Opie

This story comes from Kay Emerick, a former One By One Volunteer.

Some of the current and past shelter volunteers may well remember a small orange and white cat who came to the shelter about four years ago. He had wandered into the garage of one of the volunteers, skinny and dirty, with a wound on his leg and his soul. He wasn't at the shelter very long since it soon became apparent he had some medical problems that would limit his "adoptability".

He arrived during the"Fruit Phrase" of naming cats and was dubbed "Cantalope". My husband, Frank, and I arrived at the shelter on the very day that Cantalope did. I distinctly remember looking for him in the "big room" and as I was walking around calling out to him, this little orange and white head peered out at me from his hutch on the floor. He seemed to size me up, made a decision, and came out and stood up at my leg to be picked up. I immediately fell in love with this scruffy looking little cat, but since we already had adopted a number of others from this shelter, we didn't immediately take him home.

It soon became apparent that he was in dire need of good medical care - he couldn't urinate on his own, so his bladder needed to be manually expressed a couple times a day. He was also not able to control his bowels since his tail area had suffered some nerve damage, resulting in a tail that had no movement and was constantly dirty from the bowel incontinence.

We took him to our own vet who said that he could have a quality life if someone would take care of him. We had the tail surgically amputated and took him to our home to recuperate in a large cage borrowed from the shelter. We put him in our guest room by a window that overlooked our back yard which was full of birds, squirrels and chipmunks.

Cantalope stole our hearts and we realized that he could not return to the shelter with the problems that he had, so we officially adopted him (we had already adopted him in our hearts). We soon came up with the idea of putting a diaper on him so he could have his freedom from the all too confining cage. We got him a harness, attached little "suspender" straps (the kind you put on the corners of bed sheets to keep them in place), and hooked them to Pampers No.1-2. This worked like a charm and he was freed from the confines of his cage. He blended in with our other cats and was renamed "Opie" (remember Opie from the Andy Griffith show - the little red-haired kid with suspenders?).

Opie is now about four years old and is thriving. He no longer needs to be on a special diet and eats pretty much any kind of food that he wants. We moved our little feline family to Williamsburg, Virginia, nearly a year ago. Opie travels with us whenever we come back to Pennsylvania to visit. He is a seasoned traveler and is so good the entire time. The three of us recently returned from Hilton Head Island and Opie experienced his first ferry ride, crossing the James River near Jamestown, VA.

He has inspired us with this courage and patience and happy disposition, in spite of any seeming physical limitations. He doesn't see himself as having a problem, and at this point, neither do we. The diaper doesn't hold him back at all - he loves to climb, and adores heights. Opie is so accepting of what we need to do for him. He patiently sits in his daily bath, knowing he'll get a treat afterward.

Everyone who meets Opie falls in love with him. I would urge everyone to consider adopting a "special needs" cat. The rewards are many and unexpected. We can't imagine not having this feisty, funny, six-pound dynamo in our lives. We are blessed to be his caretakers.

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