1 day Ago By Maleah Stringer For The Herald Bulletin
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for a happy story. In recent months I have had two new additions to my family that I have shared with you: Chi, the three-legged kitten, and Peanut, the abused Chihuahua. It’s funny, Chi was there first and has tried to make friends with everyone whether they want to or not.
Peanut, on the other hand, though he is better than when I first brought him home, is timid and keeps to himself. Chi and Peanut are both brown and white, and Chi is all grown up now and is bigger than Peanut. He seems to have taken it on as his mission to become Peanut’s best friend.
My other dogs seem to understand and are willing to wait to be friends. Chi loves to play, and runs like a maniac chasing everyone through the house. He started chasing Peanut and he ran to me and crawled in my lap like he was scared to death.
But slowly over time, he has realized Chi just wants to play. I caught them curled up together asleep the other day. I even spotted Peanut chasing Chi and actually wagging his tail.
When Peanut first came home, he never wagged his tail. Now, six weeks later he will wag, when I baby talk him or pick him up to go outside. The abuse that Chi knew as a kitten does not seem to have scarred him.
He is so young. He has had three legs longer than he had four. He is fast as a bullet and is one of the most agile cats I have ever known.
It would not surprise me to see him hanging off the ceiling light fixture. There does not seem to be anywhere he cannot get. It’s as if he is constantly laughing.
He is full of joy. Peanut, on the other hand, seems to have had a life of fear and abuse. It has just been in the last few weeks that he will walk like a normal dog and not all hunched over.
He seems to have been told no a lot — when I say no to him; he hunches down, cowers and belly crawls to his crate. If there are loud voices on the TV, he cowers. I can point at his crate and he belly crawls to it and curls into a tight little ball.
When I reach to pet him, he cowers as if he expects to be hit, but when he realizes he’s not, he can’t get enough. He sleeps tucked in at my side every night. He has come so far, but there are times when I see the fear and it defeats me.
He is so small ...
how could anyone be that mean to an animal? I long for the day when he is no longer afraid and that his present is more powerful than his past. Chi is helping him heal. This Thanksgiving season I am so very thankful for the pets in my life.
They remind me every day why I do this horrifically hard job. These pets — all from the Animal Protection League, all abandoned or abused — soothe my soul. I feel surrounded by God’s love and I remember all the good in the world.
To all of you, find the good in the world. Happy Thanksgiving..
