So let me preface this post by saying I am not an animal hater. I do believe that pets can absolutely be like your children. We have Emmie, our six year old yellow lab. Before kids, I missed Emmie when I was gone for long periods of time, I felt guilty when I didn't get home in time for her. She was showered with attention. Enter Summer, Layla, and Olivia... poor Emmie does not get quite so much love from me. Is she a fantastic dog? Yes. Do I have the time and energy to dote on her? No.
Let me continue to preface this post by saying that I have never been a cat person. Nothing against them (and no offense to anyone who loves them and has twelve foot cat jungle gyms all over their house), I just never had any interest in getting a cat. Fast forward to several years of Summer begging for a cat, and my husband continually telling me that cats are super easy and you barely have to do anything for them...
I relented. Big mistake.
This past summer, we got Mr. Snuggles (also known as "boy titty" according to Layla and her inability to say the "k" sound. It was sort of hilarious to see peoples' reactions/confusion when she was talking about him). An adorable little grey rescue kitten. My heart (the cold and evil cat-disliker that I am) sort of melted for about the first day and a half that we had him. Then, the psychotic activity began. I found (and other friends who have cats confirmed this) that we had an abnormally crazy cat. He would crouch on one part of the stairs and as soon as one of the girls started going up, he would attack their legs or any other body part that he felt like scratching or biting at. The amount of blood I dealt with and the number of bandaids we went through was unreal. I'm convinced that Layla got cat scratch fever from one of her many gashes. I was told that he was a kitten and he wasn't neutered yet, so this could explain his aggression. Over the next few months he slightly mellowed out, and he would have his sweet times of sleeping on the corner of the couch, or wanting to be in your lap all the time. He also ripped up two inches of our brand new carpet in the basement, tore up several baskets, jumped up on the counter CONSTANTLY eating food or anything that was left out for more than 0.278 seconds. So, you might ask... why didn't you just get rid of him? Why go through the hell that this cat was causing? The girls were obsessed with him. Loved him, played with him, carried him everywhere... He was a major part of our household. So I dealt with him, got my water bottles out everywhere to spray him if he was up on the counter (which totally didn't work by the way. He would look at me and essentially laugh), and stockpiled bandaids.
In the beginning of January, I suddenly realized I hadn't seen Mr. Snuggles in probably two days (and this cat was psychotic at all meal times). Sidenote... don't judge that it took me two days to realize this. I have a few other people to look after and things to do. Now he would get out from time to time (I only wanted him to be an indoor cat but he would sneak out when we were letting the dog out or opening the garage door). But he would ALWAYS come back. Quickly. This time, he did not. Initially we told Summer and Layla that he was on an adventure, because we were actually looking for him. (Granted, I did not post a bagillion signs, but I did look every day on the stray list and called when I saw a matching description which never turned out to be him). Was I devastated over the missing cat? No. Did I feel guilty? Yes. Did I remember him more of when he was sweet and cuddly? Yes. But then I go downstairs and see the carpet. So Summer finally says to me, "Mom. I don't think Mr. Snuggles is on an adventure. I think he is missing!" I felt horrible, but the fact of the matter is that Mr. Snuggles was not a good fit for us. My hope is that Mr. Snuggles is with a nice new family who does not carry him around and harass him constantly... or call him "boy titty." I REALLY hope the fox in the neighborhood did not get him... but if the aggression that I saw around the house says anything, I don't think the fox would stand a chance. Now, I am not going to post a picture of Mr. Snuggles because that is when I feel REALLY guilty... because he was stinkin' cute.
So long Mr. Snuggles. Hope your adventure is awesome.
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