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Shiwa is born on 22nd of May 1986 and died 12th November 2000. She unfortunately only lived to be 14 years old, we would love to have enjoyed her company for a longer time.
Shiwa's full name was Lady Shiwa and she was a very special cat. She came into our family when I was 8 years old and there's a strange story behind it. I had asked my mum if we could have a pet and then she would say that if she and my father would ever split up we would get a cat. Disaster struck however and my father died suddenly in 1986. A couple op days later I said to my mother (I don't remember it myself): 'Well, are we getting a cat now?'. And so we did, my mother only wanted a Siamese and a neighbour's sister had Siamese kittens once in a while. At that time their queen was pregnant and weeks later we went to Best to see the kittens. They were all very cute of course and we picked out one. We don't have any photographs from Shiwa's kitten period and I can't remember that much about it.
Shiwa grew up to be a gorgeous cat with a very special character. i have always considered her as my own cat and she considered me as her own 'boss'. I played with her a lot and she always slept on my bed. Shiwa wasn't that fond of visitors and if it became to crowded for her she'd run off to a quiet place. It was a big honour if she would sit on a stranger's lap. After every vacation we would be ignored by her for some days, she didn't like it and we had to know about it too. Lots of times Shiwa would surprise me with a 'present' , some (young) bird or mouse, she would leave it in the livingroom, on the couch or on your bed. We were the owners of a parakeet for a while, we kept the cage in a room where the cats weren't allowed to come. Of course Shiwa once got into that room and somehow removed the bird's waterbath from the cage. The parakeet started flying about of course and that killed him, we found him in the livingroom. Aside from these cruelties Shiwa was a real lady and very sweet.
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We once tried to breed with Shiwa. She went to Iros, a befriended male Siamese, who retired immediately afterwards. Shiwa got three babies, one was born dead. The other two's condition got worse and visits to the vet and feeding them by hand didn't help. Shiwa wasn't a 'feeder', she didn't have any milk and we were absolute laymen, to have noticed this sooner. Shiwa was castrated and we got Basha as a 'replacement'. He is a full brother of Shiwa, but from a later litter.
Shiwa made it very clear to Basha that she was the boss and that remained that way. Without much protest from Basha. They got along just fine. When Osiris came there were a bit more arguments, Osiris tried to drive her from her throne, but he never succeeded in it. She stayed boss.
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End of Oktober/beginning of November 2000 Shiwa had an inflammation of the bladder which she got medication for. She should have improved after a few days but she didn't. I didn't live at home anymore then, but close-by and I visited her often. I noticed she couldn't drink that well and started giving her water with a syringe, later with sugarwater because she didn't eat well either. To the vet again, he tested her blood. Her ureum percentage (among other things) was too high, which indicated that her kidneys didn't purify her blood anymore. This could not be helped and to save her from further agony we put her to sleep. Then we took her home and she got a quiet place in my mother's garden for her eternal rest.
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Date Last Modified: 18-07-2003
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