One Life Down...Eight to Go!

Pepi. Paul calls her Dani's "puppy-kitty". This is the kitten that Danielle got this past Christmas. Let me set the stage for this story...

She begged for a puppy - and I mean B-E-G-G-E-D...she pulled out all the stops - anyways...she sent Paul and I e-cards oozing with puppies. She promised to take care of this 'puppy' and do what ever it took to get one. And Paul and I had absolutely NO DOUBT that she would've done everything. Well, we have a Golden Retriever already and being in our new house, at that time, only 8 months, we knew we were not going to get her a puppy. Let me also interject that I was pregnant and due on Dec. 5th! I know my limitations! So...we picked out a cute black kitty and gave it to Danielle on Christmas Day. She LOVED her kitty and named her Pepi [short for Peppermint]. And boy was that love reciprocated! This cat right off the bat loved Dani and knew she was hers. She followed her everywhere and was in bed with her right at bed time. Too cute. Again I must add - that the mother in Dani comes out when she disciplines Pepi and calls her "Pepi Ann". She cracks me up!! So ultimately Dani got her puppy :)

Pepi is an inside cat [who still isn't 'fixed'] which is why she *really* needs to be indoors right now :) Periodically she'll get outside and go right under the porch which she has to share with Fat Cat [aka Samantha]. It takes some great effort to get her back in the house. Coaxing her to come out from under the porch with an open can of tuna, spraying the hose on the porch, putting some catfood out - and if those don't do the trick, how 'bout the end of a broom!?

Last night [Wed. the 16th] Pepi got outside and went under the porch. Nothing unusual. Danielle tried to get her out before she went to bed - to no avail. Around 11:45pm, I'm working on my 'moth' post and all of the sudden I heard the loudest cat scream! I threw my laptop on the chair and as I'm running to the front porch my thoughts are that she is fighting with Fat Cat. I opened the door and there's Fat Cat looking around at the awful sound. This 'scream' was definitely a fight-for-your-life kind of scream. It was chilling! The screaming went on for 2-3 minutes, and then.....silence. Yuck. I just knew a coyote had gotten her! To make a long story short [those who know me best know that I can go on and on about what I was thinking!...I'll save you here :-)] - she wasn't to be seen under the porch or in the yard. I was dreading the next morning. I did not want to break my little girl's heart. Paul said he would tell her...but it wasn't the actual telling that I didn't want to do. I didn't want her to hurt. My prayer that night and this morning: "God, I know You can make this all okay. Please, I don't want to break my little girl's heart. Please. I know You can do this." and believe me, Sts. Francis and Anthony were called upon as well. But I *knew* deep down that she was "gone".

Taking my oldest dd, Kayla, to school this morning I was sooooo not ready to do what I had to do when I reached home. I dreaded it. I did not want to do this. Paul did not want to do this. But we knew that we'd have to.

When I finally got home, I walked into the kitchen, saw Dani standing close by with Therese and Sophia. And when I saw what she was holding...well, words can't describe all the emotions that flooded my mind. How could she be holding Pepi? "Where was she?" "Ummm...under the porch. Where else would she be? Remember? [how she got out last night]," Dani responded. She was so confused by my reaction. I was laughing with tears in my eyes...because, like my prayer, I knew God could!!

When I told Paul [who was still snug as a bug in a rug] I physically saw his great relief as he blurted out, "Oh, thank God!". It looked as though the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders in the blink of an eye.

Pepi's foot is bothering her. She was really hobbling on it early on today. Tonight she's barely showing any signs of pain. She slept pretty much all day long. Definitely not her spazzy-self. We've got to take her to the vet to get checked out and to see how many lives she's got left!!