Stumpen

Eh? What?

Stumpen: that's Norwegian for... well, Stumpy, I suppose.

We had a cat called Stumpen, y'see. He got the name because where a cat would normally have a long tail, all he had was a tiny stump. And no, he wasn't a Manx.

Stumpen was born perfectly normal. He was one of our Cinder's kittens. She had them in the bottom of a small cupboard in the living room and whenever she felt it was time to feed them, she'd call them all to come back in there.

Obviously, the cupboard door was left open so that the cats could go in and out as they pleased, but one day Paul decided to shut it. And poor little Stumpen just happened to have his tail hanging over the edge at the time.

Ouch! It looked painful but it was a clean cut. Yes, shutting the door had cut off his tiny tail.

I phoned the vet to ask what I should do but was told to leave it, that the mother cat would take care of it. And she did. She kept it clean and within a week it had healed. I suppose you could say he was docked.

The little black cat with no tail became quite a feature in our neighbourhood. Everybody knew where he belonged and most had a soft spot for him. And being a clever cat, he knew exactly how to make the most of his situation. Oh yes... love me because I'm tailless, why don't you?

As for Paul... let's just say there comes a point when you realise that some children and pets simply don't mix. Think rabbit and budgie!

~~+~~