How a cat can heal

By Taylor M

We’ve always been an animal loving family. My mother is a vet tech and an animal lover, so me and my siblings’ lives have been filled with many adorable furry faces. I’ve had many pets in my life already, and that is probably the reason I’m such an animal person today.

One of the most important ones was Blue. He was a black cat my family had for years before I was even born. When I was little, I never really liked Blue. He was mean and would always scratch me when I’d walk down the hall. I was honestly scared of the little guy.

When he got to be really old, he mellowed out and wasn’t as mean. He started sleeping on my bed. My bed was the lowest to the ground and his legs were getting weaker as he aged, so my bed became his bed. At first I protested but I grew to love Blue so much. Even after moving out of my childhood home to a new place, he still stayed with me in my room. He was no longer my dad's cat—he was mine. I loved him very much. The best part of my day became coming home from school just to see Blue waiting there in the living room for me.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last forever. Blue began having seizures in his last couple of years, and his hearing and eyesight was fading. One Sunday when me, my mother, and brother were home, Blue laid on his favorite chair and began seizing again; but this time, it was different. He was 18 at this point and we all knew it was time in the way he struggled to breathe. My mother had seen this hundreds of times in her decades of vet work. We decided on euthanization so Blue would not have to suffer.

I remember the drive there. My mom was in the driver's seat as I held Blue in the passenger seat. He was wrapped in his favorite red blanket adorned with dozens of the LA Angels logos on it. I couldn’t stop crying on the drive, walking in, and as I held him on the table as he went.

This came at such a difficult time. Having to deal with bullying at school, problems at home, and my own well-being just not being alright, losing Blue was extremely hard on me. I was really sad for a long time. My bed felt so empty without him there.

I had been homeschooled a few weeks into 8th grade, and my lonely feeling became the norm for me.

We went to my room and closed the door. She walked right out of the carrier the moment it was opened, and she was so cute! She immediately let us pet her and was extremely sweet. Me and the cat immediately bonded; I really wanted to keep her. Not even four hours later, mom walked into my room to see the cat laying in my lap with her small head in my hand.

“Are we keeping this cat?” she asked. I immediately said yes and just like that, she was part of the family. I already had a name picked out for a cat: Mochi.

Mochi quickly bonded with the rest of the pets in the house and the rest of my family. It was as if she’d been part of the family for years. She was a bit of a troublemaker, and that hasn’t changed but we don’t mind too much.

It wasn’t long after we got her that I had a really bad breakdown because of remembering things that had gone down at school. I was crying alone in my room when Mochi came up to me, rubbing up against my leg, licking my hand, and laying down in my lap. I remember the tears ceasing as she lay in my lap. I still don’t know if she meant to comfort me or if she just wanted attention, but for the first time in a while, I didn’t feel so lonely.

Not many months after that, my mother decided it was time to split from my father, and we would be moving across the state to live with my sister and her husband. It was a really hard time. I remember one moment from that time very clearly. I was putting my things into boxes to be put into storage, and Mochi came in, probably looking for a snack.

But I picked her up and held her to my chest, petting her as I did so. It was really hard not knowing what was going to happen with us and having no control over any of it. Despite that, I could find comfort in knowing that she’d always be there with me.

And through everything, she was. The apartment was hard on both the pets and my family, but we all managed. Mochi loved sitting in the windows, looking out at people using walkways in our apartment complex. Me and her would sit together for hours on the couch. It was my respite in the most turbulent time in my life.

Since then, we’ve found a house in San Jose, and the whole family is settled. Going back to real school was very scary, but now I had coming home to Mochi waiting for me to look forward to. Me and Mochi are both a lot happier now. Even so, I still have a lot of problems, and Mochi is there helping me with every one even if she doesn’t know that. Her purrs as she lays with me are still the biggest comfort in my life.

I don’t like how people say cats are heartless. Mochi always knows when I’m hurting, and is quick as her paws can take her when she hears me cry. She’s the reason I get out of bed most mornings. Seeing her permanent smile and hearing her meows when I wake up are my push to keep going.

Even through scary moments, she’d run out and when I thought she was lost forever, she’d come back, always greeting me with an adorable smile and purrs as I pick her up.

They say dogs are a person's best friend, but Mochi is mine.

For the Warrior Times, this is Taylor McCance. (And Mochi; she was with me while writing and recording.)