I want to tell you a story about a little cat named Suzie Q.
Black with white feet and a smidgen of white on her nose, her eyes are slanted gently in an Asian way. Very tiny, no one believes she isn’t a kitten. Actually she is over two years old and is Mac’s garden shadow. It matters not at all where Mac is in the garden, Suzie Q is never far behind him.
One afternoon a few weeks ago, Mac came in and said he thought Suzie Q might be dying. I went out, picked her up and was shocked at how limp she was. I carried her into the house and cuddled and talked to her. Calling the vet, I made arrangements to get her there. Other than being dehydrated, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her, except she was dying. I made the decision to bring her home to care for her after tests were run and fluids were given. I had no hope that she would live, no idea what could be wrong, but I prayed anyway.
I placed her in a warm bed that night and fed her soy milk from an eyedropper. I was up and down all night, feeding her the almond breeze until she indicated she was full. After the third feeding she sat up and meowed to me. I had hope from that moment on. I continued to feed her the almond breeze until she could lap it on her own, then several days later, I offered her canned food.
It’s now six weeks in and you would never know that Suzie Q had been so close to death, so ill that even the vet felt she couldn’t be saved.
Now here we are in the Christmas season and she is bouncy and playful and has no intention of ever going outside to be a yard cat again. When the door opens, off she runs in the opposite direction. It looks like Mac will have to find himself another garden cat, this one now sleeps under the Christmas tree, next to the baby Jesus.
— Sandi McBride is a resident of Jefferson, who blogs regularly and enjoys her garden and her furry and feathered friends. She is a wife and mother of two sons.
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