Read Part 2 here!
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Before, Sparta
was a cool cat that jumped into company’s laps the moment they sat down. Now,
he shies away from them until a few hours later. Before, he had Piddy Paws to
play with and enjoyed sleeping the day away. Now, he waits sadly for his
masters to come home each day wondering if they left for good and refuses to
have any other cat or dog in his presence. When we do return home, Sparta
refuses to leave our side sitting on the uncomfortable floor beside me when I
work even though he could be curled up on a warm blanket or bed. The behavioral
changes in him are something I will regret and chastise myself for his entire
life because pets are more than pets. They are part of the family, and I hurt
my best friend when he had always been there for me.
Now, Stuart and I happily live together in Sylva as
subjects of Sparta’s two-bedroom mobile home kingdom on the banks of Scott Creek.
He owns my entire bed and at least half of the couch, spending his days napping
and sprinting through the house now that he has a long stretch of hallway
again. For Christmas, he received a three-layer kitty tree, which sits next to
the window. Sparta’s happiest moments occur there as he climbs like a monkey
from layer to layer or sits on top swishing his tail as his eyes follow the birds
outside. Even though he has been in this setting for several months, however,
Sparta still exhibits the confusion and hurt whenever we both leave and the
clinginess when we return after his ordeal. My hope and my goal as I plan out
my future after graduation in December 2013 is that Sparta will have a stable
life from now on, one filled with love, attention, and as little road trips as
possible. As much as he has done for me every day since we began our friendship
sophomore year, I believe it is only fair for me to go out of my way and make
his life the fullest and longest of any cat that ever lived.
The End
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