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.