Sharing your life with animals is about building a trust between both species. It’s won slowly, over time, with loving kindness, discipline, providing for needs, and mutual respect.

Tonight Gizmo came in and I noticed a spot on his back foot; it looked as though it had a hole in it, but it wasn’t bleeding. On closer examination he had several burrs embedded in that foot.

Gizmo is definitely our most skittish animal. Once he came in with a strip of fur torn of his foot, and surprisingly he was quite good about letting me clean it and squirt it with saline each night for a week. But he’s definitely harder to handle than Simba or Chester.

He did not like my touching his foot at all. But with patience and persistence (and a lot of following him around and petting), I was able to remove all the burrs. I didn’t restrain him in any way, other than to hold the foot at times — most cats do better with mild restraint. I kept telling him that I was trying to help him.

The key in situations like that is to take it very slowly, and not to get angry. It isn’t always easy. I spent five years of my life giving subcutaneous fluids to first Cleo, then Puss. Not to mention trying to keep both eating. There were times I just screamed in frustration, which only served to frighten them.

Chester is quite good about letting us handle him. He doesn’t always like it, but he submits to it. He doesn’t like baths, for instance, or having his nails clipped. But he submits with minimal fuss.

It’s funny, too, because when he was a tiny little puppy, he didn’t mind having his nails clipped. And at first, he actually loved to be held like a baby (he hates it now).

The longer you share your life with an animal, the deeper your bond grows. I am striving to have a partnership with my animals, although it isn’t always easy. Rather than force my will on them, I’d like them to cooperate with me because they are a willing partner. I think that’s part of why Chester came into my life, to help me learn that lesson.

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