Henry le chat

So, in 2005 a little thing called Hurricane Katrina came and royally screwed my world (and a few hundred thousand other's folks). I evacuated with Petey, but not thinking for one second that I would have my entire parish be under water (St. Bernard), I left my cats behind. My cats had fared well before when I went away for a few days, so I thought they would be fine this time as well. As anyone who had a TV in 2005 knows, nothing was OK. My house got 9 feet of water; my cats (all five of them) were never seen again.

Losing five cats as well as my house and everything I owned messed me up. I couldn't even go down the cat food isle for months after Katrina. I blamed myself for my boys.

Around a year after Katrina, i had had enough. I needed cats in my life. I have had small armies of cats since I was a little kid and life without them just seemed less bright. I got it into my head that I wanted a little boy kitten and his name would be Henry. I went to PetSmart and looked at the cats brought in from the SpayMart cat sanctuary.

I was immediately drawn to a little calico kitten and I decided to adopt her first (that would Coco). In another cage was a cat that reminded me of a cat I had in college named Boudreaux. I opened his cage and he kissed me on the nose. I thought "damn it", and then I said, "yea, I'll take him too". So I got my Henry, though he was no kitten. He was a full grown tabby who was a Katrina survivor from the Mississippi coast. It seemed right that I had found him.

Regal and sweet, Henry is getting older but is still doing well. He is apparently allergic to himself and likes to nibble his hair off-I keep threatening the cone of shame for him.... He is also damn photogenic :)