A family’s hope restored by kindness

Isolation is a growing problem among us Americans. The younger generations, our future, face the worst of it. Social media hasn’t helped. Kindness and empathy from anyone, including pets, can make a difference.

Way back, during the early years of my career I was pals with other young daredevils, on a soft ball team. Griff and his wife Helen became clients of my practice and, even better, lifelong friends. I recently had dinner with them and another couple of old teammates. They’re all devoted cat people. So, among other topics, we talked about cats.

Starting a few months ago Helen and Griff were getting visits from a friendly orange girl tabby. Nobody in their neighborhood claimed parentage. Their older kitty “Hunter S. Thompson” had passed away several years earlier. With no pet of their own, they started feeding this local waif they named “So-So”. This experience taught them that if you want a loyal customer, there’s nothing like a free lunch.

Cats can be strongly attached to their people but they also bond to their territory. Maybe this kitty wasn’t very far from home. I suggested they bring the untagged vagabond for an exam. As she perched on my table, with an air of nonchalance, I began my assessment only to find that she was actually a he, fortunately equipped with a Home Again (cq) microchip right where it belonged, under the skin over his shoulders.

It turned out that “So So” has a real family, that includes a 10 year old girl, who live 1 ½ miles from Griff’s and Helen’s house. For a whole year the little guy had been desperately missed by his devoted young person. With her beloved “Summer” back home, she penned a note of appreciation, that included a photo of them snuggled together. “Thank you for finding Summer. It means so much to me. We all thought that she was gone but then you came along and hit the restart. You guys gave the whole family back hope that we lost. You did us such a huge blessing.” Wow.

The moral of the story is that not only do pets provide essential companionship for many of us, there are some whose gender has been sadly misidentified. They don’t worry about pronouns.

For help with behavior problems, you can sign-up for a Zoom Group Conference on my website, drjeffnichol.com.

Dr. Jeff Nichol is a residency-trained veterinary behaviorist in Albuquerque. He provides consultations by Zoom group and individually/in-person. Sign up for his weekly blog or post questions (drjeffnichol.com) or by US Post to 4000 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Albuq, NM 87109.