Matt

 

You could feel sadness coming off Matt like heat from the pavement on a summer day.

Matt came to Kitty City from one of the most horrible stories imaginable. Often pet owners just move away and abandon their animals, the way they left Matt and a few other kitties out in the yard. But thankfully, few people abandon living creatures locked inside a garage with no food or water.

That’s what happened to about thirty of Matt’s playmates, and who knows how long they cried to get out before someone opened the door and found their bodies. All had perished, and the few left outside were in poor condition.

The woman who found them immediately scooped up all the survivors and took them to a vet clinic who promised to find them good homes. Matt was sent to Kitty City, since he was nearly full grown and harder to place than the younger ones.

Do cats communicate? Do they cry out to others for help when they are suffering? Who knows … but Matt had such a deep sense of sorrow about him that you have to believe that he knew his friends had gone through a terrible time. We often held him and he slumped in our arms as though he would never again play or be happy. At about one year of age, you would have expected him to squirm to get down and romp in the window with other cats.

But Matt just stared with those deep golden eyes and looked sad. Given an opportunity to exercise, he chose a quiet corner and simply watched.

Then one Saturday, the perfect people arrived. They had seen his story and picture on the internet and were intrigued. Matt, who normally drew back from strangers, stood up in his house and watched them. He leaned against the screen door and head-butted with the man who wanted to take him home. Then he curled in the man’s arms and nestled his head against the man’s neck. I think he smiled.

Who knows if Matt will ever forget his friends? Scientists can tell us that animals don’t relate the way people do, but Matt’s eyes would tell you that cats do grieve.

And as we rubbed our heads together for the last time before he hopped into his crate to go to a new home, I think I saw something else in his eyes. It was a little sparkle of happiness.

Live well, Matt, and be happy. You deserve it.