Surviving cruelty is no small feat, even for a human. When left for dead after being hit by a great impact. When stuck with hot metal. When one's life is saved by the severing of a body part. Loss. No man could fight a wince at the mention of such circumstances.
Big Bob, a Russian blue cat, was hit by a car, shot, and left on the waste side of the highway. Brought to the Humane Society by the hands of a cat-advocacy volunteers, Big Bob was discovered to have suffered a gunshot wound, broken leg, and was positive for FIV, a feline form of HIV.
This cat, who, to me seems to have the presence of Bob Dylan, his life was saved by an amputation and he hopes to be (find a) home for Christmas.
I was struck by this feline news story because of the misfortune as well as the fact that I owned a cat that looked exactly like Big Bob. Russian Blues tend to favor each other in appearance. His name was Olly. I haven't seen him since we moved to my grandma's house (near a Long John Silvers.)
Big Bob makes me wonder if cats hope. I've always believed that animals live from one moment to the next with little memory of anything happening before, only the essentials like: that four-year-old pulls my tail or I prefer to drink running water from the faucet.
Is the future a concept that cats perceive? If so, are they hopeful or hopeless?
Animals, I believe, know the Creator. It's funny that animals, without the higher functions of humans, know Who created them yet we are ignorant enough not to. Maybe they simply trust. They don't need to hope, they only trust.
Maybe they know their live for what they are. And no matter what good or bad happens, they know that it will end the exact way it should.
Think about that.
Big Bob impresses me. He will not be as freely friendly as he was, having been hurt that way. And he must live life as a three-legged cat named "bob" which seems more cruel than it needs it to be. But, will he - can he - despair over his future? Or, does he not even need to think about it?
Donations for Big Bob can be made in person at the shelter, 7929 N. Michigan Rd. Indianapolis, IN, online at IndyHumane.org, or by calling 317-872-5650 extension 125.
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