Lucky or not?
By Mauri Formigoni, March 2, 2007

Lucky was headed nowhere. In addition to his horrible matted hair, Lucky was afraid of people. He is lucky to have survived the streets and deserves to be groomed and pampered.

He is smart and beautiful with sparkling, soft white curls and sweet to handle, but suspicious and hesitant. About one or two years’ old, he is neutered and healthy. He likes to play with people now but wants no wild cards or surprises. There are often surprises at the Jardín: pigeons, new dogs on and off the leash, small children who poke and touch, and just the whole panoply of the Jardín in full swing. Fear is hard to conquer, therefore many of our best animals are not ready yet to share good times but need to begin to trust people. Although we are eager to share good animals with you, we need to protect our animals from surprises. Stop by for a visit and see how good animals feel! We welcome your interest.

Cappuccino, a strikingly beautiful Siamese-mix young adult male cat, is private and keeps his own counsel, but wouldn’t he make a gorgeous trophy pet? He was brought into the SPA to be put down because he had a mysterious injury on his side, almost looking like a machete wound.

Christina believed it was treatable, and he is healing nicely and looks like a wounded war hero. He needs more time with someone who cares only for him. His head is dark chocolate brown and a quilt-like mix of pale orange and white covers the rest of his body. He wants serenity and peace, not the whole city of cats where he lives.

We had an ideal cat testing family come in this week to see Cucho, last week’s cat. A mother, her daughter and granddaughter, all cat lovers, came to play and choose a cat. They left with a small, spayed female, but asked which was the least likely to be adopted of the two, and chose that one. 

For several months I have been undergoing physical rehabilitation following knee surgery. Gabriela, a pleasant young woman who works at Centro de Crecimiento, comes to my house three times a week to work on massage, exercises and balance, and I am happy and grateful to be recovering under her care. My animals love her and wait for her. My sweetest and most intense cat, Mantequilla, watches with interest and excitement, for a certain vibrating tool. Finally, Gaby understood, and offered her a bit of time with the vibrator on her head and spine. She loved it. Purred loudly and didn’t want to share with me. Turns out, mascotas may want a physical therapist, too. Why not? It feels good.

When I returned after surgery to the SPA, I was physically frail, but eager. I found that others had filled in my precious shelter chores and all was well and growing. After a week or two, I realized that those who replaced me were doing stellar work and loved it as much as I did. I put aside my feeling of irrelevancy and celebrated that we had grown and were becoming a mature shelter with lots more room for growth. I am proud of those who show up to paint, replace glass, take walks with dogs, foster cats, kittens and puppies and wish us well. We all need each other and so do the animals. Our hours are Monday–Friday, with veterinarian hours, 10 am–2 pm and volunteer and visiting hours from noon until 2pm. Our website is www.spasanmiguel.org. Phone 152-6124 for an appointment to see the vet. Please help us help them.