Jack(zilla)

I must admit, I have always been a dog person.  Never had any interest whatsoever in cats.  And then along came our little Jack.

Meet Jack.  He is just about the most adorable little stinker you'd ever wanna meet.  We adopted him from our local animal shelter (his owner "surrendered" him).  My middle child saw him and just fell head over heels in love.  I had no idea why.  He wasn't a sweet, itti-bitti kitten.  He wasn't particularly pretty...he had no unusual markings.  In fact, his coat was a dull grey, and he was super-skinny.  But he just had "something."  Long story short, we ended up adopting Jack - AKA Jackzilla, Jackie-McBooster, Jackie-Moacky, Schnoockums.  The poor guy has so many names I'm not sure how he keeps up!  

Once we got Jack home it didn't take us long to realize that his former life must not have been so great.  He was scared of everything.  If you bent down to pet him he recoiled and got as low to the floor as he could to try to escape your hand.  As we spent more time with him we found other things that were worrisome.  His tail never moved - he just dragged it along the floor.  After several visits to the vet we found out that Jack has a broken tail and nerve damage to his rear quarters.  He also has something called a mega-colon.  Which requires medication and constant monitoring.  Someone or something was not very nice to Jack.

We just passed the one year anniversary of adopting Jack.  I don't think anyone would recognize him as the same kitty that was at the shelter just 12 short months ago.  His coat is shiny and soft, he's well-fed, and well-loved.  Yep, his tail still drags the ground, but that's OK - it just gives him personality.  We were hoping it might heal, but apparently that's not happening.  What HAS healed is little Jackie's spirit.  He loves his little people.  If they are on the floor playing, Jack is right there with 'em.  When they sit at the table to do homework, guess who's supervising.  He divides his evenings between everyone's bed.  He likes to spread the love around.  Our vet has said that we "saved" Jack, and that he's very lucky to have a family like us who takes such good care of him.  But it's plainly the other way around.  Jack is such an important part of this family, I couldn't imagine our family without him.  We didn't need another pet (we already had two dogs, a cat & a fish)....yet here he is, the centerpiece of our little brood.

To wrap this all up, I thought I'd share with you some funny pics of cats that I found the other day.  I was laughing so loud when I saw them that the little guys quit what they were doing in the other room to come see what was so dang funny.  Then they started laughing so loud we woke up the rest of the house.  I hope these pics make you smile (or better yet, laugh out loud).  Enjoy your long three day weekend with your family!