I often think back on the day that Jake
and I decided to take the back way home
from an out of town appointment, it was
a warm spring day and we were in no
particular hurry to get back home.
When we saw the little sign that
said animal shelter, we stopped to
just look, it seemed a rather odd
place to have a shelter, and I
wondered if very many folks knew it
was there, and how many animals ever
had the opportunity to get adopted,
in such an out of the way location.
The shelter had the usual long concrete
isles with cages on either side, it
smelled of dogs and disinfectant, there
were puppies in a variety of colors all
clamoring for attention, older dogs some
with collars on, who had probably
wandered away from home.
We were about to leave when I saw a
door off to the side, I asked the young
care taker what was inside there, he
replied kittens and opened the door for
us, there were cages on top of cages,
full of fuzzy kittens climbing up the side
of the cages, desperate for attention, out of the
corner of my eye, I saw a cage with
a kitten and a skinny white cat inside.
Jake and I walked up in front of
the cage, and when the white cat lifted
his head, I looked into the most
pitiful eyes I had ever seen,
it appeared that the cat didn't
even have the strength to open his
eyes all the way or maybe he
just didn't have the will to, we asked
the young man if he knew anything
about the cat, he told us he had
been brought in with the kitten and
was seventeen years old.
Clumps of fur were falling out of
what once, must have been a beautiful
coat, but now was dull and dry,
the poor old guy looked like he had
been starved, he was so skinny every
bone he had showed prominently, I
knew that I didn't need to even ask
Jake, he would never say no to any
animal, we paid five dollars to adopt
the cat and left for home with him
in a small white animal shelter box
and a coupon for a free vet check.
I was feeling quite pleased with myself
for rescuing the old guy, now he could
get fat and live out the rest of his
life happily, funny how us humans think
we know so much about animals, when in
reality they know far more about us
then we'll ever know about them, by the
time we reached home we had named him
Mr. McFee declaring, that having lived
these many years, he deserved to be
addressed as Mr.
We took him to the vet the next day
and after examining him she said
outside of arthritis and being quite
under weight that he was in pretty fair
condition for a cat of his age, we
were instructed to give him baby aspirin
and a good diet, we went home pleased.
Mr. Mcfee wasn't sociable around strangers,
and he would give our other cats a
warning swat anytime they wandered into
"his" perimeter, we were doing our best
to keep him inside, he sat and looked
out the window for hours on end, and
would try to dart out the back door when
anyone came or went, we knew living in
the country at the edge of the woods
there was a lot of danger for domestic
animals out there, but one week after we
brought him home he did get out the
back door when I was coming in with a
basket of clothes I had dried on the
line, I tried my best to coax him back
inside, but the closer I got, the
further away he went, so I put some
kitty snacks in a bowl outside the door,
in hopes that he would be lured back by
them.
Night fell and there was no sign
of him, I was thinking to myself
that the cat should have been
grateful that we had rescued him,
and when I shared this silly notion
with Jake, he said honey, the cat
did what he had to do, he has to
try to find his way back to his
family, that's nature, at that moment
I actually felt the poor old guys
pain, seventeen years, his entire life
gone, of course he had to try to
find his way home.
There was nothing more that we could
do for Mr. McFee, but pray for the Lord
to keep His hand upon him, I knew
in my mind, I would never see him
again, but I found myself scanning the
back yard several times a day, until
I felt that he couldn't possibly make
it back to the house.
Early one morning two weeks after
Mr. McFee had left, Jake and I were
having our coffee in the living room,
when Jake said he heard something
outside the front door, when he went
to look, there was Mr. McFee lying at
the bottom of the steps a skeletal
ball of blood and bones, I fetched a
towel and Jake carefully picked the
pathetic creature up and we placed him
in a spare bedroom on an old blanket,
I called the vet and we took him to
her office that morning, she shook her
head, and said that she had never seen
any animal so badly injured and still
breathing, she went on to say that he
had no chance of survival and that he
should be put down, logically, I had to
agree with that, but Jake flatly refused
and when she saw that he wasn't going
to change his mind, Jake had never turned
his back on an animal in his life, she
prescribed pain medication and antibiotics,
while shaking her head in frustration over
Jakes stubbornness.
The spare bedroom became an intensive
care unit, I never believed for a minute
that Mr. McFee would make it, and Jake
never doubted that he would, the poor ole
guy couldn't even stand up, we fed him
and gave his medications with a dropper
and by hand, we carried him to his litter
box and held him in order for him to be
able to use it, we did everything that
could humanly be done and bowed our heads
and asked the Lord to do the impossible.
It must be that God loves animals,
because two weeks later Mr. McFee
could stand unaided on three legs and
was requiring much less pain medication,
his gaping wounds had stopped oozing,
we took him back to the vets office
and she was astonished that the cat had
lived and teasingly offered Jake a
job with her.
We went home happy, happy to have been
given a second chance to save Mr. McFee,
his eyes began to open up more and
they seemed brighter, he stopped swatting
those who stepped into his perimeter, as
the weeks went by he gained weight
and his coat became lustrous, occasionally
he comes into our bedroom, hops up onto
Jakes chest and wants to be petted,
he has become quite vocal when he wants
to be feed.
Isn't it funny that a great big God
would care so much for one little
creature? not really, that's what God is,
Love, these days Mr. McFee spends a lot of
time sleeping on the picnic table in
the back yard, did I say back yard?
yes thats right, he still likes to be
outside, but he never goes any farther
than the picnic table, where he no doubt
relives his glory days of catching mice,
stalking birds and climbing trees, after
all, dogs have owners, but everyone knows
that cats have staff.
