Cat-Chup

Little Smokey, who was "too old" for our program, but through the efforts of our super-trapper, who rescued her and who fought for her, not only did Smokey enter our program, little Smokey was adopted in less than two weeks.

She wasn't here long enough for me to be sad when she left. In fact, I found myself feeling quite happy for her. Her new family, a semi-retired couple, made quite an impression on me.

Dolores and Dick, what lovely people, came over to visit with Smokey and, I found out later, had decided to adopt her from the photo I took that was posted in the local paper (see my post, Lady of the Manor to see the photo). Good thing, too, because Smokey showed badly. She ran off, did not want to be held, but, at least, did not hide. She stayed a careful distance from all of us and was very alert and interested in playing with a toy Dick was jiggling in front of her. She gave her new owners a wary sniff. I promised them that she really was a sweetheart. I had held her like a baby in my arms not even a few moments before they arrived. She purred when I entered the room. Why couldn't she do that now?

Dick told me about their previous cat. This cat should have been called; Miracle, because he survived being attacked by a coyote! The cat barely survived, but in time he was back to his old self. It didn't take long, though, before the cat was, yes, captured by HAWK. Dick heard his cat screaming, looked up to see his big tom-cat being flown out of the yard! Lucky for the kitty, the hawk dropped him. Dick said that was because the hawk wanted to break the legs of his cat to impair it enough to be killed. The cat didn't break a bone and went on to live the rest of his life indoors.

Meanwhile, Dick, like his cat, has survived four heart attacks (the second one was the "lucky" heart attack because it was discovered he had kidney cancer when he was hospitalized for his heart and the cancer was treated by removing the cancerous kidney). He had recently been in the hospital for two weeks, then came home and fell down the stairs. He had pnuemonia, broken ribs and God knows what else, from the latest fall. He'd only been out of the hospital a few days before he came to my house. It was all I could do to keep myself from either hugging him hard or hoping he didn't keel over in my living room.

His wife was just nicer than nice. I liked both of them very much. When they took Smokey away, she told me it was "love at first sight" for her and Smokey. I knew this was a good fit. I just wish they hadn't named her: Lady Fraidy Gray!