Saying Good Bye

As if 2010 has not handed me a steaming bag of poo so far, this week I had to make one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make concerning a pet. I had to give my favorite boy kitty up. This is not the way I wanted it to end, and I am a mess over it.

I have had Spiderman for 13 yrs. Hands down he has been my all time favorite pet. He was super friendly and vocal. And I loved him so much. He was my home when I moved here 8 yrs ago. He was my companion when Mike left and I was stuck living through home renovation hell. I loved him so much. Will never have another cat so awesome.

He has also been the most challenging pet that I have ever had. Constant cat fights when he was an outdoor kitty in Birmingham. The dozens of times he got stuck in the trees, never mind the time he ended up on top an office building, the rescue attempt ending with confronting the cops. And oh the things he has destroyed. Thirteen years of furniture, clothing, bedding, curtains, books, vital tax records, luggage, flooring, and…yarn. Every time I have rushed him to the vet thinking this time it MUST be a UTI and every time they have sent him home with a clean bill of health and $40 of behavioral Rx. Oh and the product. I am so well versed on every behavioral modification, and cleaning product out there. You name it, I bought it. You want to know about it, I can tell you about it. I am not going to even mention the poop. But let’s just say he has ALWAYS hated the cat box, and has never covered his mess when he did manage to use it. Yep I tried the $25/bag cat attract litter…nope he did not like it much.

So for 13 yrs, because I loved him, I adjusted and dealt with whatever he dished out. But as he got older, it got worse. And as my yarn business has grown to fill my house (literally, You should see the bins and bags of stuff in every room), it has been far more stressful trying to keep his bad behavior in check.

In May he broke me. We were on the verge of getting rid of him. Now mind you, my idiot neighbor across the street keeps alot of strays. We are talking easily 20. Not legally, but animal control will do nothing. But they do know exactly who she is and where she lives. At any given time there are no less than 3 stray cats on my porch each with some kind of abcess, injury or knocked up. And my street is also a cut through so these cats get run over in front of my house often. It is heartbreaking. But this is why my cats are inside. So in May when having a destructive cat and a booming yarn business in my 900 sq ft house got to be too much, we checked around for a rescue that would take him. Bruce was working with a couple of rescues through his job and tried to pull some strings. But believe it or not, no one would take cats. They were full up. We decided rescreen the back porch, cut a cat door and banish him out back, and peace was had until the cold weather set in.

For the most part, he stayed behind the wood stove where it was warm. But he was going out the cat door to the porch less and less. This week after spending another $100 we did not have on things to curb his behavior, cleaning more cat pee near the dye supplies, and throwing out 3 lbs of yarn and one project. I broke again. I could not handle the stress of one cat destroying the only means of income we currently have. We took him to the humane society in the morning. I would like to think he is such a friendly awesome cat that someone took him home, but truth be told he was 13, and they do not hold much hope for cats that old.

I know I may get hate mail from some people. A part of me hates myself. I hate the part that let go the sweetest cat I will ever have. I hate the part that is actually relieved to not have to be on constant guard with my house and business. I am still getting used to life without him, both the good parts and the bad. I hate that it ended this way. I can honestly say for 13 yrs he stretched my love to limits I never knew possible.

Good Bye Spiderman. No matter what I will always remember that you were an awesome cat.