I really didn’t want any animals in my house. They shed, they break things, they make it difficult to go on vacation. A dog – no way, I’m not having some beast wake me up every single morning to go out and pee. Everyone that I know with dogs also complain that they have “accidents” in the house. Cats don’t do that.

So we have a cat named Jack. The only reason that he lives here is that he was critical in a shelter. I heard the story and donated $100 toward his surgery. That was not enough. Ok, so here’s the story… a person who feeds feral cats saw him trying to limp toward the food, but he couldn’t get in there to get anything. She turned him over to our local animal shelter. Then his list of injuries piled up.

He was shot through his right elbow (the lead fragments show on his x-ray). One of his toes was just bone sticking out from his foot. All of his ribs are disconnected from the sternum, likely from being kicked. His jaw is sitting weird on his face.

Ok, they say that black cats are the most abused, but this is ridiculous. His toe was amputated, and he was healing in a foster home where some lady was insisting they amputate his front right leg! No. You cannot do that to a cat. I called the shelter and had him brought in so I could foster him until he got better. Get better he did!

Four years later, he still limps, but somehow he runs around the house at lightning speed when he has the energy. He has absolutely no ill-will again humans, and he’s very friendly with any visitors. Cats are usually assholes. They claw things, they break things, they get up on counters… Jack does none of that. He’s just a sweet little guy.