Four months ago, we had a dead cat on our hands.
It was very sad. We lost that battle.
A few minutes later we had to remove its little corpse.
With the dead cat, we said some words in memoriam. That’s better than some get, unfortunately. Then the Director picked up the body, with his gloves on, and put it into a bag I held. The Director did the dirty work, I didn’t. We didn’t try to find out if it was a male or a female, we’re not veterinarians. And we didn’t have the heart, I guess.
The poor cat arrived on the scene a few weeks earlier. And it brought a small cloud of flies hovering around it, landing on, and feeding on its open sores. Local farmers had caused swarms of flies to inundate us for a week and everyone complained. But the cat was resigned to the heartless pests. Apparently, it got hit by a car.
Many male and female cats get hit by cars and trucks running across streets or chasing prey. It’s not their fault but ours, totally. They’re not indigenous to Pennsylvania. Sailors used them to fight the rodent populations on their ships. And irresponsible people leave them places. Actually, they’re not indigenous to anywhere but the Middle East. But the brave cat didn’t seem too affected by the flies. I was more affected. I was disgusted.
We tried to help by feeding the cat, but it seemed to have a mouth problem, or a jaw injury, and wouldn’t eat all the food, so, I called a local animal shelter. Thank God for them and their compassionate and hardworking and low-paid people. They told me to trap the cat, and they would pick it up and treat it. A friend lent me his trap and we tried trapping it.
One person called the police. But when the cop arrived, he refused to shoot it. It was a public place. What would the neighbors say?
I observed that the cat never tried swatting away the obnoxious flies. It reminded me of Jesus on the cross. He couldn’t swat away the flies landing on his head wounds, or anywhere else. He said He could have summoned a legion of angels to fight for Him. The Godman could’ve swatted us, all, away, at any time, but He didn’t.
The trap and the trapping didn’t work. When the cat went inside it for the food the door didn’t shut, trapping it in. It was very frustrating.
Then the morning came when we discovered the body.
Some are remembered for their good deeds after many years had passed, others not. I think, as men and women, we want to be remembered. Jesus has been remembered after over two thousand years because He did the dirty work for His people. But I think I’ll always remember that poor unfortunate strong cat and what happened when we tried to save it.