Hi Sarah!

Isn’t she a beauty! She’s a food eliminator, that’s for sure. Carboy and I went to the local animal shelter to take some newspapers, blankets, toys, and treats and saw this girl. She was cowered flat in the corner of her little kennel with big terrified eyes that followed you but she didn’t move. She was shutting down.

Several years ago my Sammy Jeaux got really sick, we had to leave her at the cat hospital for a few days, she started to shut down and it was the worst. She hadn’t had to leave the house for years… YEARS! We have a vet that will come out but she needed 24 hour care so to the hospital she went but the aftermath was just as bad. She wouldn’t eat, she wouldn’t talk, she just keep drawing further and further in. It was scary. Eventually after spending days just being with her and talking to her, hand feeding her and being very quiet and patient, she came around and she’s been healthy and happy ever since but from that point we recognize that kind of extreme stress and this little kitten was in the midst of a full blown shut down. We had to get her out of there.

We weren’t really ready for another cat but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do so while she was off at the vet getting spayed, we got the house in order to introduce the new girl. Carboy thought she looked like a Sarah and we added the Scout in honor of our Atticus who came from the same shelter, it was close to the second anniversary when we lost him to cancer.

Well, it’s been one month now and our Sarah has completely broken out of her shell. She is the happiest little cat racing around our house – she loves bounding up and down stairs – playing with Sophie, eating TONS of cat food, sleeping on pillows and blankets, talking about her day, and discovering new places to explore everyday. She loves to cuddle against my face and purr so hard it vibrates through her whole little body. She even loves the dog!

Please remember your local animal shelters. Even if you can’t adopt, you can donate. Shelters often have wish lists on their website. Even just old towels and blankets, piles of newspaper, and any size stainless steel bowls are incredibly useful. It’s always nice to pick up a big box of treats which shelters can rarely afford or maybe a package of toys. Animal shelters have long had a bad reputation but the truth is that those folks have a terribly hard job and pick up after the mess that lots of awful people leave – but I won’t go too far there otherwise I’ll get really mad – but they try really hard and we can help them out. Every little bit helps and you never know, today could be the day you save a life and give a little bit of happiness to someone who rightly deserves it. Small changes make the whole world a better place.