Cute Cat Interlude

Allow me to present my feline roommate Henry! Seen here on my stoop in the summer, Henry is a long-haired mutt of a rescued cat about twelve years old. He went by the name "Skylark" when he lived at the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), an excellent no-kill shelter in Williamsburg. BARC rescues abandoned cats and dogs, and places them in deserving homes after giving them shots and um (don't listen, Henry) spaying or neutering them. Their site is full of galleries of their resident animals. Many, like Henry, came from crazy cat lady homes; others were found on the street or left there by owners who could no longer keep a pet. Henry has lived with me about seven or eight years; he's a great cat, very loyal and quite cuddly, who rarely leaves my side. He's usually trying to sleep on my mouse hand when I'm on the computer, and he's purred away next to the keyboard for most of The Cahokian's entries.

I'm a cat lover from way back: Henry is the third in my adult life after the late Estelle and Effie. Shelters like BARC deserve our support, and the animals they rescue deserve good homes.