Happiness is a Rescue Cat
Or dog. Rescue dogs are excellent, too. But right now, Emily is making me extremely happy. She’d been a stray for two years (I hadn’t noticed her) when my neighbor said, “You don’t want a cat, do you?” and I said, “You know, that would be a good idea.” So she told me about this stray cat that was spending a lot of time in my garage, and it turned out to be a three-pawed Maine Coon who might let you pet hero nce (so not feral) but mostly ran like hell any time I got close. Kathleen had been feeding her, but the neighborhood was a full of foxes and Kathleen worried . . .
So I started feeding her instead of Kathleen, and we developed a very cautious relationship as I slowly moved the food and water dishes into the tool room that separated the garage from the house. Emily adapted (and so did the damn raccoons) and one cold December day, I slammed the door and trapped her inside.
She was not amused.
But being Emily she adapted; she found the back bedroom, and I put a heating pad back there and an enclosed cat bed and moved her food and water there, and after a couple of days, I showed her the dog door so she could come in and out. I figured there was a 50/50 chance she wouldn’t come back, but it turned out Emily liked a place with designer cat food, fresh water, heated sleeping, and no foxes. Then came the real test: Krissie came to visit so the dogs and I had to move from the front bedroom to the back; yes, we moved in with Emily. I predicted some snarling but it turned out that several months of observing each other from opposite ends of the house creates familiarity: they pretty much climbed up on the bed and fell asleep together and that was it.
But the real payoff came this summer when Emily decided I was her person and started curling up next to me when I typed (like now). And when I read. And when I slept. She still has her enclosed bed (and two scratching posts and a window platform, the cat is spoiled rotten) but once I settle in to read or work or sleep, she curls up besides me and sacks out, purring, one of the best sounds in the world along with dogs snoring and the wash of waves on the shore down by the lake.
Happiness is rescue pets.
What made you happy this week?
