Missy the cat

We had to take our cat to be put to sleep on Friday. It was past time. I was sad but knew it was time. We should have taken her earlier in the week when it was clear she was barely eating. I couldn't take her. I had a hard time handling it and I would have had to take my 3 year old with me. So, my husband took her in and I am thankful she is not in pain anymore. She would have been 12 in May.

I can't find a picture of her when she was a kitten, she was awfully cute. I was 21 when my friend Luke called me up and asked me if I wanted a cat he'd found abandoned on the side of the road. I immediately said yes even though we weren't allowed to have pets at my apartment. It was the weekend I had my wisdom teeth removed, July of '97. We had only had her a couple of days when I had my wisdom teeth out. I remember drinking a milkshake and couldn't feel it was running down my chin because it was still numb. Missy licked the milkshake off. The entire weekend I lay around the apartment and she was with me.

That fall, a maintenance man saw her in my window and reported it to the rental agency. I was busted. They told me I had to get rid of her or I'd be fined and then if they saw her again I could lose my apartment. Shortly after I drove to Atlanta and took her to stay with my mom. She lived with my mom for a couple of years because we never found an apartment where we could afford the pet deposit. She came back to live with us when we moved in our house.

In August of 2007, I noticed a lump on her belly. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with cancer and they gave her a short time to live. They said she probably wouldn't make it until Christmas. Well, Missy proved them very wrong and lived a normal life until recently. It was a long time coming but it's still sad. She was a good cat.