Today our beloved house/outside cat, Snip died. He was black with four white feet, a white diamond chest, and a white strip on his chin. He looked like he was wearing a tuxedo at all times, kind of funny. He had a slight weight problem, slobbered like a dog, and always tried to claw you when you petted him.
I wasn't that close to him because of the slober and claws but but my sister really was. They aren't real sure what happened to him yet. They think some type of virus and maybe even rabies. There has been an outbreak of rabid skunks in the county and Dad killed a raccoon last weekend that he thinks might have been infected. It was acting all strange. They had to cut the cat's head off to send it in to test for rabies and it devastated my sister. It is kind of sad for her that she can't bury him...
I am a dog lover so I don't get to attached to cats. I find them quite annoying, though in college I did buy a Persian cat for some silly reason.
I was surprised to hear mom tell me that Snip died. My mother has a history of keeping to herself when the cats die, she told us they (air quotes) "ran away." This started at an early age.
At 8 we were told that Boots "ran away". I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad found him dead in the storage shed, I still haven't gotten that one out of them. I think they feel bad because us small children looked for him for years. Leah actually thought we found him like 10 years later. A stray cat came up for food and Leah was certain he was Boots, he left a few days later, much to Leah's disappointment. The poor thing was probably confused as to why my sister kept calling him Boots and wouldn't quit chasing him around the yard.
Then there was Lucky, who turned out to be not so Lucky. Lucky was Snip's mom. She showed up at our barn with four kittens about 10 years ago. Me and my sisters were just in heaven playing with four small kittens. We gave two of them away and kept the other two, Snip, and Dolly--who is still alive and
I also had a cat named Popcorn, she was a calico. I was the only one she'd let touch her. She died at the ripe old age of 15 while I was away at college and Mom didn't tell me for like two months. I came home for Thanksgiving and couldn't find Pop and I asked Leah if she'd seen her, Leah's reply was, "Oh she's around here somewhere." At Christmas when I came home again and couldn't find Popcorn I asked Mom where she was. Mom replied, "Ohhh, Jenna she died before Thanksgiving. I didn't want to tell you until you asked." I was so
I guess Mom has realized that I am now a "big Girl" and can handle cat deaths as soon as they happen because she called me and told me we had a tragedy this morning, which really scared me. I was quite relieved to hear it was the cat and not a person. I guess she still doesn't think I'm old enough to know about the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny though. She hasn't told me they "ran away" yet.

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