Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Poor Shadow

Poor Shadow. That's not really his name. His name is simply Shadow, but rarely do we say his name without prefacing it with the sad condition in which he lives.


Poor Shadow came to live with us about ten or eleven years ago. I can't remember exactly. For well over a month he came and sat outside the sliding glass door to our patio. In spite of the fact that he really wanted to come inside I made him stay out and threatened my children so that they would not feed him or love him. We already had a cat, thank you very much and Shadow (which wasn't his name at the time) actually belonged to our neighbors across the street. So each day, sometimes several times a day, I would make my children carry him across the street and return him to his rightful home.


Day after day Poor Shadow would show up at our door, until one night the weatherman reminded all pet owners to bring their animals inside because of the dangerously low temperatures. As I was locking up the house that night, there sat Poor Shadow peering in through the sliding glass door. Now, although I didn't want another pet (or a fight with my neighbor) I took pity on Poor Shadow and brought him in for the night so that he wouldn't freeze to death in the cold. As you can imagine, the rest is history.


To say that Poor Shadow is a nervous cat is somewhat of an understatment. We assume that before he came to live with us that he must have been abused by his former owners, because even after living with our family as long as he has, he still gets frightened and runs for cover whenever we happen to pass him in the hallway.


Last week I had to take Poor Shadow to see the vet. He was obviously in a lot of pain and we couldn't figure out why. To make a long story short and a lot less GROSS, Poor Shadow had to be sedated (don't tell your 10 year old that they "put him to sleep" for the procedure...that was terrifying!) and a gloved finger had to go in the direction that things usually come out.


In spite of the gumpy looking picture above (that was taken moments before I threw Poor Shadow off my bed so that I could make it), Poor Shadow is feeling much better now. As a matter of fact, I might even go so far as to call him Happy Shadow. Well, I was going to until Cute Mia, who was prending to love him, went up and bit him on the neck.


Poor Shadow. Poor, Poor Shadow.

8 comments:

  1. I think Poor Shadow should consider himself Lucky Shadow to have found such a nice place to live *s*

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  2. Poor Shadow--Spike does the same thing to Button! ROFLOL!

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  3. I assume that the neighbors didn't have a problem with him running away to live at your house. lol No cats at my house our 7 year old son is extremely allergic, like, he almost quits breathing.

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  4. Found your blog via another quilting friend's blog. I enjoy all of your stories and your cats are beautiful as well as your quilts! You are so lucky to have such a beautiful view of the mountains in your back yard. In Wisconsin, you have trees... pretty much everywhere!

    Have a great day!

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  5. You are a very good writer Kairle. I really enjoyed this post, and the others as well. Your mountain looks beautiful! Say hello to R.R. when you see him!

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  6. Poor "Lucky" Shadow, I would say! What a delightful story, Kairle. Thank you for sharing it.

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  7. I don't understand why people get pets if they're not going to take care of them. Shadow is one lucky kitty to have found someone to love him.

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  8. That happened to my old cat once..she got an enema and the car ride home was horrific..to say the least. Glad Shadow has a place to live and be happy.

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