“No, we don’t eat the cat…”
Now this is a comment I did not think I would hear myself telling one of my kids. Especially when the cat that was being “eaten” was our older and somewhat cranky cat Chelsea.
To give you a bit of a background on Chelsea, she is just about 18 years old and has generally been a bit of a temperamental cat, aka a royal pain in the tush sometimes. Chelsea has put up with a lot of things in her life from moving around the world to dealing with going from a one owner home to a home full of three kids and yet another owner added on. Of course, none of this happened with anyone consulting her, perhaps that is part of her anger.
Chelsea has been some what accepting of Emma and Brady and tolerates them as long as they are bringing her food and water. Now with Carly, it is a completely different story.
Chelsea and Carly love each other dearly. Carly loves to pet and/or try to eat Chelsea every chance she gets. Chelsea walks around her, lies down beside her, and willingly gets her hair pulled as Carly learns how to pet a cat. It is almost as if Chelsea knows that Carly has something special going on. They have formed a great bond with one another and Chelsea has become one of Carly’s favorite toys.
I wonder if our pets, or pets in general, can sense when they encounter a person with special needs? Do they, the pets, become more tolerant and understanding? If so, why can’t we, as humans, do the same?
Chelsea is getting a bit long in the tooth and to be honest I really don’t know how much longer she is going to be around, however; I do know that she has been very understanding, patient, and comforting to a child, Carly, who loves her dearly. To this I will always be grateful and will gladly tolerate her meowing in the middle of the night, just because she feels like it.
