idisagreecompletely

I suppose using the word hate is a bit strong, but I must admit there are times when they just really piss me off.

I’ve never hurt them or struck them, but I have been close.

I adopted them about four years ago when I realized that one of my dogs was on his way out of this world and approaching doggie heaven. Good old Shadow was getting old and since he had been an abused dog that  had been rescued from a very horrible man, I never knew his age. Shadow was one of those dogs that no one seemed to want. No good reason for it. Just not loved by anyone.

Sometimes I think animals are higher on the food chain than humans.

And now, years later, he was old and I knew he didn’t have much time left. My other dog Maverick still had a few years to go and I knew he would need company when Shadow left us.

So, I brought the two kittens home to keep Maverick company when Shadow was gone.

This is how cute they were when I brought them home:

Since that time, I have had two pieces of furniture destroyed – a couch and a recliner – and a rug. Come to find out, since I’ve never had male cats, they apparently like to “spray” around the house and since they are indoor cats, my house needs an incredible amount of marking to keep things straight between them.

I have also learned to check my shoes for cat pee BEFORE putting them on. I learned this the hard way when I was sitting and working with a client. We were talking and I crossed my legs. He stopped talking for a moment.

“That’s  odd.”

“What’s odd?” I ask.

“Well,  I suddenly smell cat pee. Hmmm, that doesn’t make sense.”

I felt myself turn red as I realized that it was me that smelled like cat pee. I excused myself and ran down the hall to the bathroom, flung the door open and took off my shoes. I stood there actually smelling my shoes and got a very strange look from a woman who walked in while I was doing this.

Sure enough, there was cat pee all over the bottom of my shoe. I washed them off in the sink with soap and water and dried them and went back to my office. I said nothing and neither did he.

Now in the morning, when I am getting dressed, I first check the floor of my closet for any wet spots and make sure no one came in during the night and claimed my shoes as theirs.

Their names are Boots and Scout. Boots is a tuxedo cat and his brother Scout is pure black. We do have some interesting conversations, even if I don’t know what we are talking about.

As time went by and my frustration with them grew, I began to doubt my decision. I never entertained the idea of not keeping them for their entire lives; I just didn’t know what to do. I was embarrassed to have anyone over until I could spend an hour scrubbing walls, doors, floors and furniture. They had been fixed and had actually started to calm down as they grew older.

This was just a nagging problem in my head that rattled around once in a while.

Well, finally the day arrived to put Shadow down. I was not prepared for that piece of news when I had taken him to the vet. He had slowed down and was starting to cry when he got up and I thought he just need some medicine for his arthritis.

After many tests and endless questions, it came back that he had advanced cancer. I knew what I needed to do at that time even though I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. Shadow had not had an easy or fair start to his life, but I had damned well given him a wonderful middle and now it was time to end it.

I held him and talked to him and told him what was going to happen. I know he understood and as always when faced with a problem and pain, he wagged his tail and smiled. He believed that by doing that, it would set everything straight and right again.

I gave him a piece of my soul and took a piece of his as I said my goodbye and promised him that when we saw each other again, we would give them back. He agreed and he still has a piece of my soul.

As the days went by and as my grief came and went, I was leaving for work one morning and looked over at Maverick. He was the last dog left out of four and had never been alone. That was why I had gotten the cats – I didn’t want my dear friend to be alone without his brothers while I was at work.

I turned to look at him as I was closing the door and saw Boots and Scout curled up with him as I walked out the door.

It was at that exact moment that I knew I had made the right decision. Yes, they had been difficult to have as pets and I learned to be patient and kind in a world that tested that daily in me. Yes, they had destroyed some of my furniture and at times would wake me up in the middle of the night when they went on rampages. And sometimes for fun, they would walk all over me while I was trying to sleep and insist that I talk to them and it would take every ounce of discipline that I had not to pick them up and throw them off the bed an onto the hard wood floor.

But looking at them curled up with Maverick and Maverick licking them and not giving me a second thought as I left for the day, all my frustration dissipated and to this day, I am grateful for their company.

I lost Maverick three years after Shadow and I still have Boots and Scout. People will often ask if you are a dog person or a cat person. I personally never got the memo that I had to choose and I still haven’t received it. And if I were to receive it, I would toss it away as unimportant and silly.

I may say I hate them under my breath, but the truth is, I am grateful for their company and affection and their constant demand for my love and attention. Where else can I get that from another living creature? I haven’t found it yet except from all my pets that I have known my entire life.

Yeah, they truly are a pain in the neck for me and I will never admit that to them. Why let them have the upper hand at this stage of the game?

Besides, I can always buy new furniture.