Animal versatility

This is Zack - He was one of the friendliest and most interesting of cats. As with most of my animals he came to me as a rescue. We think he was an apple-head Siamese, but he may have been a Tonkinese. Whatever breed he was, Zack was versatile.

This series of photos of Zack drinking, was prompted by the beautiful shots taken by Steve Creek - a premier wildlife photographer - (stevecreek.com) whose daily blog I follow and whose work I admire. This morning he posted a photograph he'd taken of a doe cleaning the tick-riddled ears of her fawn. Not only is it a tender and emotion-filled picture as mum takes care of something baby can't - it made me think of all the silly things my animals do or that they learn how to do to make their lives easier. Several of the critters that live with me have adopted behaviours that I find amusing but are very practical in their terms.

Zack was cross-eyed. He would look at you first from one eye and then the other - his head moving slightly from side to side. It used to crack me up - as it did with many of my friends and family. But in bright sunlight he couldn't see very well. In this case he couldn't easily see where the water level in the dogs' dish was. If he put his face down he risked getting his face and whiskers wet, so he would dip his paw in and lick the water off. He always drank that way...never putting his face into the bowl, but always gently reaching in with a paw and licking the drops. You'd think he posed for these pictures as a sort of "how to" wouldn't you? Clever boy - I miss him a lot.