Cat 1, us 0

kw: local events, home

It is a bit bittersweet. About five weeks ago, our son brought home a cat and pretty much browbeat us into letting him keep her. Actually, Sasha is a nice female domestic shorthair, about two years old, and had been someone's cat before she got lost or abandoned. She was starving when found by a friend of his, because she'd been declawed and could not reliably catch food.

Nice as she is, she would not stay housebroken at our place. The saga is rather painful, for us, not so much for Sasha, because we know better than to punish a cat for "going" in all the wrong places. We finally decided she is just too lazy to go the litter box when the urge comes. We like her calm personality, but perhaps she is too calm!

We gave our son an ultimatum: find a home for her by Sept 1 or she goes to the SPCA. He did so, and we delivered her today. We drove a couple hours to the new family's place (near the campus our son attends). We were relieved that they are a very nice family, have had cats before, know the risks, and have a daughter just the right age to care for Sasha (about 14). So we gave them all the veterinarian records and supplies we had, said "goodbye" and went home.

When we dropped off our son, he was a little down, as I expected. My wife and I aren't totally thrilled either, because we like Sasha. But we aren't up to the strain of retraining a very lazy, mis-trained cat. A pity. Sasha, we wish you well.