Halo

Halo is our cat. We rescued him when he was just a baby. We found him and his siblings and his mother on our block one night when we were coming home. His mom and siblings found new homes and we kept the one black cat. My husand loves black cats. Halo has been with us since Oct. of 2011.

Anyway...last Thursday Steve and I were in Council Bluffs and the kids and Cindy were at home. Halo came in from his lively day outside and had a red spot on him. The kids were worried because obviously the cat had been in a fight. When Steve and I got home the next day, Halo was a little worse for the wear but we thought that he would be fine. Cats are pretty adapt at fighting and healing from those fights...or so we thought.

Fast forward to Saturday night. We had all gone to eat and then Steve and his mom had gone to see William Shatner. Ariez freaked out when he saw the cat when we got home. The cat was not looking so well. He was walking slowly and nursing his shoulder blade. I, without paying much attention to the cat, said "oh he's fine. Leave him alone and let him heal."

An hour later and Tai is in my room in a panic about poor Halo and the hole in his back. I told her to bring him to me and sure enough, he had a gaping wound in his back that was clearly not healing properly on it's own. On a Saturday night in Lincoln there is probably only one place to take your pets.

We took him to the emergency vet clinic and were told that he was not doing very well. He had a raging infection in his back and a fever. The nurse brought me an estimate of what it would cost to fix up poor Halo. OMG! I had no idea that an animal could cost this much. I found out later that what we paid to fix up this poor kitty was actually pretty cheap. To me, it seemed like a fortune.

Here's the deal. I have always thought that having animals was a way to teach our children things. Pet ownership teaches them responsiblity. It teaches them compassion for all living things. Having pets is an incredible way to teach our children about death. Honestly, a year ago, or even 6 months ago, if this had happened to the cat, I would have cried but put the cat to sleep and explained about accidents and death to our children. Since it isn't 6 months or a year ago, my children have learned all they need to about death right now. They know the real pain that goes with losing someone, or something, that they love very much.

All of that is to say that there is no way in the world that I was going to not be bringing this cat home again. There was no chance that I was going to let this cat be put down. So, I paid the bill. I swallowed the bitter pill that was the bill and brought this kitty home.

He had to have a minor surgical procedure. We have had to nurse him back to health. We have had to change oozing bandages and force feed Halo medicine from a dropper. He did not enjoy that. We have listened to him cry and forced him into his kennel. We have bought onesies and cut them up just so that the kitty would have a dry shirt over his shaved back.

The kids learned new lessons. They learned that I will protect their hearts and the things that they love. They have learned how to care for an animal and be patient and have learned that prayer does work. They have learned that this animal is not only a part of our hearts but a part of our family. Those lessons are worth the money that it has cost. These lessons are worth the financial sacrifices that will be made to make Halo whole again.

I learned a lot of these same lessons.