middle schoolers in heat

We have two pets here in Uganda: Wally the dog and Muwala the cat. Both of these pets need to be neutered or, as Canadians say, "fixed." The task of arranging the vet appointment was clearly on my husband Isaac's to-do list. I tried to avoid being a nagging wife and let it sit on his list. There it sat. And sat. And sat. Now here I sit in Ugandan while he is back in Canada, and the item is now on my to-do list.

Muwala in her younger days ... 

Now, to be fair to him, the man was writing exams and finishing his degree. He did go back to Canada earlier than expected, and only had about 36 hours' notice about his changed flight. He did make a valiant effort to get the animals "fixed" before he left, but the vet wasn't able to come in time.

He left for Canada on Friday. The same day my cat started showing unusual symptoms... I slowly realized that her strange behaviour was not because she missed him but, much to my dismay, because she was in heat.

I've never been around a cat in heat before. As I witness the behavior of a cat in heat (she is my only housemate now, after all) I can't help but think about the middle schoolers I teach and draw comparisons (no offense intended). In many ways, they are "in heat" for the first time in their lives and remind me of my little Muwala, who also finds herself in the midst of hormonal upheaval.

Some similarities between my students and my pet ...

1. Change in appetite. The boys start to eat more, some of the girls start to watch what they eat. In Muwala's case, she has hardly touched her bowl of food for the past few days. This, I read on Google, is normal for a cat.

2. Annoying loud noises. The boys in my classes are loud and rambunctious. The girls giggle much louder than is necessary, "whisper" secrets that can be heard across the room and explode in sudden bursts of laughter. Muwala is yowling. Especially at night. Even after locking her out of my room, I can hear her regular meows. Everyone is trying to get the attention of the opposite sex.

3. Emotionally needy and unpredictable. Google told me that a symptom of a cat being in heat is that they will be "more affectionate than usual." Muwala is a people cat to begin with, but now she is all over me. I can't get any marking done because she sits directly on my papers. She purrs and leans into my petting more than usual. And then, without warning, she'll turn around and swat at me! Oh ... the middle school years and the emotions that are oozing everywhere. I remember my own embarrassing emotional roller coasters and I have witnessed those of my students. Tears, hugs, fights, break-ups, make-ups ... Middle schoolers are emotional. I know this: I read their poetry.

4. Pushing the boundaries and becoming difficult to control. Being a female, Muwala is much more of a priority of being "fixed" than Wally is. Now that she is in heat, I'm trying desperately to keep her indoors and she's trying desperately to get out. Windows are closed despite the equatorial temperatures. I have to slide into the door sideways and push her out of the way with my foot as I do so. She is sniffing around the door frame. In the past week (before I noticed she was in heat) she was wandering further and further away, even going briefly outside the compound walls. (When did she stop being content to hang out close to home?) The connection to middle school is obvious. They want to go to the mall without their parents for the first time. They don't follow the rules as easily. They sometimes talk back. They often have no clue why rules are set, and are often convinced that adults just want to ruin their lives.

5. A little awkward. Middle schoolers are awkward; sometimes their coordination has suffered as their body grows and changes, and socially they don't always know the right thing to say. Let's just say Muwala has been doing awkward things the last few days that make me a little uncomfortable to discuss. On top of that, she's embarrassed me in front of my neighbours on the other side of the duplex -- when I asked this morning if they could hear her yowling at night they hesitated but admitted that yes, yes they could.  *Awkward.*

6. No ability to foresee future consequences. I have explained to my students many times this year that, by no fault of their own, the frontal lobe of their brain has not fully developed. This is why, for good and bad, young people are more likely to take risks and ignore (or have an inability to see) the future consequences for their behaviour. Let's be honest: Muwala wants to get outside for only one thing. She wants to hop over that compound wall and come back pregnant. She can't foresee the difficulty of raising kittens alone, or calculate the vet and food bills that would cost us, or consider the fact that in two weeks I will be leaving her for two months. While Muwala's choices are much more serious than the middle schooler who decides not to study for a test the next day, they are both thinking in the moment.

I read online that cats are in heat for SEVEN to TEN days ... This is going to feel like forever! And isn't that how it felt when I was in the midst of middle school? For. Ever.

*Sigh*

I can't believe how much my middle schoolers have changed over the past year. Students that were shorter than me at the beginning of the year are taller than me, voices have deepened, and -- dare I say -- in many ways they've matured.

And as I look at my little kitty, the furball Isaac pulled out of a gutter on Christmas morning, I can't believe how big she is.

When did they grow up so fast?


[... Can you tell I'm home alone and procrastinating on my final grading? Nothing to do but observe my cat and get sentimental about the end of the year!]