Seeing the sun for the first time.

I have been very busy lately. Busy with work most of all, but also busy with cats (sitting on them, in particular), busy with family, and busy with this holiday season.

Because of my schedule, however, I feel like I never see the sun anymore. I kind of miss her. I have been trying to wake up early enough to see her, but she always goes to sleep an hour or two after I rise. Bummer.

Hank, and human depravity.

Hank appeared at my parents' house two weeks ago with squinty eyes and lots of little scratches and cuts on him. It was obvious that he had seen the brunt of several cat fights. He was hungry, but he was also very frightened. He was frightened of the other cat that hangs around the house, frightened of me, frightened of the dogs inside. Of course my parents put food out for him. While he was eating, I came up and pet him a few times. He loved it. After a while, though, the dogs barked. Hank ran away.

Dubbed "Hank" because he looked almost-but-not-quite like a cat my parents had taken care of before (named Henry), Hank made quite the impression on all of us. He was a big, bruiser of a cat- no neck, a huge head, and big paws. Through all of the dirt and filth, you could see that he was white, with large ginger splotches. He soon became more outgoing, and would rush up to us and rub against our legs. He was neutered, and was most definitely used to people. Why on earth had he been abandoned?

As the week wore on, it became more apparent that Hank couldn't stay outside my parents' house. Linus, the other outdoor cat, was getting beaten up. Hank's eyes looked awful. We finally made the decision to take him to the Humane Society.

The people at the HSSA were absolutely wonderful. They realized just how special Hank was, and took me straight in with them. They ran a few blood tests on Hank to see if he would be able to be adopted. Unfortunately, both the FIV antigen snap test and the IDEXX RealPCR FIV test came back positive. If he had been more healthy, he would have been able to live out the rest of his life at a no-kill shelter, however he also had anemia. His eyes were another issue. No matter how aggressively they tried to treat his them, they would not heal. His immunities were not up for it.

I am going to be with Hank while they euthanize him today.

I can hope that the past two weeks have been high points in his life- I know that he has been warm and had plenty to eat and a lot of love. For those of you who work or worked with me, you guys remember Jane- SHE has been taking care of him. We all know that means he's been WELL loved. I wish there was more that I could have done for him, however I can say that what I wish more than anything that whoever owned him had cared for him. He did not deserve to be dumped and left to fend for himself. Despite all the care my family and the Humane Society have given him, he certainly should have had more. He should have been able to have a life.