Hello Kitty

Eight years ago when we moved into our house, we thought that it was the time to commit to getting a pet. We figured that it would be a great learning experience to prepare us to have children. In our thinking, by learning how to care for a cat, we would be learning valuable parenting skills... like remembering to change the litterbox, deciding whether or not to declaw, the trials of hairballs, etc. We didn't want to get a kitten, so picked out a cat at the pound... she was an older cat--the vet said about 7 years old. She wasn't very affectionate, in fact if you petted her in a manner she didn't like, she'd nip you (lesson one about being a parent). Since she was older, and who knows what her background was, she didn't really have a name she'd respond to. We eventually decided on Hello Kitty. The first night we had her home, she was sitting on our bed and Margaret noticed that Kitty was staring at the wall. Just as she said, "what are you staring at Kitty?" she felt warm liquid run through the down comforter onto her! Strike One! After a few weeks, we realized that we were going to be completely unsuccessful in breaking Kitty of her habit of completely shredding our furniture. Strike Two! Finally after some family visited and they all had severe allergic responses in our house (enough to have to stay at another friend's house because one of them couldn't breathe!) Strike Three! We kicked her out of the house and she became an outdoor cat. (So much for gaining parental wisdom... generally Child Protective Services frowns on people making their children live outside when they misbehave.)

Anyway, after becoming an outdoor cat, she also became a neighborhood cat. She was constantly at the neighbors' houses getting attention and food... most likely the latter. She did mellow over time... she didn't automatically nip people who petted her. In fact whenever she would hear people walking down the sidewalk, she'd make a beeline to the front of the house and flop on her side, expecting a petting session, which she usually got. I remember one time that we overheard some people walking by late at night say "Oh my gosh! Is that fluff or fat?" We knew they were talking about Kitty! One summer when we were taking care of our niece, we set up a swimming pool outside, and since we have a hot and cold water faucet outside, we would just give her baths outside (hopefully Child Protective Services wouldn't frown on that... even though it WAS a little white trash). Well once, our niece decided that Kitty needed a bath, too and threw her into the pool. After that, Kitty never did get within arm's reach of our niece again.

Kitty was a constant source of grief for us when we would leave town, as we have the annoying propensity to completely forget to arrange for a neighbor to feed her while we were away. I can remember several frantic times trying to arrange for feedings while we were already on our vacation. Fortunately she was never too at risk for starving, with how freely she would drop hints at the neighbors' porches.

I think Kitty trained in the Gandhi school of conflict resolution, because she was COMPLETELY non-aggressive. No matter if the animal stealing her food was a neighborhood stray cat, a raccoon, or family of opossums, she would just passively sit back an observe the theft from a distance. I swear half the cat food we've bought over the years has gone to other cats or vermin.

Well, now the point of this entry... which I've been stalling writing about. A couple of days ago, Kitty started acting very lethargic. She hasn't eaten hardly anything in the past two days, and just wants to sleep all the time. I'm worried that she won't make it through the week. I set up a little bed in the house for her to sleep in while we're at home, just to make her more comfortable. Through all this all these feelings of regrets are flooding over me. Regrets at having not taken her to the vet more often. Not letting her in the house to lay on the furnace vent more often. Not spending more time with her. Not wanting her to die, but not wanting her to suffer. We've never lived in the house without Kitty being there and that makes me so sad. I guess in the end, she did end up teaching us more about being a parent than I'd anticipated.