Lost and Found

I don't think it's any secret that I love animals. Sometimes, when I visit my friends, I catch myself spending more time with their pets than them. Maybe it's the way they connect with us. Dogs seem to be so in the now with you, like they've been waiting all day for you to show up and now that you're there, everything is gonna be fun! Some people will say it's because eventually there will be food, but I disagree. They get something more out of the bargain. Maybe it's comfort. Dogs are very anxious people. Searching, smelling, defending, warning... why don't they ever get over that stuff? Why do they need us to be home before they can relax? I think we do their spirits a disservice when we talk about them as pack animals. There's something there in them, a need to connect with us. Like they used to know how to talk to us and they're always on the verge of remembering how... but then they just start barking and that ruins everything.

Cats are a whole different story. There's every reason they should fear us. We're bigger. We're clumsier. We sometimes have dogs. Yet cats walk into your life and take over. They tell you what they want, when they want it and how they'd prefer it be cooked. If we're smart, we pay attention. We listen to them and,  slowly, something wonderful happens. We do begin to communicate with them. They read our moods. They know when we need some comfort and they park themselves in our laps. They know how to ask us to play with them. I have a cat now who doesn't meow when he wants me to open the door and let him in... he knocks.

I  have another one that found me a few years ago. Yeah, that's right, she found me... that's how it works for me. I was at a shelter hoping to find a male kitten to be a companion to my dear old Mackie. As I walked around the shelter, I saw several males, but none of them were young and none of them seemed to care enough to open their eyes... There's always an air of sadness at pet shelters. Anyone with a heart wants to take them all home but knows they can't. I'm sure the cats figure it out for themselves and it gets to them eventually. Well, as I made my way around the cages, there was one cat who wasn't going down without a fight. Every time that I walked past a certain cage, a little rust colored paw shot out and smacked at me. The cage held a one year old female... absolutely the last thing on my list that day and yet... This cat literally reached out to me, like she was saying "Hey! It's me! Remember? Don't you recognize me?". I passed her by a couple of times but finally came back to her. Did I recognize her? Did she recognize me? From where? From when? Was that even possible? The attendant took her out of the cage for me and led us into the "getting to know you" room where this little cat ran around me a couple of times and jumped up on my lap as if to say "It's about time you got here. I'm all packed. Let's blow!" When I helped her up to my shoulder and she perched on it like she'd been doing it for years, I knew I'd found my cat... or she'd found me.

 

Lost and Found

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