Dexter's Forever Home was Right Under His Nose

Dexter had a heck of a tough start in his young life. Without his Guardian Angel, Terri, a devoted cat rescuer and feral cat caretaker, this story would not have had a happy ending. Instead, Dexter would have passed away, alone, behind a shrub, shivering and sick with a massive wolf worm in his sinus, unloading bacteria and causing this tiny kitten horrible pain. Dexter's complete backstory is HERE.

©2011 Warren Royal. Little Dexter, just after surgery to remove a gigantic wolf worm from his sinus.

Terri's husband, Warren, is also a devoted cat lover and rescuer. Any cat lucky enough to be in this family's care, never wants for a thing-the best vet care, surgery, whatever it takes, they do it without hesitation. They take my breath away with how far they go and they do this on their own, without a rescue group to cover their costs or help them find loving homes. They just do this out of the goodness of their heart and for the love they have for cats. It's so ironic that as recently as a few years ago, Warren didn't particularly even like cats!

©2011 Warren Royal. Mr Lap Cat.

Things have certainly changed and Dexter arrived, possibly to teach this family something they were ready to learn; that you have to listen to your heart, even if your head protests. In the end, that's all that matters; being able to listen to that inner voice that guides you with a gentle hand. It's not always easy to hear it clearly, or acknowledge that you hear it at all, but when you do listen and act with an open heart, you can never go wrong.

©2011 Warren Royal. A belly that begs to be petted!

As the weeks passed and Dexter grew stronger and more lively, Warren and Terri let him out of his foster room to meet their five other cats. The meeting went better than well and everyone seemed happy with the new arrival. But this was not a forever home for Dexter because the family had said that five was enough. It wasn't fair to take on a sixth cat since Terri, who provides the daily feeding and cleanup of their five cats would end up taking on the task for Dexter, too. The family was also worried that they could not rescue more cats if they kept Dexter, so they began to look for a forever home for him.

©2011 Warren Royal. Home, at last.

Warren asked me what they should do. It was tempting to say he should keep the cat. Multiple cat households are difficult to manage. The more cats, the more complications-this is something I know all too well. Adding a sixth cat is not to be taken lightly. I told Warren to follow his heart and do what he felt was best. Of course since they'd been through so much with Dexter that it would be hard to say goodbye, but they shouldn't keep him simply for that one reason.

Yesterday Warren and Terri came to a decision. Dexter's forever home was right under his nose the whole time, since that first moment Terri was able to grab a feral kitten who was too sick to run away. She rushed him to the Vet, not knowing if he would make it through the day, not caring if he would ever be friendly. At the time, she could only think of helping him, the rest would fall into place later.

It's later. All those worries are gone. Dexter stretches out on the lap of his dad, Warren, not realizing how special this day is-it's the day they made it official.

Dexter was home. For keeps.