Pumpkin...

So, not many of you knew that we were the owners of a little kitty for a few weeks. Little Pumpkin showed up randomly one day while we were out watching the workers put a couple of extra panels on our backyard fence. I made the quick assumption that he was a stay little kitty because of his thinness and willingness to eat everything offered.


After a week of having Pumpkin living in our garage feasting on tuna and relaxing in his cardboard box and on our front porch rocking chair, we made the decision to officially keep him. Now this may surprise you as Brian has always claimed that the only pet we would ever have would be fish, but I actually think Brian liked Pumpkin too (you're probably noticing that I'm using past tense here). So, we took Pumpkin in and had him checked for general health, spade, and de-clawed.

Pumpkin adjusted to life inside very well and we enjoyed many cuddles. The girls loved him - Gracie pretty much went berserk flapping her arms every time he was near and crawling after him forcing him to hide in Olivia's tunnel. Olivia learned to pet nicely and wasn't bothered when Pumpkin would play bite or chase. She even bravely picked him up a couple of times. Pumpkin was a major trooper handling Olivia's desire to pick him up and Gracie's pulling of his fur without batting an eye. He learned to use a litter box overnight and fit in nicely to our family.

Unfortunately we had to put little Pumpkin down this week. I let him outside for a couple hours on Sunday; he came back in without prompting and seemed fine except that he stayed in his little box in our family room at night instead of coming to cuddle with us. I checked on him and he came out and let me pet him for awhile. The next morning, however, I found Pumpkin collapsed in the middle of our family room. He was making very sad meowing noises and could barely move. We got him to the vet where they came to the conclusion that he had eaten poison of some kind - this must have happened when he was outside on Sunday as we don't have anything in the house of course. Poor little kitty was in a lot of physical distress, so we had no other choice.

I was sad to say goodbye to our little kitty. I think I miss him the most. Olivia asks about him every now and then, but then follows up her own question by telling me that Pumpkin is at the doctor. I comfort myself by saying that at least Pumpkin had a happy and comfy life at the end having been plumped up a bit during his time at the Huinker household. Sigh - maybe another kitty sometime...