Saving Sunny

I apologize... this is a not very well written short story I needed to write... A picture might show up in the next day... when I find more time to waste...

Sunny the cat came to live with us 17 years ago...

We had just passed our one year anniversary and my maternal time clock was on overdrive. Before we got married, we made the very mature decision, to wait to start our family until we purchased our first home and I knew we had at least a year to wait for that, but something had to give... I needed a baby. (I know my life story!)

So what does every newly married couple do when they are thinking of starting a family? Adopt a pet. What better pet than a cat. A cat could be hidden from our landlord, would be relatively easy to care for and wouldn't mind if we decided to stay out late after work or go away for the week-end! Not to mention, I had never had a cat growing up and always wanted one. A soft, furry, sweet and purrrry, kitten! A gray one... I had decided!

Well I started calling vets and eventually one of them had a kitten available. I went to see her on my lunch hour. She was just 3 weeks old and had been abandoned on their front step. She had ear mites, fleas, a scratched face and a cut on her ear. She was adorable, so tiny and helpless and sweet. Just a little fur ball in the palm of my hand! She was gray... I was in love...

Now mind you, she was separated from her mama at such a young age and needed to grow a bit before they let me have her. A women who worked in the office, took her home every night, dropper fed her and cared for her until she was 8 weeks old. Each week I would visit her on my lunch hour and play with her. I watched her grow from that little ball of fluff into a rambunctious kitten. I bought all the stuff; kitty crate, litter box, food and water dishes, toys of all kinds, especially those furry mice that would occasionally scared my house guests.

The day I brought her home, sometime in September of 1992, I was very excited!! I finally had my baby!! But like a lot of babies, this one didn't really want to be held. She was to busy climbing the walls, investigating every nook and cranny in our apartment and eventually getting lost under the kitchen cupboards!

Our sweet Sunny was, hmmmm a wild girl. She clawed holes in the box spring of our bed and liked to climb in and run around while we were trying to sleep. She loved playing with the ribbons and papers at Christmas time, making it impossible to wrap any gifts without locking her out of the room. One night we looked over at the tree and she had a Christmas light in her mouth and was crouched down with her bottom in the air, backing up, and pulling our tiny little tree with her!

She loved to chase me down the hallway and spring onto the back of my calf, wrapping all 4 paws around me and try and bite my leg... good times! I remember one day watching her run out of the kitchen with the sandwich Jim packed for his lunch... it was still in the plastic bag! Jim always loves to share the story about when he was making dinner one night when a couple pieces of penne missed the pot. Sunny picked one up and ran off. When Jim retrieved her and tried to take the pasta out of her mouth she began to growl at him... this tiny little growl from this tiny little kitty.

A year later, we decided she needed a friend. We adopted a furry, black Persian we named Tucker. He was the sweetest, most lovable thing. He purred constantly and loved to snuggle. While Sunny pretended to tolerate him, we know she enjoyed their daily romps stampeding the house and it would be many years later that we would hear Sunny purr for the first time. Tucker taught her how to purr. When our sweet Tucker surprisingly became ill and died in 2002, Sunny definitely showed signs of loss.

Sunny was 3, when our son was born and we knew then, mostly because of Tucker, that our Sunny was, well, not really normal! She wasn't a sweet, cuddly kitty. She pretty much wanted to be left alone, hated being held. She would sit on our laps as long as we didn't pet her. She occasionally would ask to be pet, but only on her terms. We could only pet the top of her head and only for a few seconds, before she would pull away. If you persisted, or tried to pet her back, her ears will go flat and she would hiss a warning. So we always kept her away from Chris and he was taught from early on, to never touch Sunny. It was never an issue since she didn't want anything to do with him either! I think she saw him carrying Tucker around, laying on him and pulling his tail, she wanted nothing to do with that!

For 17 years, this cat has tolerated us and we have tolerated her. We have fed her, changed her litter box and provided the nicest king sized bed for her to sleep on all day! Jim loves her. For some reason he has been able to forage a bond with her that no one else has. I love him for this. She sleeps at his feet each night and will find his lap each night as he watches TV. On top of everything, this cat is healthy as can be. I hate to say we are stunned that she lived this long. The last time I took her to the vet, he said, she will probably live to be over 20! Great...

She has mellowed into a cat who sleeps 90% of the time and we don't really know she is here. There have been a couple times when we have pet her the 'wrong way' and she has nipped us in warning. Including both of our mothers and a couple male guests who didn't heed our warning of "Don't pet her she bites!" They laughed, messed with her on purpose, and there you go. However, in the last few years she has nipped me while I was laying in bed sleeping. Imagine being woken by that!!! Since that happened I am hesitant to pet her and won't let her sleep near me anymore.

This cat lives in our bedroom, but for some reason when we have company, she HAS to come out and see what all the commotion is. We always warn people to stay away from her and if there are kids in the house I will lock her in.

Unfortunately now, these last couple months that Kate has been on the move, we are getting worried. We have gates everywhere keep Kate safe but Sunny can jump right over them. She is rarely around but when she does come out we don't hear her and we are usually surprised by her rare visits to the living room, especially since she would stay away from Chris when he was little. She will come in, perch on the arm of the couch and take in the view. When Kate notices, she goes full force forward with arms outstretched, screeching her version of "Hey look! There's something fuzzy and I want to squeeze it!" that frankly makes me laugh! But the fear of her grabbing this dear old, cranky, mean, kitty, horrifies me! Especially now that we are ready to bring Hope home, I'm not sure I can guarantee their safety when I'm chasing two toddlers.

A few nights ago, we had the "What do we do about Sunny" conversation. I have to admit, I would not miss her, but the idea of ending her life, while she is still vital, feels so very wrong. All of us were in tears agreeing that the girl's safety was much more important and decided that we didn't have a choice. I have been sad for days trying to get up the courage to call the Humane Society and just couldn't. This afternoon I lay across my bed, talking to my mother about what to do. In one breath I was saying how much I really don't like this cat and tearing up as I looked at her curled up into a sweet gray ball napping peacefully next to me on the bed, knowing nothing of my conversation.

That's when it hit me... if Jim could put a door in the kitchen hallway, we could close off the small section of our house that has our bedroom and the laundry room where we keep her litter box. She could go on business as usual and live out her days where she lives most of the time anyway. We could even let her out at night to roam the house when the girls are asleep. I was so excited I called Jim right away and he was relieved to hear of a solution to keep her.

I know all of my family and friends will think I'm nuts... they know just how much I don't like this cat... but she is my first baby, she was wanted and I brought her into our family with love... and I just can't turn my back on her now... I love that stupid cat!

P.S. A heartfelt, personal, apology to my cousin Cliff who is terribly allergic to Sunny and really hates to visit my house... maybe next year!