Thursday, December 15, 2005

A Christmas Miracle



The opportunity to share a really nice bit of news is my joy today.

You might remember Myles, a cat that became separated from his people. The post I wrote, detailing his loss and giving contact info, appeared here over 30 days ago. Well, I have received word that Myles was found. Imagine that - especially in light of the huge snowstorm we had in this area a week ago. Even the most diehard pet owner would have considered a cat lost for more than a month an irretrievably lost cause at this point.

It seems that Myles had somehow gotten himself trapped in the eaves of someone's house. How or why, we won't ever know - unless Myles develops the power of human speech. Anyway, the owner of this house kept hearing meowing at odd times, but never saw a cat.

Now, from what I understand, a garage is attached to that house. Once, this guy opened his garage door and a black cat ran out. Myles is an orange sort of a cat, so that wasn't him. However, it appears that Myles may not have been without company, at least for part of his ordeal.

The owner of the house thought that this black cat was the cat he had been hearing, but then he still heard meowing. Twice, he set a humane trap in the eaves, baiting it with a can of tuna. Twice, it was eaten - no cat. The third time, though, there was Myles; scraggly, a bit sad, and considerably down in weight, but otherwise OK.

This fellow had heard about a cat being missing, so he took Myles to the house that had advertised a missing cat. He rang the doorbell. Myles' owner came to the door and looked out, but all he could see was this man's back. He opened the door.

"Hi. Can I help you?"

The man outside turned around and said, "Is this yours?"

At this point, Myles leaped from the neighbor's hands onto the chest of his owner. The owner was so overcome he literally couldn't speak. He just sort of staggered back into the house, with Myles digging into his shoulders, and it was almost a half-hour before he could compose himself enough to go over to his neighbor's house and profusely thank him.

Needless to say, the folks who own Myles are overjoyed and they consider this a Christmas miracle. As a matter of fact, they had already gotten another cat. They had, quite understandably, given up completely on Myles, as it was over 30 days since he became lost. So, as it turns out, it's a miracle on two fronts. First, of course, Myles is back. Second, this new cat (Abraham) was a stray and now he has a nice home. Here's a picture of Abraham.




Two cats: one thought dead, but not, and the other saved from almost certain death. Pretty damned cool. I wish I had stuff like this to write about every day.

By the way, you can perform a Christmas miracle of your own, by giving a home to a cat or dog who has nowhere left to go. Abraham was adopted from the website of Petfinder, which seems like a very nice organization. If you'd like some living breathing love, then check out this website and/or those of your local animal shelters. Nothing wrong with a pedigree, but the felines and canines that populate the shelters don't just need a home - they're waiting for a reprieve.

There's an old episode of The Honeymooners, wherein Alice adopts a puppy, without Ralph knowing about it. When he finds out, he angrily brings the puppy back to the pound. However (as you know if you're familiar with the show) Ralph is, despite his hair-trigger temper, a real sweetheart deep down, so after he returns the puppy, he asks the man at the shelter what will happen to it. The man tells him that, if nobody adopts him after a certain time, he'll have to be put down. Ralph says, "Not MY dog!", and he rushes into the back to save the puppy. Meanwhile, Alice finds out about Ralph returning the dog to the pound, so she heads down there herself to try and stop Ralph from doing so. When she gets there, Ralph comes out of the back - not only with the original puppy, but with every dog whose time was about up.

I'm the same way. Just like Ralph, I go to pieces when I think about the animals in those places. I'd like to just walk in and take home every cat facing a time limit. Unfortunately, though I've given a home to quite a few strays in my life, it's an impossible situation now. MY WIFE is very allergic to animal dander. We just can't have a cat. The best I can currently do is what I'm doing here - making an appeal to you.

No, that's a lie; there is something else I can do. I can make a donation to help feed a few of those kitties waiting for adoption. In honor of Myles being found and Abraham being saved, I'm going to do just that, today. See you Monday.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you. There are so many needy cats and dogs... especially at Christmas. It is said when we die and go to heaven, all the cats and dogs we owned will come running to meet us. I hope so.

Niobium said...

The solution is to get rid of THE WIFE and get a cat.

Kidding.

Anonymous said...

I found Kilo on Petfinder. A lot of smaller humane organizations use Petfinder to advertise their homeless pets. The site offers a profile of what the animals like and dislike (small children, other cats, other dogs, etc.). I went to the shelter three times before taking Kilo home, and I brought my dog in to visit her before making the final decision - taking all the time to make sure it was the right decision has really paid off. Kilo is an excellent addition to our family :)

Yeah for Abraham and Myles!

And don't forget that adult animals (in my experience at least) require much less attention than a peeing puppy or meowing kitten. (Shelters often charge less for adult animals, as well.)

My PR piece is done ...

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

This was a very heartwarming story. Thank you for sharing this with us. 2 cats found a miracle and it's Christmas time to boot. I know the owners of Myles are very blessed, not by one but by two furry friends.

Thank you for helping all the kitties that don't have a home yet.

Suldog said...

http://members.petfinder.org/~MA44/
index.htm

is my choice for the donation I am making. It is the Ellen M. Gifford Sheltering Home in Brighton, MA, and I find them particularly attractive because they do NOT euthanize, but rather provide a continuing home for the cats they cannot place with adoptors.

It costs $20 to feed a kitty for a month.

Kathy said...

That was a wonderful story! We recently thought that one of our cats was lost, and we just wept when we found her, safe and sound. Both of our cats were strays and I will only adopt strays, never from a breeder. There are so many homeless pets that need good, loving homes. Like you, I always want to take home every one of them. My heart just breaks when I see them.

In addition, please, please spay/neuter your pets, even if they are indoor pets only. It's incredible how many puppies/kittens are born each year due to one night out on the town for an un-neutered pet. Many animal shelters will spay/neuter your pets for a very nominal fee.

I'm so happy that Myles made it home and Abraham has a wonderful new home. They will have a very Merry Christmas indeed!

Anonymous said...

As you can see by the myriad of replies, this was one of your best yet. So happy for the owners and the two cats.

Always knew there was a heart of gold beneath that sometimes gruff exterior of your.

Anonymous said...

I think it's just by chance that I happend to recieve this blog, and I'm not even really sure HOW I got it, but with a happy heart I would write to say that I was the shelter staff member that adopted Abraham to his new wonderful family. After almost a week's worth of phonecalls and emails Abraham's new prospective dad drove 2 hours to our shelter where he fell in love (how could you not?). I have gladly received updates as to how well he is doing, and much to my surprise I was thrilled to hear on my latest update that Myles had indeed been located. I found this story heartwarming and thought it kind that someone would acknowledge this as a true Christmas Miracle. At the risk of offending anyone, as it is not my purpose, I would like to point out that although Abraham did come from a shelter that does euthanize, he was NOT facing certain death. We do not do our job because we want to cause them harm or death, sometimes I think we care more than the owner that turns them over without a second glance.I often feel that shelters in our position are often chastised for the horrible decisions we have to make and it breaks our hearts to end a life. As long as an animal in our facility is of good health and temperment and we have space to house them their stay is unlimited. We recently placed a dog that had been at the facilty just shy of 1 year. As said in a previous post (AMEN) please spay and neuter and consider an older pet for adoption.If you can't adopt, please consider becoming a volunteer,or a contributing member, both of which are a shelter's lifeline.
Thank you for posting this story, sometimes ours is a thankless job, but this makes it all worthwhile.
UNTIL THERE ARE NONE...ADOPT ONE.

Anonymous said...

I want to thank the shelter and everyone involved with this story and the finding of my nephew Myles. I live in California and when we got the news he was gone we were completely destroyed. We had lost one of our 5 family pets to liver damage a year ago and couldn't take another loss. We had joy three times this year. One day while walking my dogs Cinderella and Crystal Marie a little head appeared in a pile of leaves. I carried this boney little creature home, cleaned him up and named him Manny (after manny ramirez)He is now a healthy 12lb cat who runs our household with the other 4 furry children in our home.
I called my sister's house everyday and just hated her the voices on the other end because you could just hear the pain. We were so overjoyed with the adoption of Abe but still Myles was in our hearts and minds. When we got the call that Myles was found it was truly a gift from God. I can't wait to see my nephew again and thanks for putting Abe's picture on the web site. Now i can see how truly handsome my nephew is. If you are missing something or someone in your life go to a shelter and adopt a pet. All but one of our aniamals are strays and i can promise you they fulfill our lives with more joy and laughter. I was always told money can't bring happiness but the sound of a purr or the warmth of a dog is priceless.
We love you Myles and Abe. So glad you are part of our extended fur family.
Love Aunty Debby, Uncle Ed, Cousins David, kitty, loopey, manny, cinderella and crystal marie

Suldog said...

Thank you, all, very much. My pleasure, believe me. Please see my next column for a detailed response.