Monday, August 23, 2004

And then there was one


A week ago, I made the difficult decision to send my cat Xander to live with Sara the Wonder Nanny. He kept plopping himself in Eric's path to have his ears/fur/tail pulled and grabbed. It was only a matter of time before he retaliated. To his credit, he was very patient with Eric. But he'd scratch at me when I tried to move him away from the baby's area.

Rewind about 5 years. Xander jumped out the window at the vet's office and we lost him for six weeks. It was freezing and horrible and we searched and searched and decided there was no way we were getting him back, so we went to the shelter and adopted Luna. Less than a week later, we got a call from a woman in the vet's neighborhood that she had seen our cat. An lo and behold!! We got there at the right time and managed to capture him and bring him home. Hence we had three cats.

Fastforward back to present day. Three cats, two adults and a baby is a LOT of people for a 1300 square foot condo. Plus Xander just wouldn't stay out of Eric's way, and Sara the Wonder Nanny REALLY wanted to have him so we thought eh.. what the heck. We'll see how it goes.

Then on Friday, Luna got out and had a tangle with my neighbor's vicious German shepard which she did not survive. I heard barking and screaming. This is not unusual. The dog is loud, dangerous and obnoxious and they're always calling her in when she's out barking. But this sounded a little different, but a little flag went up in my head that said "Not my problem." Then I heard a cat.. then I heard Rich's voice and I flew up the stairs where I saw Luna lying in my neighbor's driveway unable to get up. Rich was kneeling over her and she popped her head up and licked herself. Rich scooped her into the cat carrier with a dustpan and we rushed her off to the vet's office. But she was dead by the time we got her into the house.

So, we talked to the dog's owner, who seemed even more devastated than us. Barring a huge fight with my neighbors, I'm not sure what to do. The dog is unsafe, but legally they're not responsible as our cat was on their property. They NEVER let the dog off their property, as they don't have time to walk her and she's proven to be dangerous on a few occasions. I know they'll be even more vigilant about her now. But no fence is perfect. If she ever got out, she could maul or kill my baby and there's nothing the owners could do. She doesn't listen to them.

The whole thing is very disturbing. So, we're down suddenly from three cats to one. If I could have any choice in the matter, the cat we ended up with is the one I would have kept. He's very independent and snuggly. A nice combination. Although he's gone from a mostly silent cat, to one that howls at night until we let him out. VERY annoying especially when I'm trying to get the boy to sleep.

Speaking of which.. He's been doing GREAT last few nights.. Except he's been waking up closer to 5 than 6 which is frustrating. He's napping less as well. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. I think his ideal bedtime is 7ish, but then I barely get to see him!! It's a work in progress at this point.

Sigh.. I wish he could sleep 8-7 instead of 7-5:30/6:30. But he's so perfect in most respects, I really can't complain.


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