A Soft Pause for Soft Paws

I have been more tired than I know how to explain lately.

I have tried every good and bad way to help manage this deep sense of tiredness in my bones. Then along came a cat.

I originally met “Midnight” on my front porch about 3 years ago. He was friendly and wanted to come inside. My dogs said no thanks. I called the humane society, that’s how I found out his name was Midnight. He was chipped and the humane society returned him to his owners.

He kept showing up, in the backyard, or on the front porch. I would feed him when he was hungry, made sure he had fresh water. I was annoyed and worried when he was outside in the cold, so I left the garage open and got a warm bed, just in case he needed it. I still couldn’t let him inside, because, well, he wasn’t my cat, and my dogs said no.

About year later, he showed up with a new tag, he had been injured. The lady across the alley took him in and got his wound treated. She renamed him “Mr. Black”. I would still see Mr. Black on a regular basis, and you could tell he was well cared for.

More time passed, then randomly we saw Mr. Black on the humane society website. He had been surrendered because of a serious injury. My son and I went down to the humane society and immediately asked if we could adopt him. We could not, they told us, because of his medical status. We were, however, allowed to foster him, which we gladly did. After some time healing and getting his stitches out, we were allowed to adopt Mr. Black.

We figured Midnight, and Mr. Black hadn’t quite suited him, so his new name is now Ozzy. His full name is something along the lines of Ozzy, Prince of Darkness, House Panther. He is adjusting well to his new softer life indoors.

Its been almost two months, one dog is now accepting, one dog is still saying absolutely not. The cat doesn’t seem to mind the dogs either. He really is a good cat.

Creating safe, cozy spaces for myself, the dogs, and the cat, led me here.

A place where we can all take a soft pause.