This is Mia:

My PetSave cat.

Every morning I get up and let the dog out. Then I feed the cats. Then Mia sits at the patio door looking out at the bushes behind the back yard. She wishes she could be out there. But she’s resolved to being in here.

How do I know that? Because she doesn’t try to run away any more.

I first saw her in a PetSave cage while buying pet stuff at Pet’s Mart one evening. There I was walking by the glass enclosures housing all the cats and there she was curled up in the back corner of her little cubicle, recoiling every time the kids wanting to get her attention would tap on the window.

Her eyes flared with terror, and her chest heaved uncontrollably. I walked by and looked at her, and then I went to buy my stuff. Then I came back and looked at her. Then I went to look at more stuff. Should I? Could I afford to bring another pet home? How would they all react to each other?

I’m talking a dog, a cat, a rabbit and two rats (who have since gone on to rathaven, much to my delight chagrin).

But, when I walked back by the cubicles it was pretty clear that, if no one bought this poor creature, she would never make it through the night.

Finally, I did what any caring soul would do. Pushing my personal concerns unselfishly aside (as well as the elderly woman making her way toward Mia’s cubicle– this was my cat, Mama), I rescued her. Saved her from a life of happy children hugging, harassing and sticking hair stuff in her fur; from monotonous days of the endless drudgery of fireside napping, succulent victuals, quiet companionship and repugnant pampering…