The eye of the tiger

It's been a week since I lost Henry, and I've had some time to reflect on what made him the most awesome cat on the planet.  

He had what some would consider a disability, especially since he lost his sight when he was around one year old.  But he never, ever let it slow him down.  He had an amazing ability to map out spaces in his head, so much so that he could hide from me in the house or outside.  I can't count the times I thought he had gotten out of the house or yard, only to find that he had figured out another foolproof place to hide.  How he knew that he was camouflaged will always remain a mystery to me.

Supposedly, blind animals don't like to climb or get into high places.  Henry didn't know this fact, and loved to get up into the top of our scratch posts, and to climb on top of things outside.  As long as he could feel his way up, he would try.  Sometimes he'd try even when he couldn't scale it.  I'm thinking about the propane tank at the old house.  Being round, he couldn't scale it.  He eventually let curiosity get the best of him and jumped on top of it.  And the courage it took to leap back down from these places when he had no idea what was below is something that will continue to inspire courage in me for the rest of my life.

When you watched him prowling around in the yard, it was like watching a tiger (although somewhat smaller).  Maybe it was because he was a short-haired cat, but you could see every muscle when he walked.  His hunting ability was uncanny, since he only had smell and sound to guide him.  (Cats hunt with their eyes above all else).  I loved watching him run at top speed around the yard to successfully nab a locust.  He even liked to hone his skills at night.  If I left out small stuffed toys, he would hunt and find them, then start yowling.  We will never know if the yowling was to let us or the other cats know about his conquest.  His yowling sounded just like a crying baby.  Jav and I had only been dating about two months when he heard Henry yowl for the first time.  He looked absolutely shocked that I was hiding a baby somewhere in the house.   Henry would also take the toys and drop them where we could see.  After Gabriel was born he started leaving all his toy conquests in his room, which I thought was so cool.  

Henry had all that bravery and wildness, but he loved to cuddle up with you, sometimes for hours.  He was truly the best things about cats all rolled up into one.  He had the eye of the tiger, and the soul of a cuddly kitten.  

I had a friend at work who claimed to love animals.  But she only owned one dog when she was in high school that got heart worms and died.  She said the pain was just too much to put herself through again.  I never understood this.  The pain is awful when you lose a pet, but there are always so many more needing homes that will provide them love.  And think of all the things I would have never learned about dealing with blindness, or courage, or heart if I had not brought Henry into my life.