Such a short happy time, little Miss Cheeky Babbington came for a week and decided to stay just a bit longer. She was too much understandably for her first carer to manage. She was so tiny, she could hide in my jumper and still so thin you couldn’t help but feel like she was going to break at any moment. I learned she had been left in a lady’s backyard for years but with her temporary carer she had already put on lots of weight and her coat had thickened up. She quietly sat in a bed in my car as we drove home. It was clear she didn’t trust humans and was not to sure about this living in a house business.
Cheeky was very poorly and needed a dental urgently, her mouth was so bad it even made her poop smell. She had her dental with the vet advising she had never seen such a horrible mouth, but was able to keep one tooth. Recovery was a bit rough as she still didn’t really trust me and in her eyes she probably thought I had just made her mouth worse. But after quite a few hours of just sitting on the floor with her gently talking and rubbing her ear, she gave in and let me snuggle her and she fell asleep on my chest. As she drifted off I promised her that from tonight onwards life will be all about love and all the things that she wants.
As time passed, Cheeky slowly started to let me into her life, with conditions. She was very used to her own company and would often leave the area or room if we went to hang out with her, slowly she would hang out a bit longer before moving off to another area. She learned that she loved rubs on her ear and around it, but only when she wanted them and I had to go to her. She slowly started to sit on my lap longer and longer, but no more than a few minutes at a time thank you. She learnt how to use all the doors including the dog door, she just needed a towel over the bump in each door way. She learnt her name, you would see her ears twitch around when you said it, but she never came, I always went to her and she accepted being held just for a few minutes.
Cheeky loved fluffy beds and would often wander around having a snooze in a different one each time, like Goldilocks, and yes the bigger and fluffier were always just right. She loved wandering and exploring inside and outside and we had to come to agreements that on hot days she could have a bed near an open door and on wet days she would wander under the covered area and not insist on sleeping on the grass. We grew closer and had lots of little agreements along the way, whilst she still had her sassy independence. Although it took a long time, she found her voice and it certainly had sass behind each little bark.
Cheeky’ s little body had many issues along the way that she brought with her and together we worked through them. She had neurological challenges, spinal damage, arthritis and her tail had a very sharp bend at the end probably from being broken and not repaired, which she was fine with as long as you didn’t touch it. We had a few health challenges along the way with her kidneys and liver. On those days she would accept longer cuddles and allow me to syringe feed her and around the three-day mark she always came good and it was back to being miss independent. I knew she wanted to fight on those days. Her back legs eventually stopped working and the rescue group got her a wheelchair and a frame so she could stand while she ate. She loved scooting around in her wheels and happily gobbled up her food, but she needed me to hold the bowl now as her head was getting wobbly. As her body slowly gave way she accepted more help and cuddles from me, and then I knew she had enough and I had to say goodbye.
As this isn’t on paper, you can’t see the tear stains as I write this, today my heart is sad. But I know Cheeky would not accept any of that nonsense and would tell me to get myself together and get on with today. So today, I get along with it with a couple of tears, but I know in a few days, maybe three more, I will not be sad that she isn’t here, I will be ever so glad that she was. Thank you Cheeky for sharing your time and heart with me as much as you possibly could, you are the tiniest, sweetest, bravest little lioness that I have ever met.