long-haired brown tiger kitty when she reached her entire arm up to the shoulder out to claw me back to her cage. We let her out to hold her for a minute. She put one paw on each shoulder and didn’t let go. Of course, I had to have her then. All she wanted to do was leave- she didn’t want to go back in the cage, and talked the whole time. But I had to leave her there for a few days- the shelter has a waiting period for the owner to change their mind, and for the cat to be spayed and get their first set of shots, mandatory before it leaves. She was not happy.
She’s terrified of cages. Even years later, I can’t take her to the vet in a carrier, even a dog-sized one. She has panic attacks, and I can’t drug her. I wrap her in towels and take her in the car, where she sits down on the front seat and doesn’t move until we get there. She used to crawl around a lot, but once I gave her incentive to sit, she figured out that sitting was equated with not falling over or getting jostled during turns. She’s much better in the car now. When I brought her home, though, that was far from the case- as soon as I got her in the house, I had to clean her up. She also does not like baths. ::laughs:: Poor kitty. She didn’t come out from under my bed for the first week- I even fed her under there! She was too scared.
She developed weird cat habits, like burrowing to the bottom of a laundry basket and sleeping there, making messes when she is displeased, she likes certain music and will purr by the radio when it’s played, and she’ll sit on anything I’m trying to read. She likes armpit scratchies and lazer pens, and is scared of the outdoors and just about anything that moves. She’s so heavy that she doesn’t meow; she quacks! She doesn’t run like a cat, either. She hops and bounces like a bunny.
A few years ago, her thyroid stopped working. It took a few tries to get a vet to properly diagnose her- other vets had said I was simply feeding her too much, even when she was eating almost nothing. Because at the time I had no money, even for myself, I was never able to come up with the $1,000 to fix her thyroid via iodine treatment. I fed her the best foods I could for her condition and tried to make sure she had the attention she needed, but I couldn’t do anything else. After I met my husband, he paid for her to see the vet again to get treatment. Her bloodwork had to be redone. We discovered that her thyroid was picking up again, but now she was severely diabetic. It was so bad that without treatment, she would die of organ failure. What could I do? We don’t even have money for my* health problems, but we make sure she gets her insulin.
It’s helping a little. She’s on twice-daily injections of human-grade insulin and is on an expensive specialised diet. But even so, she still loves to get around when I’m making something! She seems to like the feeling of digging her paws in the bead box, picking out a few favourite shinies before getting distracted by something, or burrowing in the yarn bucket and kicking or pulling something out with her. Sometimes I use these things to make something; sometimes, I leave them for her to enjoy and never sell them.
When I opened shop, I named it after her. She is also the reason I use a percentage of the proceeds from all sales to buy food for cats like her, cats who are in cramped shelters and needing forever homes. Even if you don’t buy from NB, ever, please remember that there are animals in need, animals who have no training from their parents or experience needed to hunt and kill for food on their own- animals who are completely domesticated and who rely on humans for their needs to be met. Next time you pick up a food or supplies for your own pets, please pick up just a few extra small cans for a shelter animal and donate them!
