Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Petting who
We all feel like a lost puppy every once in awhile.
But what about Fido who is left behind, the casualty of an economic war his owner is losing? He can't easily find himself on his four paws so easily, and usually ends up in the county shelter.
Whenever I start a story I don't know how it is going to start. I look at it as almost blasse, whatever, I'm just going to go fly a plane right now ... you get the gist. It's difficult for a sob story to get to me.
But this time Fido got to me. Most people, actually everyone I speak to, is against visiting animal shelters. It's easier to forget them that way.
Never a fan of cats, I brushed them off as window dressings when I saw their cages just inside the shelter door.
But, returning to hone my great reporter-like skills I realized that I had to tell the kitty side of the story as well. (Coincidentally, didn't make it into the article-don't know how that happened.)
When Tina, the animal controller officer left to help a customer that was there, I entered the cat room and opened the cage of Sam (Tina had just named him for my article) and stood there, looking at him looking at me. He was sitting in his litter box and before I could think, why sit in your own feces, I was thinking next -- this is no way to live.
I recalled an article I had once read about Russian orphans dying from lack of affection because there weren't enough nurses to love on them.
I decided to love on Sam.
It wasn't before long that I was rubbing his belly, tapping at his paws and scratching behind his ears while his head went in circles around my hand. He looked up and I got my pictures. Playing with him some more and even putting the camera down to use two hands -- I don't hate cats, that much, I had to quickly pull my hand back to retreat.
Sam knew what I was doing, he walked away as if I had never been there. And maybe I hadn't, because what was that going to do for him, that one petting session?
If I wasn't going to be there for him, really, he wasn't going to be there for me either.
UPDATE: Sam was adopted Tuesday, April 22!
You must be logged in to post a comment.