So Long, Shadow

This pst week, we had a tearful good-bye to our cat of 10 years, Shadow, as we put her up for adoption. Ahna has long known that she is allergic to cats, but has been somewhat able to deal with it as we all lived together for the past 5.5 years. We do suspect that Ezra also shares the allergy based on his constant stuffiness while living at the townhome (and every once in a while, he would rub his head on the cat and end up with an area of irritated skin).

So we made the tough decision to take her to a shelter once we moved into the new house to allow for things to start fresh and anew. After a week of living here (not including the travel for Christmas), the verdict is still up in the air as it pertains to Ezra…but we have had a friend who is also allergic to cats over for dinner, and she didn’t have to dope up on Sudafed just to hang out for a few hours. So the lack of dander and hair is a realized benefit.

Shadow has been a great cat and a wonderful part of our family for a really long time. I originally adotped her 10 years ago and she was really hesitant to even sit in your lap. Since then, she has grown into a great friend and someone who loves to be loved as much as she loved to give love. She was named Shadow not just because of the obvious color of her hair, but because everywhere you would go in the house, she would be sure to follow. She would great you at the door, follow you upstairs as you brought in the groceries, and find your lap as soon as you sat on the floor.

We took her to a no-kill shelter in Golden on Sunday, and while it was tough to drop her off, it was encouraging that while I was there, 6 different people came in to look at adopting cats. The person who checked her in said that she was a ‘very adoptable pet’ and that they would take good care of her during her stay. They gave us a reference number for her in order to check in on her status, and I said good-bye as I left.

There was little intent on my behalf to actually call and check on her (just wasn’t sure about the emotional ride of always wanting to know her exact status), but I did hang on to the paperwork just in case. Well, on Tuesday afternoon, we received a phone call from the shelter (and the same person who checked her in) and they told us that she was already adopted and on the way to a great new home. There was some sadness involved with the finality of that call, but there was also much happiness as we knew that she would in fact be loved  and cared for in the ways that she deserves.