A Miracle Has Occurred

Disciples of Otis,

Brother Oliver here. First of all, thank you so much for the continued support. We have truly been overwhelmed by all the cards, comments, emails, and donations to animal charities in Leader Otis’s name. You are all amazing!

Sincerely, thank you all. And Rhiannon… it was beautiful.

Today I would like to share one email in particular that we received from Disciples Linda and David. I think you will agree that it embodies all that The Leader called for in His final message. Here it is:

Dear Guardians, Brothers Henry and Oliver, Sir Thomas, and Mama Cat,

I know you are all still grieving your loss of our sweet Otis, and I hope you will not mind my intrusion to tell you about something that occurred last Wednesday. I was working at my office in the afternoon and saw a blur and heard something hit the window beside me. I thought maybe it was a bird and I looked out the window and saw a little kitty staring up at me. I went out our back door just as he started heading towards the street. We work right next to Fort Sam Houston, and there’s lots of traffic. I yelled, “hey kitty, kitty!” and he turned around and came running back towards me with his tail straight up in the air. I was struck by the fact that he has a little smudge of color right by his mouth, just like our Miles (aka Schmiley), who we lost about 2 years ago to what we think was a brain tumor. I scooped him up and brought him into the office where my office mate and I closed the door. I got down on the floor and he immediately ran over. He was purring and licking my nose as I petted him. One of the other women in the office told me she’d seen a younger woman with the kitty at the hair salon where she’d dumped the kitty onto the porch before going inside, so I picked him up and walked over to see if I could find her. She came right to the door and said it wasn’t her cat, she just thought he was cute so she had picked him up and walked with him a block or so. She said she’d had a cat but it disappeared a few days ago, and when I said I wanted to find a home for him, she said she would take him. I told her I wanted to find someone who would keep him indoors and she said, “oh I can’t do that — I have a big dog in the house!” I thanked her but said I thought it was important to find him a home where he’d be kept indoors, safe from traffic and the stray dogs that roam the neighborhood there.

Here is the kitty Linda swept up in The Capture.

So I took him back to my office and called David, my husband. As soon as I sent him a picture and he saw the smudge he agreed that we should keep him. I left work and took him directly to our vet, where we discovered that he was negative for feline leukemia and HIV, was about 4 months old, and had an infected tooth. Other than that he seemed healthy and even pretty clean. Our vet had a hard time hearing his heartbeat because he was purring so loudly. When I told them he might be hungry, they grabbed a can of kitten food and scooped it out onto the exam table and he immediately lunged towards it and began gobbling it up. He never even looked up as they gave him his vaccinations and an antibiotic shot. We made an appointment to bring him back to have him neutered in a month, and I loaded him into the car to bring him to his new home.

David, and our three kitties — Lola (8 years old), Griffon (2 years old), and Luna (1 year old) — were all waiting. We debated keeping him in a separate room, but because he’s just a baby, we thought we’d let him out to see how the others would react. There was a bit of hissing as he roamed around checking out his new surroundings, and at one point, Griffon approached him and hissed right in his face, and the little guy opened his mouth and hissed back. Griffon looked surprised and from that point, he seemed to accept him.

Here is the kitty in the arms of a true Guardian.

Two days later, he’s part of the family, galloping around and playing with the two younger cats as if he’d always been there. As I write this, Griffon is chasing him at full speed, and then reverse and [our new kitty] chases him, all the while trilling. Lola is a little more reserved, and doesn’t play as much, but she’s gone nose to nose with him a couple of times with no negative reactions.

And what shall be this kitty’s name?

Oh, and most important: what did we name him? Otis, in honor of your beautiful departed boy who you’ve been kind enough to share with all of us. Know that every time we look at our Otis, cuddle him, play with him, and watch him stalk the birdies through our sliders, we will think of your beautiful boy. Thank you all for your dedication and love for the animals you touch, for sharing his life and adventures with all of us, and for raising awareness of how important it is to treat our fur friends with compassion and responsibility.

Lots of love,

Linda, David, Lola, Griffon, Luna, and now, Otis

No, Linda and David, thank YOU. Thank you for seeing a kitty in need and taking action. Thank you for making sure that from now on he will be happy, healthy, and safely confined. Thank you for honoring Leader Otis by naming this kitty after him. Thank you for being the miracle.

In Otis’s name,

Brother Oliver

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