The current animal entry in Slate is by Jon Katz, most famously known for his life with sheep dogs, most particularly border collies. However, in this essay, he adopts a barn cat and that has made all the difference.

As I read the article, I remembered a whole lifetime of cats, all colors, all temperaments. But I must say the most ingenious and determined was a barn cat we named Sassy. Don't know why, except that my sister was Cissy. Logical, no?

Anyway, Sassy kept us generously supplied with field mice and barn rats throughout a long productive life. I say productive, because she gave us several litters of kittens, too. Since we lived in the country on a farm, the kittens of a proven mouser were welcome most everywhere, We had no trouble giving them away.

Sassy finagled her way into becoming a house cat by the fire after 15 years or so of braving the Connecicut winters in the barn with the horse and the goats and finally died of old age one cold December night about five years later. Gone, but not forgotten. What a cat.