Linken the Cat Reunited with Original Owners

Sometimes being a mature adult and doing the right thing really sucks badly.

Last week, as I posted here, we took in a stray cat that a neighbor found, and over the last 9 days, we took care of him, named him Linken, and fell in love with the little guy.

I figured he was like many cats in Brunswick: tossed, dumped, abandoned. But I had to be responsible, and check for an owner. I ran an ad in today's Brunswick Citizen, figuring nobody would respond to it, and that would be that, he'd be our cat forever (or at least as long as he lived).

Well, somebody called tonight, and they described the kitty perfectly--it was undoubtedly their cat. The owners came up to the house and took him home.

It was really hard to give him back because we were all so emotionally invested in this cat already. Afterall, we had named him, taken him to the vet to get his shots, given him a bath, combed and brushed him, spent countless hours playing with him with all the new cats toys we bought for him, slept with him curled up in our arms at night, and given him lots of love and petting and attention.

But it turns out that a 3 year old little girl had been crying her eyes out over the last 2 weeks, inconsolable about her lost kitty. She had even made him a Christmas stocking, hoping he would return home. So, he had to go back to his original family--it was the right thing.

The cat's name is actually Lucky. Kind of funny that the name my son picked for the kitten--Linken--has some of the same letters and sounds in it as the name Lucky. And I guess he is a lucky cat, because unlike many cats in this town, and in many other towns like it, he is loved. Obviously the owners were doing something right with him because he is such a great cat.

I offered to pay for the cat to keep him, or to take Lucky back later if they decide they don't want him or can't care for him properly anymore, but I don't think that's going to happen, so I have to give him up and move on. Writing this piece will be a part of this process of moving on.

I know cats are not as important as people, but for me, they are indeed like family members. I will never have a baby in this life (my son is my stepson and has been my stepson since he was age 9; due to infertility and other circumstances, I'm fairly certain not ever going to be a bio-mom), but when I was holding the kitten it felt like I would never need a baby--cats are my kids, and I loved that cat.

So, this sadness I feel now is not equivalent to the sadness a person would feel giving up or losing a child, but it hurts a lot for me nonetheless. Cats are also like kids for me in that you can't ever replace one cat with another; each one is unique and distinct. So the little empty spot I will now have in my heart for Linken/Lucky will remain there for a long time, probably forever. Because I was once a 4 year old little girl whose beloved kitten ran away; I was once a little girl who cried over her lost cat for 9 days, and for many more days after that. In fact, 2008 is the year I turn 34, so it's kind of silly of me to mourn the loss of that cat I had briefly back when I was 4, but it still feels sad and empty to me three decades later.

I'm glad a different little girl will never go through that sort of emotional pain. She got her Lucky back. And that's the right thing. I just wish it wasn't so hard to let little Lucky go.