On a camping trip up North one year, we found a cat with one bad ear.
She appeared one night out of thin air, looking kind of sick and without a lot or hair.
With all these things and no doubt flees, she had a kind of dignity.
We knew it would create a fuss, but we took her home with us.
And what a cat she turned into, all healed up and her hair even grew.
The other cats tried with all their might, she just walked past them and would not fight.
Then she got sick and would not drink, we tried everything that we could think.
You can’t go without water for very long, but we couldn’t figure what was wrong.
Then one day to our surprise, she drank some water on the ground outside.
Then she seemed OK again, and we became the best of friends.
She would wait for me to come home from work, she would wait every night for her little walk.
She would camp with us and walk in the woods, never behave like you thought a cat should.
She would sleep on the bed or your chest at night, and put her paw on your face at the sign of first light.
This tells you it’s time to get out of bed, to stroke her back and scratch her head.
Then one day she was sick again, this time we didn’t know where to begin.
We took her to the vet and he checked her out, all seemed OK but he had one doubt.
The x-ray showed her heart was enlarged, there was nothing he could do but would try to discharge,
Some of the water that built up in her chest, and from then on he would try his best.
She got better then sick again, but we always knew that someday when,
The pills didn’t work it would be the end, and I would surely loose my best friend.
It finally happened one sad day, she could hardly walk and couldn’t play.
I sat up with here part of the night, but it seemed like it was a loosing fight.
She wasn’t there to wake me at first light, she passed away in the dead of night.
I miss that cat so very much, but to have her at all was a bit of luck.
I guess I knew form the very start, she always had a huge, huge heart.

Doug from CA