One
April day when I was 7 years old, my
father was coming home with my
two brothers from the baseball fields. My dad decided that he wanted to stop at a friend’s
house. They lived near a field of long brown grasses. They owned a
cat that was most
likely Siamese, (I think so because my cat likes to meow quite a bit, and he has big ears).
She wasn’t spayed, so she was likely to become a
mom. Well, that day was one of her
litter’s first days that they were old enough to leave their parent. My dad told one of my
brothers to look for a kitten to get, because our other cat had just run away and had not
been
home in three days.
So while my dad talked, one of my brothers was practicing hitting baseballs, and
the other was choosing a kitten. My brother chose the runt, a pure black cat that looked
like a mix of a Siamese, and an American Shorthair. He also had ears bigger than his
head! When my dad got home, he showed us the kitten. He was smaller than a beanie
baby and he only weighed 2 pounds! My mom was worried that our other cat might
come home, but he didn’t. I thought of naming him George, and everyone agreed.
A week went by, and we found out that he was sick! He had a parasite called
ringworm. Ringworm is a little bug-like microscopic virus that humans and some
animals can catch. It’s contagious too. When humans have it, there is often a lot of
itching. But when animals have it they usually die if they get no treatment, and sometimes
they still die even with the treatment. George had tons and tons of fleas, and one of
my brothers caught ringworm from him. I didn’t care if I caught it, I wanted him to live!
I wanted him to be healthy because I loved him. I let him sleep on my pillow when he
was sick. I kissed his head even when he was sick. I picked fleas from his body and got
them stuck in my fingernails when he was sick. And did I care? No way.
Well, in the end our Vet bill was $90! Now he’s all better, his ears are smaller
than his head, and he’s average weight. It just goes to show, a little love can go a
long way.