One of the changes in my life was the recent loss of a kitty I'd loved for nearly 15 years. He came to me in an odd way, I suppose. I had a friend, Dale Huffman, who was a columnist for the Dayton Daily News. He was one of the kindest people I've every known. In April of 2000, I reached out to Dale because I was about to turn the big 5-0 and wanted desperately to pet big cats, in other words, tigers, for my 50th birthday. It had been a life-long dream. I asked Dale if he had any leads as to how I could do that, or where I could gain more information. He insisted on writing a column about my desire to be "up close and personal" with tigers, and from responses to that column, I learned about a tiger sanctuary in Northern Ohio where I could have my wish fulfilled, and I was invited by the Shriners to be their honorary ringmaster at the Barnum and Bailey Circus in April. The honor included an up close and personal visit with the big cats that were in the circus. That is a whole other story, which I will share another time, but Dale and I became even closer friends through all of that, though we'd known each other for many years.
Shortly after my tiger-petting adventure, I happened to run into Dale in a Walgreen's store where he was buying cat supplies. I knew he didn't have a cat, so I asked him what he was doing. In a nutshell, he had been taking care of a friend's 9-month-old kitten while the friend was in the hospital. He asked for my help, saying he didn't know how to be a cat daddy. I was giving him some pointers when he told me he'd like to have the kitty, then called Blue, neutered by the time his friend was released from the hospital and asked which vet I'd recommend. I shared my vet's name and number, then Dale asked if I could please make an appointment for the kitten, which I did. Later he said he did not have a cat carrier and I offered to lend him one of mine.....you can see where this is going. Dale then hesitantly asked if I would come and get Blue, take him to the vet, and then go get him after surgery. Since Dale was a very good friend, of course I willingly did that. During one of my visits to Dale's home, I noticed that Blue was dragging one of his back legs and in a nutshell, the vet learned Blue had a shattered hip joint. We didn't know how that happened, but the vet assured us it was not due to abuse, but most likely a miscalculated landing from atop a book shelf or something. Blue needed an expensive surgery, which Dale was completely willing to pay for, but I suggested he let me first see if I could raise funds for the surgery, which I was able to do with the help of a friend and together we made and sold catnip toys. The vet's office even allowed me to sell the toys in their office and all proceeds were put into Blue's Fund. When I told Blue's story online, many of my Facebook friends not only bought catnip toys, they also donated to Blue's surgery fund - we didn't know anything about "Go Fund Me" back then so I did what I knew how to do and I wrote about Blue, his owner who was very ill, and the friend who was attempting to keep the kitten safe until his owner was well. Blue's surgery was a success and totally covered by the generous help of many friends. Dale asked me to keep Blue while he recovered and as you've already guessed, Blue never went back to live with Dale. Unfortunately, Blue's owner died and I'd grown to love the little solid black kitten so giving him up was not an option. He healed swiftly and completely and lived with my other cats until his last day on this earth. I still miss him and always will.
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