Focal Changes Photography » Photography by Maura van der Linden

We had known for a long time that Merlin was fading and we decided to get a young cat both to keep our other cat company (she doesn’t cuddle with the semi-ferals) and because I really was going to be sad without a cuddle cat. My husband and I had a few criteria: young but not a tiny kitten, friendly, loves attention and, most of all, I needed to fall in love. I didn’t want to get a new cat just to get one. About two weeks before Merlin’s death, my husband surprised me with a visit to our local shelter and we must have met every cat in the place. I was ready to acknowledge that I’d not fallen in love with any of them until the volunteer took us into the sick room. In a cage were three small teenage cats that were being treated for a variety of ailments after being surrendered by an animal hoarder. My husband walked over to the cage and two of the three occupants came right up to the front to meow and get attention from him. One of these two (a little siamese girl) was spoken for but the tabby boy just won our hearts.

He’d had a rough start: malnutrition, ear mites, an abscess under his chin, some rotten teeth that were pulled and an upper respiratory infection. Despite all that, he’s a real charmer. His shelter name was King Tut but that didn’t roll off the tongue. With his tabby eye liner and the bars of his mackerel tabby coat, he reminded us of an Egyptian hawk so we re-named him Horus. He’s really fun and more than a bit energetic. He loves attention and play time. In fact he plays fetch with some spring cat toys – his very favorites. He’s probably about 9 pounds now vs the 7.5 he was just before we adopted him but his ears and tail still look too big for him.

I think he likes his new home – especially the pad on top of my desk

All tuckered out.

One thing my photography addiction has given me is great memories captured in electronic bits. One of the reasons it’s been so quiet around here is because my old man cat, Merlin, who had been chronically ill for a while, took several bad turns for the worst and I eventually had to let him go. He was almost 19 years old and my family and I had adopted him from our vet almost 12 years ago, when his prior owner had to go to a nursing home and could not take him.

If only he could have told me the interesting life he’d had. He had one ear scarred into a bent position and a big scar on top of his head that we never knew the cause of. He was grumpy but was our dog in a cat suit – running to greet us at the door and always underfoot. He didn’t care much for the other cats, though he did let Meeps cuddle with him during the last year or two. I miss him but I’m glad to have the pictures I took, too.

He had the wisest eyes….