Cat Ladies

Back in October a cat started hanging around our house. Half of it’s tail was missing, and it was skinny, so skinny. It sneezed constantly; I thought it was sick. We decided that since we don’t have the wherewithal to properly care for another cat, we would put it in a “No-Kill” shelter. Those shelters won’t accept cats without a feline leukemia test. I made an appointment with out vet and waited for the cat to come to breakfast. It didn’t come. We thought maybe it hadn’t withstood the extremely cold weather we were having. We didn’t see the cat again.

Our neighborhood has about 30 houses, and among those 30 houses are three of us “cat ladies.” That is, on my end of the circle, I feed strays. The other end of the circle is home to two more cat ladies. The strays in our neighborhood was actually lucky, I suppose.

One morning as I was walking one the ladies stopped and asked me about a cat with a short tail that she had been caring for. I told her our story of the cat. She said the sweet little cat came to her house and it was now a member of her household. She had taken it to the vet to have it checked and discovered that the cat had no diseases, but required facial surgery to correct the sneezing problem. The face had been injured and pieces of bone were lodged in its nose.

This morning as I was walking I saw a gray and white cat. It was fat and sassy looking. Then I noticed a marking that I recognized; it was the cat that we almost adopted. The change in the cat is absolutely remarkable! Even it’s face has been repaired. (It had a dent between its eyes from its injury.)

Mrs. Cat Lady No. 1 has my thanks and admiration for being a generous, loving “Cat Lady.”

Cat Lady No 2. is great, too. Every morning the cats gather for breakfast at her house.