C - CAT THAT STOPPED MEAOW

Today is C!! @a-z challenge
I'm generally not too fond of pet animals. Never touched or held one in my life. I've seen others do it so easily but I get the creeps even at the thought of going near one.
The last pet I had, was a lovely green parrot when I was in school, that too because a parrot would be in a cage, far away without me having to touch it. I used to feed it and watch it, hoping it'd talk to me one day. It was with us for 1 week. One day I decided to give it a bath thinking it'll enjoy the cool water. However, soon after that bath, it shivered and died within a day. I was shocked no doubt, and decided no more pets ever!
We had to cremate it at a nearby drain :-( as we were living in a rented house that time and the landlord would not let us bury it in their compound ground :-O

My sister however was too fond of pets. She'd bring stray dogs and cats to our house much to my horror and discomfort. If she ever saw any baby kitten, she'd definitely carry and bring them to our verandah and feed it milk. Some cats were fond of her too and would come uninvited to our house. My sister was an eager hostess and would entertain them for hours, holding them or stroking their furs. One little kitten became our regular visitor. It'd meaow near our door everyday, wanting milk and my sister would run to feed it.

One day my sister observed that the cat was getting bit dirty and needed a bath. Panic rose within me, I instantly remembered my late.parrot. I immediately warned her, no don't do it. However, she thought that cats were different than parrots ( after all one is a bird and the other an animal ) and that nothing would happen. She went ahead and gave a bath to this little kitten. By evening the poor kitten was shivering away uncontrollably with fever at our door, meaowing weakly. I instantly sensed something was wrong. And before we could do anything further, it breathed its last.
It had stopped its meaow! Just like the parrot, all because of a bath.

This time it was my sister's turn to get shocked. Ever since that time we all are too nervous when it comes to keeping any pets. We simply don't keep.
From these incidents I've learnt, we must not do things on impulse rather learn thoroughly about these pets, before thinking about keeping them. Those days internet didnt exist here so we didnt get much information either :-(

Alas, here we have a myth that if a cat dies because either you killed it on purpose or by accident because of you, then you'll have to gift 9 golden cats to 'Yamraj/Yamdoot' god of death. So, scary times ahead for my sister if this is indeed true :-O

That incident aside, I think cats are one of the most mysterious animals. You do get spooked a bit when you see one, dont you? ( atleast I do ) :-O

This post is part of the A-Z challenge for April'2013. Except Sundays, post everyday with 26 alphabets.

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