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Old November 1st, 2005, 01:29 AM
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LM1313 LM1313 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 819
I'm glad you decided euthanasia isn't the answer. But I still feel a need to comment.

As I write this, I'm listening to the jingle-jingle of Phantom slowly inching through the hall, pausing to sniff every rug. She is not the kind of cat who comes running to greet people. She is definitely not a lap cat. And I'm willing to bet that she's afraid of more things than Princess is. Phantom is absolutely paranoid. Trees, rugs, the vet, doorways, mops, certain rooms in the house, strangers in general and kids in particular--she's afraid of them all. She hisses at guests and claws them if they are foolish enough to try to pet. She bites if you pet her "too much." She has been known to hit ankles.

Phantom has NEVER been abused, so she has less reason than Princess to be afraid of things. She just develops random phobias of rugs or boxes or whatever. (I think she has mental problems.) She is not an "ideal cat" to most people's way of thinking. And she's scared a lot of the time.

But you know, watching her roll on her back on the patio or curl up on her cushion or--sometimes--purr and rub against legs with big, wild eyes, or sit on top of the playhouse, pretending she can't hear us calling her . . . you can tell that she is happy in her own way. She has a good quality of life. She has her own little missions, like watching out the window for the neighbor's cat, Calvin, competing with the dog for crabgrass, carrying around her toy seal, and sneaking into my mom's room where she's not allowed.

There is no way she would want to die because of the way she is. There is no way we would euthanize her, except for medical reasons. She's a living, breathing, feeling creature. She's our responsibility. And she's family.

~LM~
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