My Shocking 2AM Visitor

I never expected to write a part two for this story, but here we are.

One week ago, at 2am on September 13th, I detected Yuki acting all aflutter.

Attentive cat dad that I’ve become, I rose to see what had her whirring about in a tizzy, to find her staring intently out our glass backdoor, warbling softly into the night.

Seeing a faint cat-sized silhouette in the dark, I quickly assumed that one of the neighbourhood cats who had been prowling through our backyard just a few hours prior had returned to pester Yuki or engage in some such late night catty tomfoolery.

But when I flipped on the light to confirm that was the case, my jaw dropped, and a cocktail of disbelief, excitement, and confusion washed through me. For sitting patiently outside as if no time at all had passed—rather than nearly 5 months 😒—pointedly meowing her request to come inside, was Little Miss Purry Katsu.

Caught off guard, not knowing what to do with a suddenly-returned-from-the-ether Katsu and a defending-her-territory Yuki, I called for Alicia, who was instantly alert after hearing me say, “Katsu!” With any other cat—and there have been a handful from the neighbourhood who visit us from time to time—we’d have politely ignored them and sent them on their way… But Katsu is different. Katsu is a special cat, and without her having appeared in our life back in January, Yuki wouldn’t have either.

So we sequestered Yuki in the bathroom, gave Katsu a much-needed meal, and let her roam our home as if it were her own, as she’d once claimed. Despite a door being between them, the two cats were understandably standoffish towards one another—interrupting the peace and quiet of early morning with the occasional warble or wail at one another. In time though, both settled. With Katsu not seeming at all inclined to leave, Yuki (and her cat tree) went into the bedroom with Alicia while I stayed out to keep Katsu company. Surprisingly, everyone slept peacefully.

In the week that’s followed, Katsu has visited us every day, often for hours at a time, even staying through most of the night. Amazingly, the two cats are growing amicable far more quickly than expected. At this point, Yuki seems more curious than anything about this other cat in her home, and has stopped trying defend her territory. Katsu, the curmudgeonly grandma that she is, only warbles (and occasionally hisses) if Yuki strays into her personal space. We couldn’t ask for more!

That’s the lovely, heart-warming news.

The sad news though, is that she’s aged quite dramatically since we last saw her. Her fur is dry and brittle, and matted again. The gleam in her eyes has faded, her joints are noticeably stiff, her voice has changed, and all she wants to do is sleep and eat.

To borrow a poignant line from one of my favourite books, The Name of the Wind, she comes with “the patient cut-flower sound of a [cat] who is waiting to die.”

Frustratingly, much of her ageing is likely born of neglect from the people at her other home. They’re very nice to people, but they “don’t believe in the vet.” Which I can understand in the context of spending thousands for a paltry or ineffective life extension… But not when talking about preventative care that’s a few hundred dollars a year. If Katsu’s issues are what we suspect, they were very easily avoidable.

So, we’re off the vet with Katsu today, in hopes of finding out what we can do to improve her quality of life and pump the brakes on her declining health. 

Despite Katsu first reappearing one week ago and having made her presence felt at The Cabin consistently since, this has felt like an inexplicable fever dream.

And curiously, throughout my process of letting go of Katsu, in the back of mind I held the suspicion that once I’d well and truly moved on, she’d appear again.

Lo and behold, here we are.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander ‘Wiz’ Mullan

P.S. 13 is my favourite and lucky number; and the 13th of each month is a day I like to believe comes with a wee bit more magic than any other—doubly so when the 13th falls on a Friday. While perhaps a coincidence, I like to that Katsu returning on Friday the 13th was a lovely little cosmic wink from the universe.