I met Lucky when he entered the Kitty of the Month contest in January of 2002. Of course he won. *G*

 

This beautiful, courageous kitty will be sorely missed not only by his human, but by the many, many

people whose lives he touched. Rest in Peace, brave boy!

 

 

 

Below are quotes from a message board by his human, Donna Francis, and an article from The Pet Place.

 

 

"Lucky was born with numerous deformities including some facial deformities that resulted in him not being able to nurse properly. I took him away from his mother when he was about 4-5 weeks old so that I could bottle feed him. This poor baby was born with a cleft palate, cleft nose, only one eye, a stub of a tail, a skeletal deformity that makes him bottom heavy, and who knows what other unknown internal deformities.........He's been fairly healthy since after a year old. He's always had breathing problems realted to the cleft and in January he was finally diagnosed with asthma. That's what we thought had stopped him eating. But his breathing is under control now and his eating is just getting worse and worse........

 

Lucky is not only important to me, but he has touched so many otherlives. You see he was Delta Society's National Therapy Pet of theYear in 2000. Perhaps you have seen him on TV on Animal Planet or PAX."

 

 

 

From an article written by Susan Rubinowitz for The Pet Place

"Lucky was born deformed, the runt of a litter of cats delivered in the barn of Donna Francis' family farm in Texas. With one side of his face disfigured, a cleft palate and only one eye, the kitten wasn't given much hope of survival. But survive he did, and it was just those qualities that gave Francis the idea of introducing Lucky to the Fairview Elementary School in Sherman, Texas, where she teaches hearing-impaired children.

Francis said she thought it would be a good idea to bring Lucky to her class because, like the children, he was "different," but had a positive attitude. He also tags along with Francis to the Reba McEntire Center for Rehabilitation in Denison once a month, to visit physically disabled kids.

Lucky greets each child with a loud ``meow'' and paws their legs until they pet him, Francis said. He draws laughs when he decides their study time is over &endash; by lying down on their desks, in the middle of their papers, so they can't work. The kids compete for PAWS points, granted for good behavior, which are redeemed for time with Lucky.

The hearing impaired children have occasional lessons that center on Lucky, and they've written books about his antics. Lucky has also been the star of a classroom slideshow and a movie. Francis said that he seems to possess an intuitive sense of what the children need.

``They get so excited when Lucky purrs because they don't have to hear it to know that they are making Lucky happy &endash; they can feel and see it,'' Francis said."

 

Back to Memorials