Heart Strings #6

This is my "Heart Strings" story. One day I was walking out to our garage when I noticed a cat sitting near the garage steps. He was gray, mostly, but the white around his eyes made it look like he had a mask on. His big, white feet made him look like a clown. He was the funniest looking cat I'd ever seen.

I went back into the house and told my wife that, " there is a cat outside that looks like a clown."

I went back out and called him. You know, pssss pssss pssss.

He just sat there. So, back in to the house I went to get him some food.

I put the plate down and backed away. He limped over to it and devored it. I tried to get closer to him, but he ran.

The next morning, when I left for work, he was there again. By now I had determined that he was definately a male cat. I called him again, but he sat still. He wanted something to eat. I gave him another plate of food and he gobbled it up. But this time, he let me get a little closer before he ran, or I should say, limped away.

Later that day when I got home from work, he was there again.

"You sure are a clownie looking cat", I said to him as he limped a little closer. I fed him and this time he let me pet him.

I noticed that one of his front feet was really swollen. When I touched it he growled a little. What could I do to help heal his foot?

Rummagging around the medicine cabinet, I found some "Neosporen". It's an anti bacterial cream.

"Clownie" let me rub some on his foot. I did that every day and soon he wasn't limping anymore. I don't know if a Vet would agree with my choice of first aid, but it worked.

Every day when I got home from work, he was there. He would rub against my feet and I'd feed him. Eventually I could pick him up.

My wife and I decided that he could not come in the house because we had 2 female cats.

Anyway, as the months past, Clownie and I became best friends. But he was determined to get in the house. He would cry at the back door and then go around to the front door and do the same. Finally he won. We'd put the other cats in another room and let him in for awhile.

That summer, he got a bad ear infection. I took him to the Vet and had to smear ear cream down into his ear canal every day. He didn't like that, but it healed him good.

One day I mentioned to my wife that Clownie looked like he was losing weight. It sure wasn't because he wasn't eating!

Soon he had lost so much weight that I could see and feel his spine and ribs. So back to the Vet he went.

The Vet took some blood and said he would call in a day or so with the results. Clownie was very well behaved.

A few days later, the Vet called with the bad news. Clownie had feline lukemia. He said as long as we took care of him he could live a few more months but sugessted we put him to sleep.

I just couldn't. This funny looking, dumb old tom cat had really gotten to me. I grew up with cats. We lost lots of them but none of them ever hurt me so bad.

Clownie continued to lose weight and it became harder for him to get around.

He would curl up with me on the sofa and I'd lay a blanket over him to keep him warm.

Like the song says, "One day while I was not at home, while he was there and all alone, the angels came."

We burried my buddy back by the garage that had become his home for the short time we had him with us.

We have moved since then and I think about Clownie often. I miss him.