Warning - rant ahead.... Brad and I reached a very difficult decision this week....we're going to give up our cat, Stitch. Most of you are aware of the havoc wreaked by this cat over the last 3 years. The first two years were great, but in the spring of 2005, she started peeing in the house (outside of her litter box). She has continued this habit in our new home, ruining both carpet and hardwood floors. She's been checked by a vet and there's no medical reason for her to do this - it's all mental. She peed in (and thus destroyed) my nice luggage and has chewed through/knocked over enough of our stuff to make us totally fed up. Since Lawson has gotten mobile, Stitch has gotten worse. It's not new, it's just more. So, we decided we would try to find a place for her before we moved since we have no interest in having her ruin a third home of ours.

Trouble is, we don't want her to be euthanized. We tried a variety of places that are no-kill shelters, but their waiting lists are miles long and it would be months before they could take her. One place had 300 cats waiting... So, today we took her to the Kansas City Humane Society. Yeah, these were the rudest ladies I've come across in a long time. Let me preface this by saying - I love animals. I adore having pets and I think animals should be treated kindly. But I also believe animals are not equal to humans. When the lady behind the counter asked why I was giving her up, I decided not to go into the long history of her bad behavior (thinking she'd have a better chance to get in) and just said she wasn't getting along with our baby. The lady behind the desk said "Well, you had the cat first." Um, yes. Yes, I did. I'm sorry, would you prefer I give my baby up for adoption since the cat was in the house first? Can you believe it? She seemed genuinely perturbed when I said that given the choice, I'd pick the human. It just irritates me that she made a vicious judgement about me based on so little information. I've had this cat for 5 years - we got her from my sister-in-law and met her when her little eyes weren't even open yet. I didn't make this decision lightly.

Anyway, they wouldn't take Stitch b/c they already had too many cats. Our last option is the local animal shelter. They'll take her, but I'm sure she'll be killed within the week. It's so hard to give her up knowing that's what's going to happen to her, but we cannot afford to keep replacing all the stuff she's ruined. :(

On a lighter note, here are some pics of Lawson playing in the yard the other day. Oh, and he finally cut his 5th tooth yesterday! Yay!