Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Black Fur and a Can of Tuna

This black cat has frequented our house since my family moved here two years ago. The first year she came with a small kitten, a daughter who in the next year visited with her own litter of three.
This past summer, I remember seeing her for the first time in a long while. She looked emaciated and tired; thinning areas on her back showed white against the black of her fur. I worried she had fought a fight, with either feline or canine, she could not win.
Fortunately my parents, for an unknown reason, always have in stock cans of tuna. Tuna, I believe, replenishes a cat's nine lives. The potent elixir did her much good, and soon she began to put on weight and gradually her ebony coat grew back.
A keen huntress, I had seen her crouch in wait and spring in surprise attack at the backyard squirrels and birds. She's managed to survive as a stray in a forest of houses, cars, and pavement. I hope I did enough to assure she lives out her remaining lives.

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