An Explanatory Introduction

by Augustin Man
(Cluj, Transylvania, Romania)

To have a pet, and particularly a cat, is by no means a small enterprise. That's because:
1. every cat is actually a personality;
2. there are no two cats alike.
The inference of the above statements is that besides love, time and money you have to put in it a lot of tolerant understanding.

I think Tzilly is now a happy cat, but in these four years leading to our present friendship there have been commotions also. I believe that sharing with you the story of Tzilly's life could be useful for those who were just bringing a small kitten at home, entertaining for those having a cat for many years, and an exciting event for me. As time will allow me, I'll try to write for you and me some brief episodes.

The first one: "The ugliest kitty in the world".

The Ugliest Kitten in the World

by Augustin Man
(Cluj, Transylvania, Romania)

Roughly four years ago my wife phoned in the office to tell me very excited she got a "nice" kitten she had found during the lunch break meowing under a parked car.

I totally disagreed with her, because I knew cats were territorial and we planned to move in an year in a new house, but my wife, as all women and cats always did, ignored me. She took the kitten to the vet to be vaccinated, deparasitated and had a veterinary record booklet given, so that when I arrived from the job she presented me our cat! (We had had all the time cats from neighborhood, the last one being a handsome tomcat, who sadly just disappeared).

-Oh my God, this is the ugliest kitten I've ever seen! exclaimed I. My wife seemed hurt and promptly retorted that a lot of her colleagues wanted such an "exceptional" kitten. I didn't answer back and began to pet him: actually he wasn't guilty for being ugly...

And yes, my wife had been right after all: Tzilly was definitely not beautiful, but he behaved like an angel. Always nice and good humored, he slept, ate and then went to his box with toys, overturned it and chose a string, a ball or something else to play with! In the evening after falling asleep I took him to a rocking-chair on our "terrace" (actually a balcony on the inside court of the house). In the morning he waited to be fed, then showed us to the front door of the building. In the afternoon when coming back from jobs, he greeted us with happy meows. He had a litter box in the attic and used it without failure from the first day on, shortly an ideal kitten...

Next episode: "The first year of life"