
Our kitty, Tina was killed in a car accident today.
Steve and I really weren’t thrilled at the idea of a pet but Violet had begged for years to be allowed to have one. We used to put her off with a “We have too many kids for pets. Maybe in a few years.” After Vicki left for college the begging was ratcheted up a notch. After all, we were down to 3 kids at home by then. After much begging, we finally agreed that Violet could get a cat. We picked Tina out of a large selection of kittens at the Humane Society. She had been born only a few weeks before - her mom was a homeless cat and her dad no where to be seen.
Tina was tiny and afraid of everything. After we brought her home, she hid under the coffee table a lot - Violet was eager to hug and love her but Tina wasn’t ready for that.

It took a little while but eventually Tina warmed up to us and we definitely warmed up to her. This morning, Tina was especially affectionate. She wanted lots of attention having been alone for much of the last week while we were gone on vacation (we just got home last night). Violet and I spent about a half hour petting her this morning.
It was surprising to all of us when we turned out to be cat people. Maybe it was just Tina’s personality. She could be really smart - like opening zippered bags to get at the hair bands inside. She was a lot of fun to play with. Chasing after hair ties, string, and catnip mice. She could be stubborn though - we had several battles of will over drinking from her bowl and not climbing on the counters. And sometimes we wondered about her smarts - we moved her food bowl and for several months she would occasionally go back to the old location, look around and wonder where her food was.
She was supposed to be an inside cat. If she’d stayed an inside cat she would be alive right now. But Tina didn’t want to stay inside all the time. She wanted to go outside in the sunshine. She liked to run through the yard chasing (and catching) birds and bugs. She was a fierce hunter keeping our garage and yard mouse-free. Just this afternoon she was catching baby bunnies, now she’s buried in the backyard.
I am surprised at how upset and sad I am. Violet is heartbroken. Jon is upset and sad. Steve is sad and feeling guilty over having been the cause of Tina’s death. It feels silly to be so upset and crying over a kitty but we are. She was “just a cat” but we miss her.