Sometimes It Just Takes Time and Compassion

Today this heart warming story of a rescued dog appeared in my Facebook newsfeed. Someone took the time and made the effort to make this little dog's life so much better. I suspect many people would  have just had him put down or left him to walk on two legs (which he was certainly doing quite effectively) but someone looked past the obvious and with patience made his life the one it should have been all along. It made me cry and I'm not all that sentimental a person.

It also reminded me of how, but for people taking the time to rescue our sweet kitty and the care taken of him at our local vet's, both as a kitten and an adult, we would not have him with us now. He has had to cope with a lot in his life. He and his sisters were found abandoned as tiny kittens and obviously bad things had happened to him meaning he has an ongoing fear of men in general as a result. (He lived with us for nearly a year before he allowed Pisces to stroke him. Now he demands it and that is a lovely sight to see.)

When Virgo first brought him home he was terrified of everything and everyone and spent most of the first six weeks with us hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room. How a tiny kitten managed to open its heavy doors remains a mystery to this day but he did. Slowly we brought him out into other parts of the house where he immediately raced for cover under the sofa, behind the curtains or behind any other piece of furniture much to the bemusement of the dog and our other cat who followed him around wondering what had moved in with us. Eventually, slowly, I was first allowed to stroke him then to pick him up and he became my shadow. He still is although he remains extremely anxious. This morning's thunderstorms had him hiding under my bed for hours.

Anxiety wasn't the end of his trials though. Earlier this year he developed what the vet thought were behavioural problems and we nearly lost him before things turned for the better. He's been left with a condition that will require medication for the rest of his life but that's a small price to pay. He's a happy and affectionate sweetie and he's lying beside me right now curled up on my laptop bag. It took a lot of time and even more patience to help a terrified kitten grow into this contented adult cat but we - Pisces and I - have never regretted making the effort.