Over the years, Asa has been my mainstay when our cats are sick. It is poetry watching him gently examine and clean wounds, administer pills, eye drops or ear drops, while all the time talking softly and soothingly to the patient. He missed his calling in not becoming a veterinarian, but I have always been so grateful to have him around when our cats were sick or injured.
We've shared our home with cats our entire life, and our daily conversations almost always revolve around them.
I think the strongest bond Asa ever developed with a cat was with Bubba. Our son found Bubba as a kitten playing with rats on the river rocks. Asa gave us three days to find him a new home, but on the second day was walking around the house with Bubba draped around his neck, purring to beat the band. "Friendly little guy, isn't he?" Asa said with a blush. I merely asked, "What do you want to name him?"
We lost Bubba in December of 2005, at the age of 18.5 years. His legacy still lives on in our memories - rarely a day goes by that we don't look at his photos and one of us will say, "He was some cat, wasn't he?" Jaspurr, Joey, Billy, and recently, Jennifur have helped fill that hole in our hearts that Bubba left behind. It's the natural order of things, you see.
