Purrl mentioned a book by David Dosa,
Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary
Gift of an Ordinary Cat. It’s a true story of a feline who resides in a nursing home in Rhode Island.
He’s not there because he’s collecting social security or suffering from an accident, but because he cares about the patients. Cats may not all have nine lives, but they do have a sixth sense, and Oscar exemplifies that by his concern for the residents. He performs a service, without pay – all right, he gets some cat chow and is finicky – very similar to the good that is done at various Hospice places.
Dosa’s book is about a one-of-a-kind cat, nursing homes and the transformation of the author, who really gets to know Oscar. Many words describe Making Rounds with Oscar, but perhaps the most fitting is remarkable. If you can’t find the 2010 book, you can see our hero in the video at parade.com/oscar.
In the canine world, a nine-year old black 61
lab named Boo may not have the sight he once possessed, but that doesn’t stop him from being a great teacher and healer. Boo is known as a therapy animal. He makes a difference around ailing people just by being in the room with them. He is gentle and caring. Young and old feel his presence. Sister Jean, a ninety-four year old resident in Ossining, New York, said very little and couldn’t be reached by those around her. That changed when this black lab made an appearance. Sister Jean petted Boo, and before long spoke for the first time in years, uttering the words, “Hello, Boo.”
Youngsters Erich Schneider and Christopher DiSilvio were also greatly changed when Boo entered their lives. Erich was having difficulty brought about by his many mistakes – he was close to tears – but after a few months he became a different person with more confidence thanks to our black lab. Christopher had severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with a very short attention span. Meeting Boo resulted in his soon being able to sit for an hour without fidgeting. This lab is one wonder dog.
“You mentioned the animal kingdom, so I need to pass along the tale of a really cool Siamese, named Koko. This dude is the main character of Lilian Jackson Braun’s novel, The Cat Who Talked
Turkey. All right, so it’s fiction, but it’s an amazing and amusing story of a smart Moose County 62
journalist, Jim Quilleran, and his pet. Some people overlook the intelligence of four-legged creatures, but clairvoyant Koko’s insight might convince these doubting Thomases otherwise.”
Not to be outdone, Annabel offered, “If you’re looking for a true story of a much larger cat, the U-tube video from a few years ago of a lion named Christian will keep you spellbound. Anthony Bourke and John Rendall take in a lion cub, who soon needs a larger place to roam. Fortunately, they find an area in London, where they live, that meets the satisfaction of all three.
“After some time, Anthony and John consider liberating Christian into the wild –
specifically a nature preserve in Kenya. They hope that Christian will adapt and be strong enough to survive not only what awaits him in his new home but also the long flight to East Africa. They go through with their plans and Christian has a few problems at first, but he does fine. On a later visit to Kenya. John and Anthony can’t seem to find their lion friend, but then they see each other. Christian stands still, but then moves slowly towards the two, eventually leaping into their arms in a show of love and devotion. This relationship was a fine example of a slight modification of our previous comment,
‘They laid down with the lion, and all got some rest.’
“The change of scenery was good for 63
Christian, but that was the last time the two saw him. He may have met his end because of predators with four legs or those with guns – animal poachers.
On the other hand, a lion lives into his twenties and Christian may have just died a natural death, since he was no longer a teenager at this last reunion.
Besides the video, there was an Animal Planet special called A Lion Called Christian, and you can also read the book of the same name, written by Bourke and Rendall.
“The 1965 movie, Born Free, is also about a young cub, Elsa, who grows to adulthood under the watchful care of a young couple. She has a more difficult time adjusting to being in the wild, as all she wants to do is play. That may be because of her sex. As a result, the other creatures not only give her a rough time, she almost doesn’t survive the beatings they bestow on her. Finally, she attacks a warthog and they’re both at the dinner table, except that Elsa is the only one dining.
“Born Free is supposedly a true story, but it’s based on a novel. That doesn’t mean that most of it didn’t really occur. Insofar as Christian was real with a similar background and assimilation issues, there’s no reason why we can’t believe that Elsa lived on the planet.”
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