by Andie
Paws was born on April 14, 1990. Ironicly, the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. I was only 5 years old when we got her. My parents took me to a house a few cities away and my mom went in to pick out a kitten. When she came out, she looked at me and said, "Andie, the only one left is a little one. She's the runt." "I dont care," I said," I want her anyway!" So my mom ran back in to get her. She brought the little cat out in the Pet Taxi and set it on the backseat by me. "MEW!" Cried the little furball. "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!" Until I looked in her cage. She was all curled up in the back. She was the tinyest thing. On the way home, we tried to think of a name for her, and we decided we didnt want her to have a wacky name like our other cat who was named Bummer Man. My mom decided to name my kitty Santa Barbara, after her favorite Soap Opera. I called her Paws for short. The first thing Paws did when I took her into my room was scratch my arm so bad I almost had to get stitches. I still have a scar from that. Paws and I went thru everything together. Friends, Boyfriends, and she even let me squeeze her and cry into her when one of my friends took his own life. I didn't own that cat. She owned me. One day I noticed that she was breathing really hard and I told my dad about it. He told me to watch her and see if it continued. After about a week of this, we took her to the vet and he took x-rays and gave her Prednisone. I was too scared to go to the vet with her so my dad took her and when he got home, he found me all jumpy and unable to sit still. He told me that the vet gave her meds and told me that the x-rays showed white spots on her lungs. What he didnt tell me at the time was that she had lung cancer, and I'm glad I didnt know. One day I came home from school and my dad met me outside. "Honey", he said, "Go say bye to Paws. She can't suffer anymore, so I'm going to take her to the vet to be put down." I ran into my house to find my cat. She was in the living room on the couch asleep. I went to her and started to pet her, but she didnt move. My beloved Paws was gone. I just looked and her and then I started to bawl. My dad came into the living room and I turned around and looked at him with tears in my eyes. "Daddy, shes gone" I said and I picked up her body and held her. We buried her out in the garden in my back yard. She has a beautiful statue of an angel by her grave. Paws, I know your with me night and day. I love you more than you will ever know and I wish more than anything that you were still her. I'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge someday. I'll never forget you. I LOVE YOU!