Leo

I haven't written about our amazing family cat, Leo, the orange Tabby. But first let me tell you about Cordy. When I was two years old we got a huge white male cat, who was also two. Cordy was like my brother. I grew up with him.  He put up with me when I would wrap him up in a blanket and push him around in the stroller. He moved with us from Philadelphia to Vancouver when our parents died. When we was twenty-two years old he finally started to slow down. I took him to the vet to see if they could help him. But I didn't like how they treated him and could not bare the idea of him being put down on a cold stainless steel table. I picked him up and carried him home to contemplate what to do next. As I held him and told him I loved him, he died in my arms. It was the perfect ending to our long and connected relationship.

So I really did not want another cat for a long time after Cordy died. How could any cat compare to him? But I knew I always wanted an orange Tabby cat one day. So after my first Rhodesian Ridgeback, Ridley, died about 7 years ago, I felt open to welcoming a cat to the family. I was reading the local newspaper and saw a litter of kittens advertised, one of which was an male orange Tabby. When we went to visit the litter and I saw little 8 week old Leo, I knew he was our cat. We took him home and he has never let us down. He is awesome with the kids and the dog. He lives inside and outside and comes and goes as he pleases. He has never peed in the house or had any health problems. If I haven't seen him for a while, I will call out for him in the yard and he comes running a minute later.

Yesterday I went to a friends house a block and a half away to have some quiet time . Leo just finished eating and joined me on my walk. We hung out at my friends house and cuddled on the couch. It was a such special one on one time with Leo. We never get that with a household of six beings.

This afternoon I was wondering where he was as he has not been around as much as he used to. I thought he was probably hunting in the neighbor's compost which is why he doesn't come home to eat as frequently. Sure enough, I look out the window and I see him looking down intently for any activity in compost.

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