Service Cat - 05 APR 2010

We've all heard of a service dog, used by people with disabilities to give them living assistance. It seems my brothers' dog, Annie, has a service cat.

We've noticed for several months that my aloof (not people friendly) cat, Jan has developed a strong bond with Todd's aging dog. Jan follows Annie around like a shadow and is never far from her when they are both outside. Jan has always acted more like a dog than a cat, so her bonding with Annie was not a surprise.

At 13 years old, Annie is now almost completely deaf. We've been using hand signals with her for a long time. She still helps with guarding the property because she reacts whenever one of the other dogs gets excited. She loves hanging out at my house. (Our houses are built on the same lot which allows our pets to freely walk from one yard to another.) Whenever I'm home, Annie will sleep on my floor until I go to bed. My brother comes over to get her when he's going to bed. A few times, she has spent the night and some times she leaves on her own accord to wait outside Todd's door until he's ready to retire. There have been a few times when Annie has spent the night in the garage because Todd didn't see her and assumed she was still at my place. Last night, Todd heard Jan outside his door crying and crying...just meowing up a storm. He went to the door and discovered Jan was calling him to let Annie in the house. Annie was in the shadows, patiently waiting inside the garage where Todd could not see her. Jan had to make sure Todd knew Annie was waiting to come inside. Jan has now become the ears and voice of Annie. The dog has a service cat!