R.I.P. Salem

Today is a sad day. We had to bury our beloved cat, Salem. She had been with us nearly 4 years. When we first moved to NC, she came over from next door. Our neighbor takes in cats and Salem was just one of many she had rescued. Salem wasn't a social creature. She didn't like being with the other cats. She had once been a feral cat and was crippled. Left that way from former abuse. She walked with a limp. She was special.

We first noticed her hanging out in our windows watching us with those gorgeous green eyes of hers. It didn't matter what part of the house we were in, she would find us. It used to freak me out a little bit to look up and there she would be in the window, gazing longingly at me as if to say "Please let me in". I had never been around cats so I didn't realize how much they liked to hang out in windows. This went on for many, many months until the seasons changed. We couldn't bear the thought of her being out in the cold so we gave in. We let her inside our house and into our hearts.

She was very skittish at first. If we made the least little noise or came around the corner suddenly she would run away, scared to death. It took about a year, but she finally learned to trust us. I remember the first time she jumped on my lap. I was sitting on the couch watching TV. She let me pet her for a few minutes then hopped down and ran off. Over time, I found her in my lap a lot more often. She loved being rubbed. It was as if she knew she was really loved and I think she loved us, too.

Like any good pet-owner, we made sure her shots were always up-to-date and that she had plenty to eat and drink. Unlike most cats, Salem hated anything seafood-related. I thought all cats loved tuna and salmon. Not our Salem. She loved country cookin'. One of her favorite meals was "country-style dinner" in the can. We usually fed her dry food so when she got canned food it was a real treat. She also loved those cat-treats called "temptations". I don't know what was in those little nuggets but she gobbled them up as if her life depended on it.

I remember the first time we bought them. My husband hid them up in the cabinet to keep Salem out of 'em. Just like an alcoholic, she had a true addiction once she got a taste of 'em. Needless to say, keeping her out of the "temptations" was quite a challenge after that. One morning Darin went to get them and they were gone. I mean the whole bag had simply vanished as if into thin air. Now how a bag could disappear from the third shelf of a cabinet was beyond us, but we suspected Salem was behind it.

Darin started searching the house and after a few minutes came back with the bag in hand. Turns out Salem had gotten up in the cabinet overnight afterall. How she managed to get the cabinet open in the first place, let alone climb to the third shelf is beyond me, but as they say, "where there's a will, there's a way." She had hidden the bag of tasty treats underneath our son's bed in the far back corner where she thought it would be safe. BUSTED! Darin confronted her with the evidence and she knew she was guilty. She always had this way of slinking out-of-sight whenever she did something wrong.

When Salem adopted us (I say that because we had no intention of taking in a cat) she was around 5 yrs. of age so she had already had quite a life. From the best we can tell, she was a Russian Blue although I'm sure not a purebred. She had been fixed so we didn't have to worry about her getting pregnant. Our main objective was to provide her with a loving home which we did for over 3 yrs. She lived in our house until 2 mos. ago at which time we had to put her out.

She began having intestinal troubles and instead of using her litter-box she would just let it loose on the floor beside the litter box. Well, after cleaning up her poop every day for a month we got tired of it and had no choice but to put her out for obvious reasons. We have a screened-in porch so we set her up like royalty with a nice big, comfy bed inside a box with a heat lamp hanging above it. We know how much cats hate the cold so that was the least we could do with winter coming.

The guilt was overwhelming at first. She didn't understand why she had suddenly been put out of her home and would cry at the door to come back in. A few times she even got desperate and clawed the door with all her might at which time we would have to reprimand her. If we opened the door even a peep, she would run inside like she still owned the place. It was so pitiful to see her like that, but we simply couldn't deal with her crapping all over the floor. Finally, after a month she realized she wasn't coming back inside and seemed to get quite comfortable in her new domain.

Last night Darin noticed she wasn't on the porch but figured she was out exploring as cats are known to do. He left the screen-door cracked and figured she would come back when she got hungry. This morning when she still wasn't on the porch he knew something was wrong. He got in the car and as he was backing out he noticed something gray laying across the street in our neighbor's yard. He got out and walked across the road only to find Salem dead. She had laid there all night in the soaking rain. She died alone. There was no bloody mess. The only thing out of order was her jaw. It appeared to have been broken. We figure a car hit her and she wandered about 30 feet until she fell over and died.

Unfortunately, my daughter saw Salem like that. She was the only one up with her Dad. Me and the boys were still in bed. Darin bagged Salem up. He couldn't bear the thought of throwing her in the trash like common garbage. No, she would have a proper burial. I was awakened with the news when Averi came and crawled in my bed crying that Salem was dead. I couldn't believe my ears. Not Salem. Surely this can't be so. But it was. When Ashton got up he went outside with his dad and dug the hole for her grave. Averi tucked in a note that said, "We will love you forever." And it's true. Salem will always be in our hearts. Rest in peace, sweet Salem girl.