The Time We Had a Cat For a Day

Who wants to hear the Burke Family cat story?

This shelter photo is the only one I have of our family cat. You should start sensing the tragic outcome of this narrative by that fact alone. 

The girls and I decided to get a cat but our chosen pet couldn’t come home until the beginning of June. Then, because one is definitely not enough, we thought we should get a cat for our cat to play with. That’s the kind of family we are.

Wonderful, I know. We headed to the shelter where they have a plethora of cats ready to go.

Is Chase allergic to cats? Yes. Did we give that a second thought? Sure.

Did we give it a third thought? Heck to the no. He’s allergic to dogs as well and that doesn’t stop him from shamelessly rolling our family dog, Hay Hay, all over himself. You should see those two hug each other, it’s almost bizarre.

Hives be darned, Hay Hay is worth it.

We applied this logic to our family cat. She/they will be such a blessing to our family; it will override any “allergies.”

Side note: I’ve seen my hubby handle many a cat with no health repercussions. I think his allergy (I use the term loosely) comes from not wanting his dog to take a back burner when he’s on the road.

We headed to the shelter and picked out a super cute cat. We were second on the waiting list for that cat and the first family ended up taking her home.

Heartbreak #1.

So picked out another cat and waited the required seven-day waiting period. We even visited her everyday after school. It just so happened our seven days expired on the exact day we were leaving town for the long weekend. Obviously not optimal. But my husband’s step-mother volunteered to babysit her so we moved forward with the plan.

We picked up the cat, Dottie, which we renamed to Buttons. Within an hour, my little Cam Cam said, “Mom, this cat’s really changed me. I’ve never been this happy!”

I tell you this to let you know the level of attachment my kids had with this cat in the matter of minutes. She was (sob) a very loved cat.

There were a few problems. It turned out the cat was much younger than it should have been to be away from her mother. By day two of our long weekend, we were getting frantic calls and text messages letting us know our cat wasn’t doing too well. She had been a very normal kitten at first with a lot of energy. But she stopped eating and started expelling waste in a way only sick people understand.

When we got back into town, I took her straight to the emergency vet. She immediately tested positive for feline distemper which, in a one pound cat, is almost assuredly a death sentence. It’s passed through cat-to-cat contact and our little kitty hadn’t been immunized for it because she was much too young. She spent too long in the shelter without a home. The vet offered to IV her but, even with the treatment, only gave our one-pound three ounce kitty a 1% chance of survival. She was too little and the virus was too severe. According to the vet, the humane option was to put her to sleep.

Heartbreak #2.

Mind you, it was ten o’clock at night and I had my kids with me because Chase was out of town. The vet tried to sugar coat it around the kids but it was very obvious this kitty was going to a new home in a separate dimension. Isabelle was crying. Cambri was crying. I was crying. We had only had the cat for three days but we were so in love.

While we were waiting for our test results to come back, we took turns praying for our little Buttons and hoping for the best. When it didn’t work the way we thought it should, Cambri looked at me and said, “We prayed for Buttons and God didn’t listen.” And Isabelle said, “I wish we could go back in time and never adopt her.”

Now peeps, when God gives you a teachable moment, you are called to use it. So I reminded my little ones of what He tells us in Isaiah 55:8.

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways," declares the LORD.

I reminded them this world is not about our comfort but maybe God called us to Buttons because he wanted HER to feel loved before He called her home. This world is not all about us which is a painful lesson for most people to learn. Yes, I know Buttons was a cat but she was made by an all-loving God. This little kitty was an orphan who found her home. Please understand, I don’t think salvation and cats go together. But in the context of teaching little ones life lessons, Buttons was a wonderful example.

So we said goodbye to our little kitten and they whisked her away. Sadly, we can’t have another cat in our home for 30 days which throws a wrench in our plans for our first kitty. I also had to tell my mother-in-law the bad news and she was just as attached as we were.

Then I had to pay the vet $251 which was like a separate blow. Total, I had $356 into a cat that we owned for less than three days and both of my kids were traumatized in a way they both woke up with swollen eyes. Isn't life grand?

Thankfully, God IS grand. All the time.