Resisting the rebound cat

About a month ago La Chatte met her demise.

La Chatte was a cat that had been abandoned by the previous tenant of our duplex during the infamous July 1st Moving day in Montreal.

(Yep, I'm not kidding - July 1st IS moving day and when the leases in Montreal turn over)

She spotted us as soon as we drove up, and clearly made short work of us. I think it took her less than a week to nose her way in through the back door and start perching herself on our furniture. We were, after all, in HER house.

Last year we added a special degree of insult as we introduced Coco the House Rabbit into our family.

You read that correctly. We are a free roam house rabbit having kind of family. She's litter trained and has free roam of the house after living a majority of her life in a 2X3 cage.

La Chatte was .....perplexed. And Offended.  Was this a toy? Was this dinner? At any rate, it was weird and unwelcome, this furry thing that thumped at her only to charge towards her and sniff in some very intimate places.

Throughout the year they made peace with one another. I dare say they were even almost fond of one another..except for the great Urine War of January 2009 - when lines were drawn and the pee stakes raised. La Chatte would pee in Cocos litter and Coco, in retaliation, would pee in our bed. See how that works? In all cases, the humans are made to suffer.

It was one Sunday that we noticed La Chatte seemed...not her usual dismissive self. Sure, she was ignoring us, but the quality of the indifference was not the same. She wasn't feeling well. As she was a four year old healthy cat, I assumed she ate something she found in the Montreal Spring thaw and was under the weather.

By Tuesday, I knew it was much, much more serious and took her to the Vets office first thing in the morning. She died later that afternoon, suffering a seizure and never regaining consciousness.

We waited a day to tell Emily that her La Chatte had died, and her reaction was as expected. Sobbing. Heavy Heavy Sobbing. Blame for not taking the cat to the vets sooner...and then the request.

Another cat? Could we get one? PPPPPplllllleeeeeaaaasssseeeeeee?

I must admit, it was an attractive idea. In the same way you distract an infant with something shiny - LOOK OVER HERE! - and hide the cell phone or car keys.

But no. No, I told her. We can't grieve by replacing the cat with another cat. Pets, not unlike people, aren't replaceable. We just have to feel the sadness and wait.

We all still see her in the shadows of the house, looking at us from the edges of rooms. We miss her. But another cat will not change her death. Maybe we will be ready to add a new feline family member someday, but not now.

Original post to Canada Moms Blog. Dawn also blog at "I am Doing the Best I can", and "True Wife Confessions"