We lost our dear cat, Minnie, of 15 years in September 2007. It had been my understanding that cats could live to be upwards of 18 years old, so I wasn’t really ready At All for her to die.
It was very sad for all of us.
And we didn’t even think about getting a new pet for a Long Time.
And then, when we did, we knew we would get a dog.
But dogs are complex creatures. They need to be walked. They have to be Let Out. They require their poop to be carried about for them in small plastic bags. And, when new, they are not ideal pets for a family that is not really home all that much, which we aren’t.
Not during the day, anyway.
Bill wanted a dog. I mean, he liked Minnie very much. But she was a Scaredy Cat in the truest sense, and so we needed to wait until she was gone to add a dog to the family. And that was the deal: wait until the cat dies, and then we get a dog.
And so, when we went to the Animal Shelter in October, it was for the express purpose of getting a dog.
But when we got to the shelter, the children “just wanted to look” at the kittens. Just to see.
And it Could Not Be Helped.
Maybe it was the way that each of the kittens was alone in his cage, siblingless, lonely. Maybe it was the way that Max reached for us through the bars of his cage, or the way that Smokey always seemed to have dried food smeared across his nose.
No, it Could Not Be Helped.
So we brought them home, and mayhem ensued. They tore around the house, they attacked each other, they splashed their water dishes, they pounced on our feet. They climbed in paper bags and fell asleep in empty boxes, they stank up their litter box and climbed on the furniture.
We named one of them Max and the other one Smokey, but immediately I regretted that I did not name them Fuss and Bother.
And they have brought us Such Joy.
I am sure that a dog is a lovely pet, and I am still willing to try one. But for people who say that they don’t like cats, I continue to think that You Just Don’t Know What You’re Missing.
