{"id":378,"date":"2013-10-06T23:05:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T23:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/?p=378"},"modified":"2013-10-06T23:26:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T23:26:35","slug":"the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html","title":{"rendered":"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I am currently caring for two dogs and a cat while their owners are away.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>The dogs are healthy and fine, but this cat simply amazes me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">His name is Johnny.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s very old.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He is missing a back leg (I think it\u2019s a birth defect.)<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He has diabetes and gets a shot of insulin every morning.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He has kidney issues and pees all over the bathroom floor \u2013 several times a day.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>(This five pound cat pees as much in a day as a 150 lb. person, I swear!<span>\u00a0 <\/span>The good news is he at least goes to the bathroom to do it!<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Hobbling along on his three little legs, bless his heart.)<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He has sores at the bottom of his mouth and looks swollen in that area.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I worry that he has been living with an infection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This is a LOT for any one being to contend with.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>And he does.<span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-385\" alt=\"October 2013 084 (2)\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/354\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The thing that really tugs at my heartstrings is how appreciative he seems of any attention.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When I stroke him, he purrs mightily.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When I sit at my laptop to write, he comes and lies by my side, even on this hard unyielding concrete floor.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When I go to bed, somehow this three-legged cat is able to pull himself up onto the tall bed so that he can sleep in my presence.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I started to get clogged up rather quickly because although I adore cats, I seem to be allergic to some of them \u2013 especially in the bedroom.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I mentioned this to Johnny.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I said that I understood this bed was really soft and probably felt very good on his body.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I said I understood that he wanted to be in my company.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>But, I added, unfortunately I can\u2019t really breathe very well with you here.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Would you be willing to go to the couch, I ask?<span>\u00a0 <\/span>And Johnny, bless his amazing heart, does just that.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Shortly after my request, he does indeed leave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This cat is so full of courage.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>So full of spirit.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>He is still able and willing to not only eat but beg for food whenever any human is in the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I adore this cat.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I have such respect for these animal friends of ours who persevere through all kinds of discomfort in order to grace our lives with their presence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Bless his sweet feline heart.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>May we all be as brave and uncomplaining as he.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am currently caring for two dogs and a cat while their owners are away.\u00a0 The dogs are healthy and fine, but this cat simply amazes me. His name is Johnny.\u00a0 He\u2019s very old.\u00a0 He is missing a back leg (I think it\u2019s a birth defect.)\u00a0 He has diabetes and gets a shot of insulin&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185,369,3,367,359,4,189,368,136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals","category-big-hearted","category-blessings","category-courage","category-illness","category-inspiration","category-lessons","category-pets","category-spirit"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends - Blessings Abound<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends - Blessings Abound\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am currently caring for two dogs and a cat while their owners are away.\u00a0 The dogs are healthy and fine, but this cat simply amazes me. His name is Johnny.\u00a0 He\u2019s very old.\u00a0 He is missing a back leg (I think it\u2019s a birth defect.)\u00a0 He has diabetes and gets a shot of insulin&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blessings Abound\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-06T23:05:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-06T23:26:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cgreb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends - Blessings Abound","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends - Blessings Abound","og_description":"I am currently caring for two dogs and a cat while their owners are away.\u00a0 The dogs are healthy and fine, but this cat simply amazes me. His name is Johnny.\u00a0 He\u2019s very old.\u00a0 He is missing a back leg (I think it\u2019s a birth defect.)\u00a0 He has diabetes and gets a shot of insulin&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html","og_site_name":"Blessings Abound","article_published_time":"2013-10-06T23:05:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-06T23:26:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"cgreb","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html","name":"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends - Blessings Abound","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2013-10-06T23:05:26+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-06T23:26:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/#\/schema\/person\/4672554c4db616f163f9590175024cb4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blessingsabound\/files\/2013\/10\/October-2013-084-2-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/2013\/10\/the-courage-and-spirit-of-animals.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Courage and Spirit of Our Animal Friends"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/","name":"Blessings Abound","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Blessings Abound","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blessingsabound\/#\/schema\/person\/4672554c4db616f163f9590175024cb4","name":"cgreb","description":"Cynthia is a grateful, creative, spiritual, healer who has her hands in many interesting pots. 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