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We have a Shih Tzu/Pekingnese mix we call Pepper......he's almost 18 years old and unfortunately it is coming to a point where he is not leading a quality life. He is my son's "comfort pet" (most here know my adult son has Aspergers) and I am not sure how we are going to deal with doing the right thing for a very loyal and beloved member of our family.
Up until a few days ago we also had a tabby cat named Pumpkin....she "adopted" us one day in 2006 when we lived in Columbia MO, showing up at our door as a baby cat mewing. One of our neighbors said he saw a man stop his car near a vacant lot in our neighborhood and drop off a box. When she got suspicious she went to see what was there....and it was a box of baby kittens. She picked them up and put them in her car and took them to the animal shelter. Evidently, one of them got out of the box and wandered to our door. My daughter and son, ever the animal lovers, talked me into letting us adopt her....and since she showed up on Halloween day, we named her Pumpkin because of her color.
She was an indoor/outdoor cat....she hated being inside for too long and would scream at the door if you didn't oblige her. The cat and I had an uneasy tolerance of each other and sometimes it became a test of wills.
About a month ago, for some unknown reason the came suddenly became my best friend. She would stay outside during the day, but at night when I came home, she would want to sit in my lap on "her" throw, or on a chair with her throw. I was scratching my head at the sudden change in her attitude, but was enjoying the attention.
4 nights ago, she looked up from the chair she was sitting in, stretched, and went to the door looking to go outside. We haven't seen her since....we have checked the neighborhood, driven around neighboring areas, and even ventured into the woods to see if we could find her....and nothing.
A friend told me something interesting...something I had never heard about cats so I am not even sure if it is true. That sometimes cats, when they know it is their time to pass, will just disappear to die quietly somewhere. I want to hope that is true....but other parts of me fear that she was a victim of a wild animal or one of the occasional strays that show up here.
Either way.....I hate to admit it....I miss the cat. We were never best of friends...at times we were enemies locked in a battle of wills. But she was our cat....and a member of our family for almost 10 years.
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