Angel Animals Story of the Week, 12-18-10, "Inconsistency and the Cat"

Angel Animals Story of the Week
December 18, 2010
Visit us at www.angelanimals.net

Dear Friends of Angel Animals,

Welcome to the Angel Animals Story of the Week. We're always happy to connect with fellow animal lovers.

Early New Year's Resolutions

In this tough economy 2010 was hard on just about everybody. But animal shelters and animal welfare organizations experienced undue hardships.

So many houses went into foreclosure and people lost their jobs that animal shelters were deluged with frightened, confused pets who became homeless overnight. The shelters grew overcrowded, especially with cats and older animals. Not as many people felt they could afford to adopt a shelter pet.

Just a reminder that in this season of giving, please be sure to remember how much your local animal shelters (and the national organizations) need your donations of time, materials, and money. Shelters with websites often list the types of donations they need. Things like blankets, food, toys, and crates go a long way toward helping them to survive.

The animals will thank you. They always do.

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SEND YOUR STORIES NOW

We are looking for stories about animals helping children, parents, and families deal with chronically difficult situations and circumstances or temporary tough periods in a child's life. Time is of the essence since the book we are writing is due to the publisher's in January. Email your story by January 5, 2011 to angelanimals@aol.com. In the subject line put: Animal-Children book story submission.

Animals featured in this next book can be dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, birds, pet fish, or any family pet or animal in nature. They can be pets, therapy, assistance, or service animals. Because there are so many dog and horse stories, we currently need other types of animals helping children, but if you have a great story about a dog or horse, send it.

This week's story is about a human's faux pas with a four-paw cat.

We encourage you to e-mail this newsletter in its entirety to your animal-loving friends and encourage them to sign up for our weekly publication. They will be joining a terrific community of thousands of like-minded people from around the world. We do not sell to or share our newsletter subscriber list with anyone.

Animal blessings,
Allen & Linda Anderson

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STORY OF THE WEEK

INCONSISTENCY AND THE CAT
By Linda Anderson

I've been thinking a lot lately about inconsistency. When A doesn't lead to B, it's disconcerting. If a person who always does things a certain way changes patterns, it catches our attention.

Inconsistencies delight and entertain; they make us laugh with the pleasure of surprise. But they also upset and frighten. The startle response can be hilarious or maddening and every emotion in-between.

This week I was inconsistent with our eighteen-year-old cat Speedy. He's a big guy with a long body and a temperamental attitude. Unlike his lithe and nimble, younger, black and white sister Cuddles, Speedy's gait is slow. Once he settles in on a place to lounge, he's a lump of coal, loathe to move or be moved.

When I eat lunch in the living room, sitting on the couch, with my plate on the coffee table, Cuddles likes to jump up next to me and try to paw at my food. I've taken to keeping a small spray bottle of water by my side. Usually if I even point it at Cuddles, she scurries away.

Sometimes, though, the smell of food she especially likes makes her more persistent. That's when I have to actually spritz her with a little water to get her to leave the food and me alone.

One afternoon, it wasn't Cuddles who had her eyes on my lunch. Speedy decided that he wanted to perch next to me on the couch in hopes that tasty morsels would fall his way.

Out of habit, I reached for the trusty squirt bottle and aimed it at the cat who wanted my food. When Speed "doggedly" kept moving forward with the intent of springing onto the couch, I squirted a tiny spray of water at him.

What happened next filled me with remorse. Speedy backed off. His eyes clouded over. A pained and shocked expression spread across his face. I immediately regretted my hasty action.

"I'm not Cuddles!" he seemed to say. "I'm me. And we have always treated each other with respect. Now I'm questioning if you deserve my trust."

Speedy shook his head from side to side as if to say, "You have disappointed me," and lumbered out of the room.

Inconsistency.

Instead of honoring the relationship I've had with Speedy all these many years, I had acted out of character and treated him with a tactic that doesn't phase Cuddles in the least.

After lunch I found Speedy on the stairs leading to my second-floor office. He had gone there to hide, to brood over how inconsistent humans, even his favorite human, can be. He could have gone anywhere but obviously wanted me to see him. He succeeded in making me feel even guiltier.

I sat on the step below him and apologized. I asked him to forgive me for getting him mixed up with someone else who was only half his size. He again looked at me with sadness in his eyes and an expression that said, "You have betrayed me. I must consider this."

Off he retreated to another part of the house where keeps his man cave. I didn't see him for the rest of the afternoon. I went back to work, feeling even worse about having treated my old friend badly.

After the day's work, I came downstairs to watch the evening news. Speedy walked along the back of the couch where I sat. Tentatively he tiptoed over to have his head and cheeks rubbed and his body stroked ever so gently. "So you have decided to forgive me?" I asked.

He stuck his head under my hand to remind me not to stop petting him. "Don't ever let it happen again," he answered.

Visit www.angelanimals.net/nlimage50.html to see photos of Speedy and Cuddles.

BIO:
Linda Anderson lives in Minneapolis with her husband and co-author Allen where she is owned by a cocker spaniel, two cats, and a cockatiel. They live in semi-controlled chaos and spend way too much time together. When it snowed twenty inches last weekend, they all looked out the window and wondered if Santa would take them to Florida for Christmas.


SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

When has an animal let you know that your inconsistency was not appreciated?

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ANGEL ANIMALS QUOTES

"Women have been riding horses into myth and fable and imagination as long as women have sought to be free. When I greet my horse, when I stroke her warm coat, when I lift myself onto her back, I join not her alone but all the women and all the horses who have run wild together since the dawn of memory, and I am made whole." --Mary D. Midkiff, SHE FLIES WITHOUT WINGS

"Four paws pad lightly on the ground next to two feet as a dog and human companion go for a walk. No relationship between people and animals is as complex as that represented by the simple act of a human being out for a stroll with a dog" --Allen and Linda Anderson, ANGEL DOGS: Divine Messengers of Love, p.3

"An enlightened person -- by perceiving God in all -- looks at a learned person, an outcast, even a cow, an elephant, or a dog with an equal eye." --Bhagavad Gita

"Every animal knows far more than you do." --Yellow Wolf

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

SCHEDULED RADIO INTERVIEWS

Listen to Allen and Linda Anderson's interview as guest on It's a Dog's Life From Maui with Aloha with host C. J. Johnson. Visit www.blogtalkradio.com/frommauiwithaloha/2010/12/17/its-a-dogs-life

Linda Anderson, author of "Dogs and the Women who Love Them," will on Marie Hulett's "Pet Place" radio show on Sunday, December 19th at 7:30 a.m. Central Time. The show is on KGIL Retro 1260 AM. For more information visit www.petplace.org.

Allen and Linda Anderson will be featured guests on Jean Meyer's PET TALK PROGRAM on AM 1310 KOKX broadcasting from Keokuk, Iowa. The interview will take place on Thursday, December 23rd at 9:00am Central Time. They will be discussing their new book Dogs and the Women Who Love Them. Write angelanimals@aol.com for more information.


BOOKS by Allen and Linda Anderson:

All of Allen and Linda's books are available at New World Library, online or regular bookstores, some Costco stores, and at many gift shops that sell animal books. The books are sold with author autographs at www.shop.angelanimals.net .

Visit our wonderful publisher's website at www.newworldlibrary.com to see the wide array of animal books and outstanding authors published by this company. New World Library always supports animals, the environment, spiritual awareness -- and us -- in innovative ways.

Dogs and the Women Who Love Them
Horses with a Mission
Angel Animals
Angel Animals Book of Inspiration
Saying Goodbye to Your Angel Animals
Angel Dogs with a Mission
Angel Horses
Rescued: Saving Animals from Disaster
Rainbows & Bridges: An Animal Companion Memorial Kit
Angel Cats
Angel Dogs
You Ought to Be in Pictures by Linda Anderson

Join the Angel Animals Network and become a Member!

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Visit the Angel Animals Network Forums at: www.angelanimals.net/forum.html

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Allen & Linda Anderson Angel Animals Blog: http://blog.angelanimals.net

Visit www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Angel-Animals/84755854844 and join the Facebook Angel Animals Fan Page.

Visit www.facebook.com/pages/Allen-and-Linda-Anderson/181986331814534 and join the Facebook Allen and Linda Anderson page.


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ANGEL ANIMALS VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

We have produced a series of short videos about the work of Angel Animals. In the videos we share a bit about ourselves. We also present our message of the spiritual connection between animals and humans. Visit www.youtube.com/user/angelanimalsnetwork to view a variety of videos.

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OTHER INFORMATION

The Angel Animals Network is devoted to collecting and disseminating original, true stories about the spiritual connection between people and animals. You can learn more about Angel Animals at www.angelanimals.net. Visit our Angel Animals Online Shopping at www.shop.angelanimals.net.

If you send this newsletter to others (and we hope that you will), please don't change it in anyway and include the information above about the Angel Animals Network. Thank you.

This newsletter is sent to you by the Angel Animals Network. Copyright 2010, Allen and Linda Anderson, Angel Animals Network. All rights reserved. Nothing in this newsletter may be reproduced or published without the written permission of the individual authors and/or copyright owners. Angel Animals(r) is a registered trademark.

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Allen and Linda Anderson, Post Office Box 26354, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55426