Loading ...
Sasha and Me… and a Sweepstakes Announcement
I wanted to share a little story — the story of how I rescued Sasha and how much love we share today, ten years later.
I was a senior at Colorado State University in Fall of 2000. Sasha was born in December 2000. In the spring of 2001, I was looking for a second cat, a rescue. Actually, I was waiting for a rescue to find me as it were…
A roommate of mine said she had a classmate with a 6-month-old black kitten that she “could not take care of anymore.” Yeah, right. I went over to check it out and left with a new cat under-arm and almost swiped the previous owner across the face for the conditions of not only the home, but the cat. The only thing I wasn’t displeased with was this little black fluffball’s name: Sasha. It was my favorite DJ’s name (I was big into music in college…)
Sasha, aka 'Poopsie" or "Sash-Kash-B'Gosh"
Sash had pretty much been neglected for the previous two months. She was full of mats in her long hair, dirty, covered in fleas, underfed, underweight, and had an attitude towards women like a scorned lover. She was PISSED. It took some time for her to warm up for sure; once she realized she was safe, once she understood she was free, and once she got the concept of regular mealtimes and decent food (and treats!!), she was warming up. She also LOVED my other roommate’s new Persian kitten James. The two of them would play and chase each other around the house and it would just look like a blur of gray and black fur meshed together!
Sasha grew up in a house with five girls and LOTS of foot traffic (parties, study groups, etc). She became an outdoor cat because her older brother, my beloved Theodore, was already an expert outdoorsman. Sasha relished her time outside – she would stay out for hours chasing things, lolling in the grass, trying to climb things (previous owner de-clawed her) and taking naps in the shade or on the front porch. Every time I came home from class, she and Theodore would run to greet me. It was like having two dogs! She had a bad medical scare that year in Colorado – the exact reason escapes me but I do know she almost lost a paw and I spent a fortune at the famous CSU Veterinary Clinic saving her… poor thing.
After graduation we moved back home to Orange County, California. She perfected her bird-hunting skills there (and lizards, ew), and loved the sunshine. All the neighbors new Sasha as she had a tendency to go into their open garages to nose around. Sometimes she would get stuck and I would have to wake up a family at 10 pm to get my cat out of their garage. We moved back to Cleveland, OH in summer of 2006. Sasha loved being around the four seasons again and has never let deep snow stop her from going outside. She either stands on top of it or waits for me to shovel paths for her.
Today Sasha is a therapy cat. My neighbor has suffered from breast and bone cancer for years and Sasha has been playing nurse for three years. EVERY SINGLE MORNING, she eats, then goes outside and makes a beeline for the neighbor’s house. She’ll go in there and just rest beside Laura, the patient, or she’ll follow her around the house. She always lets everyone over there pet her and often purrs for them, which is not a common occurrence. Sash is the most independent cat I’ve ever had so for her to be so reliant on the love and affection of a neighbor is strange, but I’ve gotten used to it.
Sasha has worked miracles for Laura, and Laura will be the first to tell you so. She’s the shining light in Laura’s day many days. And Sash KNOWS when it’s not a good day for Laura – she will just itch to go over there and get inside to help Laura through what must be agonizing pain and discomfort. She even follows her into the bathroom. And the garage. And the back porch. And as of now, every single night, either I go over there to get my cat or she is brought home by her ‘boyfriend,” Laura’s husband, who Sasha just adores. (She prefers men since a female first neglected/abused her.)
I am perfectly fine with sharing my cat. Sasha still sleeps right next to my head in bed every single night. Like clockwork, she makes herself cozy and waits for me to turn in. She knows I have a special treat drawer for her in my room that the other cats don’t have access too. She has her own blanket and special pillow.
Sasha is loved dearly by all who meet her. The whole neighborhood knows her as she makes her “rounds” to visit others as well. And when they all hear me on the porch at 8 pm yelling “Sasha,” Ill often hear an echo from a neighbor! Sasha comes like a dog when I call her, even though it’s time to come in for the night. She is a lot like a dog actually, just like Theodore was. They learned at a young age to respond to my commands and to be loving and generous to everyone they cross paths with.
So here’s the deal–if you love your pet as much as I love my pets, you could win a $100 Visa gift card just by participating in the ProPlan campaign shown on this page of the BlogPaws site.
Who wouldn’t like to win a $100 Visa gift card? So head on over there and check it out – but first, tell me in the comments how you rescued your pet or how much you love your pet today!
Artemisia, I was “rescued” from the Grandparents house where I was a barn cat. I is loved very much today and gets to live inside but I still enjoy going outside.
Fenris, I was rescued from the Bay St. Louis/Waveland Animal Shelter. Mommy saw my picture on Petfinder.Com. I am Mommy’s very favorite doggie.
Socks, I was rescued from the Grandparents too. I am technically Youngest Boy Bean’s cat but the whole family loves me.
Scylla, the beans had just lost Whiskers and were very sad. Mommy was looking for a kitten that looked like Whiskers but the lady that was fostering a whole lot of Mommy cats didn’t have one that looked like Whiskers that was old enough to go home with her. Mommy mentioned that she would like to help foster cats, so when the lady needed someone to take care to 4 week old kittens she called Mommy and Mommy begged Daddy to let her help us. Someone else had already taken two of the kittens so Mommy got me and Charybdis. When Daddy got home from work and saw Mommy feeding us he told her she could keep us if he could name us. That is how we gotted our names and got Gotcha’d all at one time.
All of us are ‘inevitable’ kitties. Our Food Source had adopted two other kitties from a place called the Animal Orphanage (in NJ), and thought he was fixed for furrkids.
The Animal Orphanage had a shelter area in Petsmart where you could visit and adopt kitties. Our Food Source kept an eye on the other kitties he had considered, and noticed that after a while all of them had been adopted, except for Luna. Luna had been the last one he considered before deciding on two other kitties, and when he visited Petsmart he would play with her through the glass. After a couple months he decided that Luna was destined to be his too, so he adopted her.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read started out as the Two Black Kitties. We started hanging out in the yard, and eating the food our (eventual) Dad was putting out. He posted information about them several places around town, and even mentioned them on our blog, trying to find us homes. Mean time, Mary Read was hanging our with his Mom while she watched TV, and Anne Bonny was sleeping with her in her bed. He still thought he had a chance to find us new homes until someone called asking for information about us. His mom answered the call, said that she didn’t know anything at all about that, and hung up on the poor guy. At that point, he bowed to the inevitable, and admitted we had been home all along.