Ugly the cat version 2.0: he is rescured
Robert Casey
and adopted.
Ugly Version 2.0:
The Integrity of Ugly
Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly
was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world:
fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, loving. These three things,
together with a life spent outside, had taken their toll on Ugly.
To start with, he had only one eye, and where the other should
have been, was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the
same side. His left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time,
and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was
always turning the corner. His tail had long been lost, leaving only the
smallest stub which he would constantly jerk and twitch. Ugly would
have been a dark gray, striped tabby except for the sores covering his
head and neck. Even his shoulders were covered with thick, yellowing
scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly, there was the same reaction
...That's one UGLY cat! All the children were warned not to touch him,
the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he
tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would
not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction. If you turned the
hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and
quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body
around your feet in forgiveness.
Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing frantically,
bumping his head against their hands, begging for their love. If you
ever picked him up, he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt,
earrings, whatever he could find.
This cat was obviously someone's abandoned pet, as he is
so social with people. Decided to adopt him.
I picked him up and carried him home. I felt a familiar tugging,
sucking sensation on my ear. Ugly, was trying to suckle my ear.
I pulled him closer to me,
and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his
one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of
purring. That ugly, battle-scarred
cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.
At that moment, I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I
had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, try to
get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me
completely trusting in me.
Took him to the
vets', and told them that I just rescued this stray cat. And
can he be cleaned up? The vets tested for viruses and they came
back negative. And they were able to clean and treat the sores.
Can't do much about the missing tail or eye except clean and
stitch up the gaping hole where the eye used to be. The foot
doesn't seem to cause him problems, so the vets left it alone.
While the vets had Ugly to work on, they neutered him. No more
getting into cat fights, and less stray kittens getting born.
This cat now looks a lot less ugly.
While Ugly still has one eye, one ear, and no tail, people
in the apartment complex ask if this is the same cat that
used to be that ugly stray? No more ugly sores to
put people off anymore. People let their kids play
with Ugly, now that they know he is taken cate of.
Ugly doesn't get to do those old favorite things he used to
do before. The neutering relieved him of his desire to
get into fights and lovemaking. And he doesn't get to
eat garbage anymore. He has to make do on commercial catfood.
But he gets to sleep on my bed at night, and doesn't
have to endure lousy weather anymore.
Gandalf
>I did a crude rewrite of this story. Here the cat gets rescued, cleaned up,
>and adopted.
>
>Ugly Version 2.0:
>
>The Integrity of Ugly
<SNIP>
What a great story! When I was a volunteer for a private no-kill cat
rescue organization, we had a less 'damaged' version of 'Ugly'. He had
only one eye, and parts of both ears were missing. His fur was a bit
patchy.
Not a nice looking cat, but what a lover he was! He was just a big
sweetheart, but on the adoption days, people wouldn't look twice at him,
because he just wasn't a cute cat. I made it my mission to find a good
home for this former mighty street cat. I would greet people when they
came to look at the rescued strays, and once they had looked at all of
the cats, if they looked at all serious about adopting a cat, I gave
them my pitch: Sammy was the nicest cat we've *ever* had up for
adoption. I told them that if they adopted Sammy, and didn't think he
was the sweetest, friendliest, and most playful cat they've ever seen, I
would personally see that they got their adoption fee back (this was
standard: when adoptions didn't work, the adoption fee was always
refunded), plus I would pay them the adoption fee out of my pocket, so
they'd get double their money back. I only said they had to keep Sammy
for 2 weeks (in case a new home spooked Sammy for awhile) I finally got
a young couple to adopt Sammy, even though we had quite a few really
nice looking cats available. I gave them my telephone number, just in
case. Two days later, I got a telephone call. It was one of the people
who had adopted Sammy. The only thing on my mind was that they were
supposed to give Sammy 2 *weeks*, not 2 *day*s. Well, they were calling
me to thank me for talking them into adopting Sammy. They said he
followed them around the house like a puppy. He begged for tummy rubs
all of the time. When they petted him, he kept turning in circles,
trying to lick their hand(s). He started purring loudly when ever one of
the couple came into a room when he was catching a cat nap. In short,
Sammy was everything I said he was, and more. I got several phone calls
from Sammy's new humans over the next few months, all with glowing
praise for 'Sammy the Sweetheart'. This story really did have a happy
ending!
Hazel Az
Hazel Az
"Robert Casey" <wa2...@netcom.com> wrote in message
news:8cjh8j$7h6$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net...
> I did a crude rewrite of this story. Here the cat gets rescued, cleaned
up,
> and adopted.
>
> Ugly Version 2.0:
>
> The Integrity of Ugly
Deb Bingham
Deb
--
Blessed are they who have four legs.
God help those who have only two
www.iinet.net.au/~tartok
www.iinet.net.au/~tartok/zaska.htm
BJW
That's a wonderful story about Sammy. It's so great that you persevered in
getting him a good home. And that couple really lucked out getting Sammy. :-)
BJ