Yesterday a cat burglar came into our home. His name is Smokey. He is 10 years old, stands about 11" tall on his four legs, weighs a bit under 10 pounds, has the biggest green eyes and his hair is black with touches of white and lots of gray roots (as have many of us).
And what did this cat burglar do? He stole our hearts.
For the past 10 years, Smokey has brought companionship and joy to a number of residents in a special care section of our senior community. When a notice was sent out that he was in need of a new home, I jumped at the chance to have him live with us. The by-laws state that you can bring a pet with you when you move in but can not bring one in once you are settled as a resident. We had lost our seventeen year old cat Samantha to diabetes not long before we relocated. So we felt we would never have a chance to share our home with another. But Smokey was an exception, he has been in our community since it opened. It was hoped he could stay here.
When my husband agreed we should look into it, I grabbed the phone as I am never want to do. (Been phone phobic my whole life and I'm just not going to stress over it any more - that is what the internet is for.) My heart dropped when I heard we were second in line - just had to hang on to the end of the day to see how it would work out. The other couple have known Smokey for 10 years and wanted to make sure he would stay here. (My husband and I are still newbies at 1 year.)
Things worked out so perfectly. Smokey moved in bag and baggage - it took a large cart to get his belongings to us. AND - the other couple offered to take care of him should we travel. So nice. He has already claimed the bed in our guest bedroom as his own where he can keep his eyes on comings and goings perched on the windowsill.
Now - I never thought I would be reading ingredient labels for my cat's treats. I'm just beginning to do that seriously for us and as for our poor children - were there labels back then? I just shiver to think of over meals of tuna or hamburger helper. "Our" Smokey is on a special senior diet. I wasn't about to give him junk for treats - right? I chose a couple a "natural" ingredient packages - one of which brings "outdoor" nutrients to an inside cat. (Is that like grass and dirt?) I even found one treat that believe it or not was made with "free range chicken" - now wouldn't that automatically come with grass and dirt?
Right now Smokey is sharing the couch with his Dad - both sound asleep. The staff member that delivered Smokey to us wished for him a well deserved wonderful retirement. I promised her that we will do our best to assure that - after all he has already added so much to our very own.
Forrest Gump's Momma had it right - Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.
Congratulations on your "cat burgler" and please forgive any spelling erros in this comment as I am trying to type around our Lynx point siamese who is thry to help me type :-)
Posted by: Rob in Sanford | January 24, 2010 at 02:04 PM
Welcome home Smokey - you are a very lucky cat!!
Posted by: Cheryl Krass | January 24, 2010 at 04:05 PM