missing my kitty-dog

it's been a month since my kitty-dog had to be put to sleep. i can't let kitty go without reminiscing about her life a little - after all, she was my first baby!

in the 12 and a half years that she has been a member of this family, we have gone through so much with her! as a puppy, she was CRAZY!! she tore up rugs, stole food off of the counter and even ate a book (that i borrowed from my boss) on how to train your dog! :-) she had to stay in a crate in my apartment during the day while i was at work - i did come home for lunch everyday. at night, she had so much energy and would run laps (at warp speed) through my apartment. i moved from my apartment and rented a house because i knew she needed a yard. not even a month after we moved there, she got parvo from the dogs next door and it nearly killed her! how ironic that the reason i got a house was for her to have a yard and the yard would be the thing that almost killed her! i spent thousands to get her through that (i.v.'s, medication, extended hospital stay, etc.) but i wasn't going to let her die. on the upside, the was so much calmer when she came back from her "near-death experience". about a year later, brent and i went out of town and a friend fed and took care of my dogs (i also had a black lab/rottweiler named "scooter"). while that friend was watching them, the dogs got out and scooter didn't go far before he was found, but kitty was missing for over a week! someone that saw our signs called and said they had seen her miles from my house on a very busy road. my friend told me that he had "a better chance of dating pamela anderson than i had of getting my dog back"!! side note: he and pamela are very happy together right now. :-) finally, a family called and when i got kitty back she was perfect! i had birthday parties for her (with doggie ice cream) and she had her own stocking at christmas. in the last few years, she had a tumor on her eye and we had it removed but it came back so we had to have her entire eye removed! how fitting that we named our dog kitty because they say cats have nine lives and she definitely did!

the girls talk about missing her and that they still love her almost every day. my little one said "i wish kitty was here but i still love her". my floors get so dirty now - i'm used to not having to pick up food when it falls on the floor. in her younger days, the food barely had time to bounce one time before kitty ran over and ate it! when i go to bed at night, i still look for her on the floor by my side of the bed so i don't step on her. the only good thing i can say about kitty not being here anymore is that we don't have to pick up clumps of dog hair, but i'd gladly do that again to have her back!