Farewell Vinnie :(

Sadly over the last few months our former "king" of the family had become quite a burden on us. Vinnie (the cat) began to change shortly after I became pregnant. He's always been a stinker (to put it mildly) and we've had our share of behavior problems with this animal for the last 6 years but nothing compared to the way he has been over the past 10 months or so. The fact of the matter is, Vinnie is SMART. Way, way smarter than an animal - especially a CAT - should be. In short, we felt it was time to make a change. Vinnie was no longer happy with us as he was no longer getting the massive amount of attention he craved, and we were unhappy with not sleeping (ironically, not due to Olivia but due to a wailing cat) and having our house destroyed bit by bit. This was the hardest decision we've ever had to make. Matt and I were (and still are) very attached to Vinnie. Despite his shortcomings, he is a wonderful pet. He was loving, affectionate, playful and had more personality than 100 pets combined. We had posted an ad on Craig's List (for anyone who wanted a beautiful, playful, but highly manipulative cat) and been spreading the word to our friends that we were looking for a good home for him. An answer to our ad was our only option since we considered a shelter out of the question. We wanted him placed in a home preferably with another animal so he would have a friend to play with since he always seemed quite lonely with us unless we devoted every waking second to him. After a month and a half of no responses to our ad (well, I take that back. We received one response from a woman who seemed strange on the phone; my interpretation. Matt realized after hearing her address that she lived in a not-so-nice area of downtown KCMO, and decided that he did not want Vinnie to be a "hood cat" and told her she could not have him. Actually, we might have just ignored her calls.)

Anyway, we had just about given up hope that Vin would find a good home where he'd get the attention he needed. Matt's parents visited us the last weekend in March and Matt's mom was aware of our dilemma. She happened to be on Craig's List searching the wanted ads and lo and behold, someone had posted a wanted ad THAT DAY looking for a cat that perfectly described Vinnie (well, okay, the person didn't write that they wanted a cat who would break things on purpose if you didn't play with him or eat expensive blankets and then puke them up, but it was pretty close). Anyway, I contacted this guy and he told me he was looking for a friend for his female cat. He works at home and said his cat seemed lonely during the day. So, we emailed back and forth a little more and then Matt and I went over to meet him. We brought Vinnie with us but did not plan on giving him up unless we both had a good feeling about this man and his home. Well, we got to the apartment and it was very well kept, the man's cat was clearly very well taken care of (coincidentally, his cat was on the same prescription diet food that Vinnie was on to lose weight. Now he has a weight watchers partner as well). We both felt it was the right - although not the easiest - thing to do. It was so hard leaving Vinnie over there, and many tears have been shed since. I do feel in the long run it is the best thing for him and for us although we miss him dearly. To help that, I sometimes walk around the house at my curtains which have either been eaten or clawed or find things he's broken or destroyed and sometimes I feel a little better. Vinnie was a special kitty, in more ways than one, and he will certainly be missed. We feel that he is in a great home and we are able to visit whenever we want. Thank you Vinnie for 6 (mostly) great years. We love and miss you!