Our fishing cat…
Well it all started when Sinentae a Ruddy Abyssinian female was 7 weeks old… I went to check on her and her siblings and she had a swollen face. I had my good friend Kirsty from Auckland staying at the time. We waited a couple of hours but the swelling didn’t go down so we jumped in the car with Sinentae on Kirsty’s knee and drove 30 minutes to the vet. AND of course by the time we got there and he saw us the swelling had reduced considerably and she didn’t need any treatment and I looked like an over anxious breeder. We had to stop by and look at another breeders cattery on the way home. Because she was unvaccinated we opted to leave her in the car while we looked and didn’t touch anything. As breeders do we got talking and an hour passed, we did check on Sinentae and she was sitting on the passenger’s seat happy as. Just before we left I took her out and held her for the other breeder to see, she paddled her feet in the air (sign of happiness) and looked ever so sweet, the breeders dog walked past and Sinentae didn’t care at all and continued paddling and purring. We went on our way and this time Kirsty drove and I nursed Sinentae. It quickly became evident that this was one special easy going kitten.
When Sinentae was 9 weeks old my husband decided we’d go for a drive over to the other side of the Manawatu gorge to look at a river, so I said “oh lets take a kitten with us”. Knowing that Sinentae was so good in the car we took her. We got to the river and Mike said “oh look, I happen to have my fishing rod in the car”… so out it came and our quick trip quickly became a 4 hour round trip.
I had taken a harness and lead this time and so I put it on Sinentae when we got there. She didn’t seem at all worried about the river, the water noise or being in a strange place. She rolled on the stones and enjoyed watching Mike’s lure in the water.
We thought this was so neat, a cat enjoying going to the river! That just cemented the fact that she was a very special girl and we certainly couldn’t sell her.
Since my husband enjoys fishing at the river and lets me tag along we thought it was neat to be able to take Sinentae too.
She never travels in a carry cage, she has a litter tray in the car on the passenger side floor and she goes when she needs to. She taught herself to use the tray in the car when she went to her 2nd cat show at about 5 months of age.
The thing that makes all this even more special is that up until October 2005 she was an entire breeding cat.
She is a career girl and is most happy when she’s out with us or at a cat show making us proud. She gained the title of GOLD Double Grand Champion last year.
She has enjoyed MANY fishing trips over the last 4 years. We have one secluded spot where she can be let off her harness and she just lays on the stones, drinks from the river, plays along the edge etc… one of her favorite things to do is to give little trout a kiss before Mike releases them back into river, the poor fish are probably extremely traumatized by this!
We’ve had many great photo opportunities of Sinentae at the river.
She has also enjoyed walks along the beach, visiting my elderly grandparents, and loves going to cat shows, and for car rides.
Below is a photo of Sinentae having a stroll at the Rangitikei River with Mike is background fishing.
