Star's Heart

It was unexpected.

As I wrapped up the final details on my new book, and began thinking about my website redesign, I hadn’t counted on my cat, Star, feeling a bit under the weather.

After the veterinarian heard a heart murmur, it was determined that Star needed to have an echocardiogram. So she and I took a trip to see the cardiologist the other day.

Dr, Atkinson turned out to be a very compassionate person, with a gift for soothing an anxious kitty - and her parent! I was able to stay with Star during the procedure, which was a great relief to me.

I have only seen one other heart in my lifetime - my own, seen during a stress test. I had been awed by the vision of it, moved to tears by its beauty.

And that’s how I felt when I saw Star’s heart on the monitor. I thought of all the magical moments she and I had shared over the past 13 years.

I smiled as I remembered calling her “Everest” when she was just a kitten, because there was no gate or boundary she couldn’t jump over. Which explains how all the things on the top of the refrigerator still seem to wind up on the kitchen floor!

Thankfully, the news was good. That beautiful heart I saw beating enthusiastically on the screen is doing just fine, and will hopefully keep Star by my side for a long time.

Which is wonderful, because the thought of something being seriously wrong with my little girl would have been very hard on MY heart.

Purrs,
Chris
Lighthearted Press
Publishing magical books for animal lovers!

Black Cat Appreciation Day

Oh, how I love black cats! Seeing the sun shining on the glossy fur of a black feline is a beautiful thing.

Today, I celebrate all the black kitties who have shared my life. There’s my beautiful Dickens, who left me last year to continue his journey in the stars.

And my exquisite Star, who never met a sun spot she didn’t like.

And then there’s Sammy, shown in the picture here, who showed up 8 years ago and continues to come for food every day.

I can’t get near Sammy, which made treating the terrible flea allergy he developed this year almost impossible. He was covered in awful sores, losing blood, and spending many hours on the deck scratching.

Until…a woman in cat rescue told me about CapStar, a pill that kills all the fleas on a critter in about 30 minutes and continues to work for up to 36 hours.

Sammy has been on this for over a month now. The fleas, the sores, the bald patches are all gone.

Just look at that happy cat. My, how his fur shines!!

Chris
Lighthearted Press
Publishing magical books for animal lovers