We have another three felid-related items today; the first is the 6-minute story of an elderly cat who, after losing her owners and then being abused, found a forever home—even if she won’t last that long. It was sent by reader Diane G., who wrote the following:
I have a strange feeling I should be cynical about this, but I don’t know why…Meanwhile, taken at face value it’s simultaneously the most heartbreaking and, ultimately, uplifting vid I’ve seen in a long time.
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If you’re like me, when you’re in an art museum you eventually ask, “Where are the cat paintings/statues/icons?” Well, the Milwaukee Art Museum anticipated the needs of ailurophiles, and prepared “A comprehensive guide to finding cats at the Milwaukee Art Museum.” Every Museum, especially big one like the Louvre, needs one of these. It shows what cat stuff is on display and where it is. Here are five paintings, with captions showing what they are:
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From Bored Panda we have the story of a “nurse cat”. It’s hard to believe that this cat is doing this, but Malgorzata and Andrzej tells me that the cat is famous in Poland:
Radamenes, an angelic little black cat in Bydgoszcz, Poland, has come through hell and high water to help the animals at the veterinary center there get better. After the veterinary center brought him back from death’s door, he’s returning the favor by cuddling with, massaging and sometimes even cleaning other animals convalescing from their wounds and operations.
Radamenes has become a local attraction, and people have begun visiting him at the center for good luck!
He even helps d*gs!
The people at the office call him a “full time nurse”. What say you—is this cat really dispensing empathy to sick animals?
h/t: Gregory, Diane G., Alexandra M.
Damn Diane G. What a story.
Thank you. I am sickened by what people can do to hurt animals. I am thrilled to see what humans will do to help and protect animals. We rescue animals. We use to do dogs until I lost the ability to care for them. Now we rescue cats. We have two rescues. It is so hard to explain the joy for everyone one in this arrangement. Hugs
Sorry but I can’t handle that video.
Cinnamon is awesome, and the people who care for her are amazing.
I know I’ve said this here before, but everyone: if you’re ever looking to adopt a cat (or dog), please go to a shelter (not a breeder, where you have to pay and you get “special” animals) and adopt an adult cat. Adult cats have a very lower chance of being adopted, unlike the kittens you’ll see. Moreover, the adults are usually cats who were adopted as kittens, lived a year or two in a large, loving home with tons of affection and interaction, and then were one day brought to a shelter and locked up in a 3 x 3 cage forevermore because their owners got tired of them. They deserve the chance to have a home again. They don’t know why they suddenly ended up without love and freedom. But you can give that back to them.
And please, don’t adopt an animal unless you know you will care for it until the day it dies. They’re not toys, but responsibilities. They need you, and you can’t abandon them if you get bored or you’re moving to another place and want to start your new life without them.
Go out and adopt an adult cat! They’ll love you for it, and you’ll love them!
+1
My cat, Evil, was 18 when he died last year of a brain tumor. I adopted him when he was 8 from Animal Humane. He was a horrible cat, wretched in every way, who disturbed my sleep every night for 10 years. His dying broke my heart, and I’d trade my car if I could sleep with him again.
Both of our cats are rescues. It does not get any better.
Commendations to both you and Randy for rescuing your cats and giving them the lives they deserved 🙂
About 20 years ago, my sister in law complained about her aging cat. She enumerated his many flaws and wrapped up her ten minute rant by asking me if we would take him in. He lived 1000 miles away; I said no, mainly cause I knew she would never abandon him. And she didn’t.
Nonetheless, I reminded her of this story a few years ago. She was aghast at her own behavior and frankly didn’t even believe me until my wife confirmed the entire story. I think she was going thru a very hard time; marriage failing, etc.
Smokey came home with my daughter one cold, damp afternoon after swim practice. While my daughter waited for her ride, Smokey came up and mooched a bit of cookie.
Smokey weighed about two pounds, was de-clawed and missing a fang and some teeth, was filthy beyond belief and required several changes of bath water to get her clean.
The vet said she could be anywhere between 4 and 14 years old, and had been abandoned, probably days away from death in the wild.
Long story short, Smokey would chow down, use the litter box and slink under the bed. I’d lie on the floor and talk with her. One day I tied a wadded up piece of paper to a string and started batting it towards her. After a week of that she tentatively reached out a paw and batted it back.
Thus started the normalization of Smokey. She lived with us for about 2 years before dying of a brain tumor, sitting on my lap purring loudly and sleeping in the sun.
That’s such a great story. Sometimes, love (and some patience) really is all you need.
Such sweet stories. Our story is a dog adopted 12 years ago as a youthful beast, and now, sadly, suffering from a tumor on her leg. The likely scenario is the vet will amputate to save her for another few years of happy hunting in the bush out back where she loves to chase squirrels which she can never catch. We were worried about amputation knocking the wind out of her love of life, but we are assured that cats and dogs do very well as traveling tripods.
Oh, you don’t have to worry too much about the amputation. The animal may be a bit confused and sad at first, but will quickly seem to forget it’s even missing a leg and resume unsatisfactorily hunting squirrels again very soon!
That’s what I’m hoping for.
I wish I could tell whether that cat in the third story really is doing all he does out of empathy for his sickly and injured friends, but nobody can truly know what’s going on in the mind of a cat. I can’t think of any other explanation, and this one makes me happiest, so I’ll believe it until presented with contradictory evidence.
Radamenes look like a sweet little guy, but I suspect he is more interested in the warmed towels they put on or under anesthetized animals than the critter itself.
Lovely Cinnamon.
I’m going to say that the ‘nurse cat’ is just looking for warm places to sit 😃