Kitty Krisis

We have had our two cats, Ruby and Jamal for about 9 years now. Here's Jamal, he loves milk. Ruby and I used to have a really tight relationship, she would sit on my lap every morning for about 10 minutes while I'd sit and try to wake up before work. But once the kids came, we've grown distant. She's really annoying sometimes because she's super needy for affection. She has a really loud meow, and the more she meows, the less I want to cuddle her. I was just recently saying that she is a perfect kid cat, because she's incredibly patient and even seems to like them. She and Annie are best friends. She will walk in the room and look for Annie. If she's laying on the floor, Ruby will walk over, lay next to her, and rub heads with her. Annie pulls her hair and her ears, but she just lays still, and sometimes will even purr.

Labor day weekend was a very difficult one. Saturday night, right before I was going to sleep, Jared let me know that he hadn't seen Ruby all day. I had remembered that she followed the kids and I to school and was meowing because she'd gotten too far from home. She headed back toward the street so I wasn't worried. She tends to follow people though, so I thought she could have followed kids home from school and could be anywhere. So Saturday night I went for a late night walk, then another long walk in the morning calling for her. I made huge hot pink signs and posted them around the neighborhood. She didn't show up, so Jared went to the pound. They weren't open, but through the door a lady said she hadn't seen a cat that looked like Ruby.

I was very worried by this time, and so were the kids. Monday was Labor Day, the pound was still closed. I didn't want to lose a day and have Ruby get more lost, so we made 200 fliers, Jared and I split up and we walked door to door asking our neighborhood if anyone had seen her. I was surprised at how many people knew Ruby and said they liked her and would play with her often. After all of this, a couple of neighbors said they'd seen a very loud cat, fitting Ruby's description, get picked up by animal control.

We were cautiously optomistic and Tuesday we all went to the pound. The lady took me into the back room to look for her, and as soon as I walked in I heard her meow over all the other cat. She was so sad in her little cage, and I could tell she was majorly stressed out. When I saw her I was so happy I even cried a little, which was embarrassing. We took her home and it took her a couple days to relax. The kids were so happy, and I was so happy I didn't have to have a sad talk with them about Ruby never coming home.

I have a renewed appreciation for our dumb cats. Even though Ruby still drives me crazy, sometimes. Both cats are wearing collars now and I'm trying to keep Ruby in the backyard only. The neighbors keep checking in on her, which is nice. My dad says that pets are just heartbreak waiting to happen, I'm so glad it hasn't happened yet.