by Buddy Netter

Created on: May 25, 2009

Macko and Buddy, the Story of a Friendship Between a Cat and a Dog

My husband, softhearted animal lover that he is, surprised me one day by asking what I thought about him bringing home a momma cat and three kittens. We already had one very old cat, Andy, who was beginning to get a little frail at age 22. Somehow I didn't think that Andy would take too well to some new little intruders in his home. We also had a beautiful Samoyed dog, Buddy, who had been diagnosed with cancer, and the vet said he didn't have long before we should have him put down before his pain became unbearable. It just didn't seem like the right time to bring new pets into our household.

But we'll have five cats, I told him. Besides, what about Buddy, our poor sick doggie? Wouldn't it be unfair to bring new pets in now? Wouldn't it take away from time and attention that should be going to him?

Well, he said, My boss is going to shoot them if he doesn't find someone to take them. They were strays through no fault of their own that had began to hang around the automotive machine shop where hubby worked. Hubby had been taming the momma cat a little by sharing some of his lunch with her. Lately, she had been bringing in her babies one by one to show him. He had earned her trust. Even I couldn't stand the idea of someone shooting her and her babies. She had struggled so hard to survive and care for her young; they deserved to live. Hearing all this, I relented and okayed bringing them home.

Little did I realize the full extent of the wildness of those strays when hubby brought them home. The momma had been teaching the babies to hunt, and they were all totally untamed and suspicious of humans. They would duck and run when you tried to reach out to pet them or pick them up. Only the momma was somewhat approachable. She was no dummy and realized that we were helping her and her little family. We kept them on the back porch with a litter box until they got used to their surroundings. Hubby had already named them all, except for one that he let me name Peeve because I had jokingly said that if we ever got another cat I was going to name him that so we could have our own pet peeve. He named the momma cat Babe, which was fitting for her tortoise shell beauty and sleek and wild persona. The only female kitten, he named Carmen because she was calico, and so flamboyant in her many colors that she reminded him of the old film actress and calypso dancer Carmen Miranda, who always

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