Calvin Chase
My Dead Cat
A boy hates his pet, until they have to part ways
How many of you have ever just been so happy that something just died? Like, you’re just waiting for this thing to die because you hate it so much?
So, I once had this cat it was like it was the worst cat, like, I would define this cat like it's not just a bad cat, the worst. Like it's smells like your uncle's pee from last night, it had dreadlocks and they weren’t like cool like Bob Marley dreadlocks, or like they're all flowy and stuff, but they're matted ball-like dreadlocks like you're petting it and you just feel like tumors. I've had to ask myself is this just hair or something, like do I need get this checked out? So we had to get it shaved a lot, and it looked like a lion’s head. It had the puffy tail and like a big mane.
This summer we moved from this big house that had a lot of like space and room that two big dogs and a cat could chill out. Like we had a backyard, like huge backyard and a forest behind our house, and it could go run and catch voles and stuff. And it was just thriving there, like it was definitely an outdoor cat.
But we were moving to a smaller house in town, like we are downsizing because my sister's going to college, and our new house was about half the size of our old house, and we had no backyard. We have like a patio, but no backyard, and so we decided that it would be best for the cat and for us to give it away, so we didn't have to be those weird new neighbors that walk their cat everyday.
I was on it when we gave that cat away, like a soon as I found out that we're giving away I was like, “Sick! Yes!” I asked everyone to take this cat. I even put it on my Snapchat story, “Hit me up if you want to cat.”
So I went around asking people that I knew like cats and if they wanted another one, and I found somebody. My friend actually wanted my cat. Her name was Addy, and she wanted to take it, but she didn't tell her mom that she was taking it for good, but more that she was taking it for two weeks like a pet sitting job. And so she took the cat, and I remember we had like a little like goody bag for it like with its food, its cup and its water bowls.
I didn't realize that she had another cat and these two cats, they did not get along at all because they're like they’re two outdoor cats and like when they're indoors they're like not happy. And so whenever they're indoors together, like when they have to share their food and water so they would fight. Like it was just wasn't like a super good environment for both of them
Two weeks passed and her mom was like, “Hey do you know like when these people are going to come get their cat?”
So Addy was like, “No they haven't called me” and shut the door. So then like a couple of months passed and the two cats were fighting all of that fun stuff and her mom was sick of this cat. The cat just had to go. And so they had a family friend that was looking for a cat for a while and so they're like oh yeah we'll take it and so they give them the cat.
So apparently, I thought we had this cat since I was like six or seven years old, so it's like six or eight years old, but actually, we've had it since I was like three or four, so it's like twelve years old.
It wasn't a healthy cat, like I said earlier, that it didn't take care of itself. And so it started getting sick with the new family and like couldn't move. It was like just stuck there at least in one spot all day and it could didn't get up to go get water. Like it peed all over itself, it's like the end of its life and so on. I’m not completely sure like whether or not like the new family had to put it down or like it just died like it's gone and they just had to bury it or something but I definitely put that on them.
I didn't tell my mom until like a couple weeks ago and this like this all happened like over the summer. So we were at Pet Haus buying like doggy bags and food for our dogs, and there's that cage of kittens by the front door. I always just go over there and play with them because they are usually in there and like I still love cats. And I was like, “Mom, this cat is rad. Can we get it?”
And she's like, “You know we had a cat, but you chose to give it away. No, maybe another day.” But like “maybe another day” means never.
We're walking back to the car I was like, “Oh yeah, about our cat, it's dead.” And I just said in such a way like it wasn’t bad news or a big deal and she was so surprised. She thought that how we cared for it for years and years and years like it was a tough cat. So she said, “Our cat is dead?! Like I don't believe this.”
I'm like, “Yeah I didn't either at first my friends were joking about killing it when I was giving it away but then they told me that it's really dead.”
And so my mom said, “Yeah, but like we still took care of that cat and like we still cared for this cat. We still loved it.”
It was part of our family for eight years and I was like, “Oh yeah I guess it was true” and I remember driving home like I have my permit like I think I’m all cool and all because I can drive my mom from the pet store to our house. While I was driving I was thinking, like yeah I knew that it was like it was ours like we owned it and we took care of it like we loved it even though we hated it. Oh and maybe I should be a little bit sad that died.
I definitely realized maybe like when something dies it's not necessarily something to be glad about, but more something to realize oh this thing dead like I may not have loved it like completely but you got to think about like the good times you had with him like have that little bit of sadness I died off and be glad and celebrate it. Be grateful for what you had, because once it's gone, it’s gone and that can be a hard reality for anyone.
So, I once had this cat it was like it was the worst cat, like, I would define this cat like it's not just a bad cat, the worst. Like it's smells like your uncle's pee from last night, it had dreadlocks and they weren’t like cool like Bob Marley dreadlocks, or like they're all flowy and stuff, but they're matted ball-like dreadlocks like you're petting it and you just feel like tumors. I've had to ask myself is this just hair or something, like do I need get this checked out? So we had to get it shaved a lot, and it looked like a lion’s head. It had the puffy tail and like a big mane.
This summer we moved from this big house that had a lot of like space and room that two big dogs and a cat could chill out. Like we had a backyard, like huge backyard and a forest behind our house, and it could go run and catch voles and stuff. And it was just thriving there, like it was definitely an outdoor cat.
But we were moving to a smaller house in town, like we are downsizing because my sister's going to college, and our new house was about half the size of our old house, and we had no backyard. We have like a patio, but no backyard, and so we decided that it would be best for the cat and for us to give it away, so we didn't have to be those weird new neighbors that walk their cat everyday.
I was on it when we gave that cat away, like a soon as I found out that we're giving away I was like, “Sick! Yes!” I asked everyone to take this cat. I even put it on my Snapchat story, “Hit me up if you want to cat.”
So I went around asking people that I knew like cats and if they wanted another one, and I found somebody. My friend actually wanted my cat. Her name was Addy, and she wanted to take it, but she didn't tell her mom that she was taking it for good, but more that she was taking it for two weeks like a pet sitting job. And so she took the cat, and I remember we had like a little like goody bag for it like with its food, its cup and its water bowls.
I didn't realize that she had another cat and these two cats, they did not get along at all because they're like they’re two outdoor cats and like when they're indoors they're like not happy. And so whenever they're indoors together, like when they have to share their food and water so they would fight. Like it was just wasn't like a super good environment for both of them
Two weeks passed and her mom was like, “Hey do you know like when these people are going to come get their cat?”
So Addy was like, “No they haven't called me” and shut the door. So then like a couple of months passed and the two cats were fighting all of that fun stuff and her mom was sick of this cat. The cat just had to go. And so they had a family friend that was looking for a cat for a while and so they're like oh yeah we'll take it and so they give them the cat.
So apparently, I thought we had this cat since I was like six or seven years old, so it's like six or eight years old, but actually, we've had it since I was like three or four, so it's like twelve years old.
It wasn't a healthy cat, like I said earlier, that it didn't take care of itself. And so it started getting sick with the new family and like couldn't move. It was like just stuck there at least in one spot all day and it could didn't get up to go get water. Like it peed all over itself, it's like the end of its life and so on. I’m not completely sure like whether or not like the new family had to put it down or like it just died like it's gone and they just had to bury it or something but I definitely put that on them.
I didn't tell my mom until like a couple weeks ago and this like this all happened like over the summer. So we were at Pet Haus buying like doggy bags and food for our dogs, and there's that cage of kittens by the front door. I always just go over there and play with them because they are usually in there and like I still love cats. And I was like, “Mom, this cat is rad. Can we get it?”
And she's like, “You know we had a cat, but you chose to give it away. No, maybe another day.” But like “maybe another day” means never.
We're walking back to the car I was like, “Oh yeah, about our cat, it's dead.” And I just said in such a way like it wasn’t bad news or a big deal and she was so surprised. She thought that how we cared for it for years and years and years like it was a tough cat. So she said, “Our cat is dead?! Like I don't believe this.”
I'm like, “Yeah I didn't either at first my friends were joking about killing it when I was giving it away but then they told me that it's really dead.”
And so my mom said, “Yeah, but like we still took care of that cat and like we still cared for this cat. We still loved it.”
It was part of our family for eight years and I was like, “Oh yeah I guess it was true” and I remember driving home like I have my permit like I think I’m all cool and all because I can drive my mom from the pet store to our house. While I was driving I was thinking, like yeah I knew that it was like it was ours like we owned it and we took care of it like we loved it even though we hated it. Oh and maybe I should be a little bit sad that died.
I definitely realized maybe like when something dies it's not necessarily something to be glad about, but more something to realize oh this thing dead like I may not have loved it like completely but you got to think about like the good times you had with him like have that little bit of sadness I died off and be glad and celebrate it. Be grateful for what you had, because once it's gone, it’s gone and that can be a hard reality for anyone.