I am a confirmed dog-lover. I love all animals as a matter of fact.
But, cats have never been my favorite. I like some cats, but not all...
I do however love two cats. One is our Muffy. The other...
was Shadow.
Shadow was a stray cat that chose us way back around 2000.
She just showed up at our back gate one day asking to be fed.
I tried the spca, lost and found ads, and no one claimed her.
We determined over time, that she had never been owned, and was feral.
The next year, we found out that she had kittens
(again-she had at least 2 litters that we know of),
so my neighbor and I trapped her, got her spayed, vaccinated, and
had the kittens adopted out. (My friend kept one-Hazel)
Hazel is now 10.
Shadow bonded with our Muffy-AND-even our dogs!
Three of them-which I consider amazing.
We fed her twice a day all of these years, but we could never pet her-ever.
She would come when I called her, but no touching.
Until a few months ago.
We knew she was beginning to fail, and had lost her hearing.
(both of these are really bad for a feral cat)
I started buying her canned food to supplement her dry, and she loved it!
She would purr when I fed it to her, and would be so engrossed in it, that I
could pet her. :)
The last few weeks she even began to come into the house
(sometimes we couldn't get her out!)
But she had moxie that cat!
She survived snow storms, tom cats, and foxes just to name a few.
(in fact, I saw her chase a fox!)
Then today, my son urgently called to me, I ran out
there to find out that she had curled up alongside the house
(just like she was taking a nap) and she died.
So we say farewell to a friend, who loved us in her own way, and amazed us
in many ways.
Farewell Shadow
(last photo taken of Shadow 10/2013)
Posts
