Cats are dear to the goddess Freya.

When cats depart this world they cross the rainbow bridge to Asgard, to reside in Freya’s Garden, which is a part of Fólkvangr and surrounds her hall Sessrúmnir.

Her chariot is pulled by two cats named Bygul and Trjegul.

That is why I decided to put this article up in the Rune Temple, because rather than proclaim my devotion to the gods through words and ritualistic motions, I can show my mettle through my actions in daily life, as this goddess puts one of her beloved creatures on my path. Albeit indirectly.

A few days ago my man informed me that he had seen a kitten on the road outside of town, with a cardboard box nearby. So he put it back in the box. When he told me this I instantly had my curiosity sparked so I went to check for myself, with the explicit instruction to “not come back with a kitten”.

I came back with a kitten.

The moment I arrived at the spot he mentioned I could see her sitting on the road again, she had the exact same color as the road which made her hard to see. From a distance she actually looked like a rock.

When I was right besides her I could see she was extremely skinny and had a crusty face. A very clear indication that this kitten had been abandoned. So I took her with me. Which my man was not pleased about.

Before you think of him as an uncaring person in any sort of way, thinking he does not care about a kitten, let me explain that we have gone through this before. We have taken in an orphaned kitten who did not make it, who was a lot sicker than he had seemed. And this broke his heart, it affected him deeply and his reluctance about this kitten stems from not wanting to feel this heartbreak again.

And at the time of this happening he was in the car with our son, if he did not care about animals he would have never stopped the car to put this kitten off the road. He had to stop his car in the middle of that road with the four blinkers on, and did not have time to inspect her as closely as I did.

He cares deeply.

It is always so with kittens who are orphaned and abandoned, with human intervention they have a better chance of survival but it is never guaranteed. It can go south fast, despite the best of care. I can not blame him, not even for a moment, for wanting to spare himself the heartache of starting to care for a creature than then doesn’t make it, no matter what you do.

While I can forgive him for that, I can not forgive myself for not even trying. I know full well I can not nurse every abandoned kitten, but when one is that close to me … then I feel, and deeply so, that I can not do nothing. The world will keep on turning the way it does, but I can make a world of difference for that one kitten.

This is how she looked when we found her.

An infection in both eyes, dried mucus on her face and nose, matted coat and very skinny.

I washed her up and gave her some egg yolk mixed with water. My man agreed to take her to the vet if she survived the night. And I was fully mentally prepared when I opened her carrier, to see she had passed.

She was well alive so that same day we went to the animal clinic, and the vet was in no way pessimistic about her condition even though she was obviously not in a good condition. His main concern was her body temperature as it was a bit low but not low enough to be alarming, so it was very important that we kept her warm and fed.

He gave us eye drops, instructions on how to keep cleaning her eyes, medicine and urgent care food which is very dense in nutrients. All with instructions on how to care for her. Which I followed to the letter.

The last two days I have seen a gradual but significant improvement in her vitality, her eyes are getting clearer, she moves her head around and can pee independently in a litter box. And she has taken a liking to being carried around in my dress, between my cleavage to be precise. People told me this is because the heartbeat is reassuring to them at that age. She is not a neonate, she has teeth and is a month old according to the vet. But due to malnutrition she tends to behave like a younger kitten and is quite small and fragile for her age.

We have been in communication with the vet to give him updates on her, per his request.

This is Meat Potato, the name I gave her.

I had started to call her Tiny but when we were at the vet and he asked how to put her name in the system, for gods know what reason I blurted out : Meat Potato!

So that is her name now.

And probably a better name than Tiny, because I don’t want to use her name against her. There is a bit of condemnation in the name Tiny. Perhaps the gods prevented me from saying that name when the vet asked, so I blurted out the other name that I had been calling her in humor.

My man has warmed up to her significantly because at first he was adamant I need to find her another home after nursing her back to health. I agreed and started calling around. On the second day he suddenly he suddenly groaned while staring at her: “It is going to be so chaotic with the move but after she is healthy again we might as well keep her because I am already starting to like her.” Which he said with a rather funny scowl on his face.

This morning, before writing this, we fed her, cleaned her and gave her her medicine, my man suddenly started playing with her and she played back with him. So not only do we know for sure that she can see through at least one eye, we know she is becoming more energetic and her treatment seems to work. While she still sleeps a lot (as she should), during her waking moments she is looking around and is no longer as fearful and sad looking as she was on the previous days.

I understand that there is still a chance that it goes south, but her chances have improved significantly.

So now we will have four cats in our new place, two that are already there and were the outside cats of the previous owner who the neighbors take turn feeding when we can not. Our Monster and Meat Potato.

And talking about the Monster, he is taking it much better than any of us expected. Of course he is not exactly pleased with the arrangement but he has only hissed twice, has shown an (albeit fleeting) interest in her carrier and does not avoid our home or us. So we are sure to show him how much we appreciate him by giving him a treat every time he has a calm reaction to her carrier being in sight and to talk very affectionately towards him. He always likes to pretend he is a big tough guy, but inside he has a tiny little nugget of pure gold where is heart is supposed to be. If he could understand us when we call him “such a goodly little tough guy”, he would probably feel insulted and call us idiots. But it is the truth.

Thinking about it all, yes, four cats is definitely way more cats than we ever thought we would have. But since that garden is going to be my recreation of an outdoor pagan temple, there is no creature more deserving to be there and call it their home … than those four cats.