Cupcake the Cat

This is going to be a sad post people. Just want to warn you. About 5 days ago, Pete and I were getting ready to go to bed and he walked out front to park the car and behold a little kitty was on our doorstep. Now, we are NOT cat fans. We are dog people here at our house. Street cats here are mangy, dirty, poop everywhere, spread your trash all over the street, smelly...you get the picture. So we always shoo them away at first sight.

But this one was different.

Pete saw her first. and didn't shoo her away. Miracle. He crouched down and just looked at her. Which gave me enough time to come over and see what he was looking at. This is what we saw...
so I ran to the kitchen, poured some milk, heated it up and brought it out front. Of course she loved it. So I petted her a little bit and named her Cupcake. I thought, "I sure hope she's still here in the morning."

You see, if I was ever going to have a cat...this was the one. She was beautiful - calico colors a beautiful mix of black, white and orange and she had a long tail. Most cats here have ugly, stubby tails, but Cupcake had a long, beautiful tail. She was the perfect cat for me. And she liked me. She nuzzled up against my legs and purred when I touched her. She liked me:)

So guess who was waiting for me the next morning! So, I called some friends to come help give her a bath and get her set up in our backyard. Cupcake had just become a Klein. Cupcake Klein. That has a nice ring to it. I like it.

So the next day, I call the vet and she came to my house - how nice is that...a vet that makes house calls. Awesome. She gave Cupcake her vaccinations and gave me a tablet for de-worming Cupcake. Other than Cupcake being super malnourished and probably infested on the inside she was in good shape. I was excited to begin life with my first-ever cat.

The next morning, I give Cupcake her de-worming medicine. She was definitely not happy with me for that. I kept promising her that life with me would be so much better than life "out there" on the streets. I would treat her well, give her the best food, hold her and give her a lot of attention. She had it made.

The kids took to her right away. they loved her. Olivia always wanted to hold her and Noah, well he's a one year old boy...he had a thing for that tail. His specialty was picking Cupcake up by her tail and carrying her around. Poor Kitty. We all loved her and we're excited to have our first pet.



Then it started to go downhill. Ever since that de-worming medicine, Cupcake refused to eat or drink at all. Normally for a regular cat, it may not be that big of a problem. But for this undernourished, skin and bones cat, it was a different story. Over the last 3 days, I've been trying EVERYTHING in my power to get her to eat or drink. Different kind of fish, fried, steamed, packaged, fresh. chicken and rice. bananas. milk from a spoon. anything. she grew weaker by the day.

Today I was spoon feeding her milk as fast as I could while waiting on a call from the vet to take her in to get an IV (the things we do for animals) and then it was too late. She was gone.

I feel sad. We only had her for 5 days, but I really put my heart into taking care of her and wanting her to be part of our family. I loved her and the kids did too. I also feel guilty. Was it that worm medicine that made her so sick that she couldn't get the nourishment she needed to live? So many thoughts going through my head. "was it my fault she died?" "I should have waited until she was stronger to give it to her" "She probably would have lived longer on the streets even if her life wasn't so "cushy." "I should have left her out there." "I should have called the vet sooner."

All in all, I keep trying to think of the bigger picture. A cat is just a cat right? Not sure what to tell Livvy and how to answer her questions - "mommy, cupcake died, is she coming back? Is Cupcake with Jesus?" I'm not sure I was quite prepared for these questions! I've got a sharp little girl and she already somewhat understands the concept of death. I'm so thankful we have hope in Jesus. I'm not sure what to tell her about Cupcake, but I do know what to tell her when she realizes that one day she, too, will die and what will happen to her.

Thank you Lord for salvation, hope and heaven!!! and maybe, just maybe, Cupcake, we'll see you there!