Who in their right mind does not love their pets?  My family always had pets when I was growing up, and I loved it.  Although my parents usually had dogs, I have found that I love cats too; however, I do not know that I will ever have another pet because I get so attached, and then they die.  I know that is a bleak outlook on having pets, but let me just say that my heart has been broken because of all the cats I have lost.

My cat, BA, was hit by a car, and he was only a couple years old.  BA was really intelligent and full of life; he loved being around people.  I remember sometimes I would throw horseshoes, and BA would be right there with me; he would follow me from end to end and sit and watch me.  BA and I also used to play hide and seek outside among the trees.  I raised BA from when he was just a kitten, and when he died a little piece of me died with him.

BA was a black and white domestic with a red nose just like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer; seriously, I held BA not long after he was born, and he had a shiny nose, and he also hissed at me while I was holding him and it startled me… haha!

After Grandma Betty moved on, she left behind her cat, Oreo.  No one could take Oreo in, so Crystal and I took her.  We were happy and excited as Oreo was our first pet we had as a married couple.  When we first got her she was afraid of us and she hid in the corner.  Oreo was hiding between a bookshelf and something else, I can not remember.  Crystal moved the bookshelf so Oreo would have nowhere to hide.

What I did was sit on the floor and I called Oreo to me, and as soon as I did that she came right to me and we bonded.  Over the following months we became closer and closer, and then she started sleeping with me close to my head.  Oreo was an older cat, so we put an ottoman at the foot of the bed so she could jump up to get to the bed.

Oreo was a sweetheart, and she was fun to have around; she would cuddle with me when I watched TV, and meow at me when I was on the computer.  I always felt a connection to Oreo maybe because she was Grandmas, and we took the best care of her as we could.  Unfortunately Oreo had to be put down when she was diagnosed with cancer, and I do not think I have ever cried so much in my life!  Oreo is buried in Maryland in the back yard of the house Crystal grew up in.

As hard as it was to lose Oreo, there was one more cat or pet we had.  Her name was Nabisco.  You may be thinking, “First Oreo and now Nabisco”?  I wanted to name our next cat Nabisco out of respect for Oreo, and that is what we did.  I told Crystal I wanted an orange and white cat with long hair and we would name it Nabisco because Oreo was obviously black and white with really long hair; she was beautiful.

Crystal and I went online to the Humane Society in Maryland which is where we were living at the time to look for our new pet.  There she was: a cat named Ginger with long hair and orange and white fur.  So, Crystal and I went there to meet Ginger who hung out in one of the offices.  The lady sitting at the desk said Ginger was not not very friendly, yet when I stuck my hand out toward her, she rubbed her face against it, and I knew we had found Nabisco.  The lady sitting at the desk must have grown attached to Nabisco because she disappeared, and we figured she was somewhere crying; I was not judging her, as I could totally relate to getting attached to an animal.

Crystal and I took Nabisco home, and it was the same thing as with Oreo; she was afraid until she got to know us, and eventually, she became acclimated and loved us as we loved her.  Nabisco’s poops were never really regular, and one of her eyes watered constantly; the poop situation was disconcerting because a couple of times poop would stick to her rear end and we would have to take her to the vet to have it removed because we could not do it ourselves.

Nabisco was 3 years of age when we got her, and she was around 6 when she died.  Nabisco would jump on the dresser and sit and watch TV, and once Crystal had an ice water sitting on the dresser and Nabisco stuck her face inside the cup to get a drink; she did this a couple of times, so I started leaving her cups of water on the dresser for her entertainment and pleasure.  She was just too funny!

I will never forget the last day we had with Nabisco as we had come back home from being out of town, and when I got in the bedroom Nabisco came running out to me, jumped on the bed and wanted to be petted.  That was when I noticed poop on her rear end again, and from then on she just got worse and worse until she died under the bed around 5am.  I heard Nabisco gasp for her last breath and I knew she had passed.  About an hour later I was outside digging a grave for Nabisco while wondering what happened to her; she must have had cancer.  Nabisco was a sweet cat, and I miss her every day because I feel like our time together was cut short.

Now, can you see why I do not want any more pets?  I do not know; perhaps one day I will get another pet.  All I know is that I hope animals go to heaven too; I believe they do because God loves us and he loves animals or He would not have created us or them.  I suppose this entry is somewhat sad, but it was on my mind today, so I thought I would share.  I believe most of you can relate.

Stay well and God bless!

Chris