Rosie

She is 17 years old. And she has an attitude. She also thinks she is entitled to have some of everything we eat, whether it is part of our meal or our snacks.

She is a cat and her name is Rosie. Because of health issues, her owner had to move to an assisted living facility and could not take Rosie with her. Her owner’s sister wanted to take her, but that wasn’t feasible as she is allergic to cats. So unless a forever home was found for Rosie, she was going to be euthanized.

My son saw a picture of Rosie and he showed it to me as he related her story. My son said he had been asked if he knew of anyone who would take Rosie in.

His reply was, “Well, I know of someone who lost their kitty, and if she thought she was saving a kitty’ s life....”

The person he knew was me. In August of last year, I lost my kitty, Holly, who had apparently been poisoned. After her death, I didn’t think I was ready to have another cat. But I couldn’t get Rosie out of my mind. So a few hours later I called my son and said I’d take Rosie.

That was in October. Since we had plans to spend Thanksgiving with my brother in Iowa, I said we couldn’t take Rosie until we returned from our trip.

So on a cold December day, Rosie came to make her home with us. Once we had everything situated, it was time to meet Rosie face-to-face. But she wasn’t about to come out of her carrier. It finally came down to disassembling it so we could get her out.

She sniffed the air, then squirmed in my arms indicating she wanted me to put her down. I watched her as she walked around the living room, sniffing every piece of furniture. That was the last I saw of her for six hours.

It took some time, but we slowly got acquainted.

I’ve had cats around all my life. But Rosie is definitely different. She thinks she has to inspect everything we eat or drink.

So far, I’ve caught her drinking my V-8 juice, sampling a dish of sour cream and salsa, begging for some potato salad, eating macaroni salad and trying to snitch stuffed peppers.

I bought plants for my garden. Before I could get them planted, Rosie ate the green pepper, winter squash and cabbage plants. Every day I wonder what she will do next.

All in all though, Rosie is a lot of company. She definitely makes life interesting. For however long she is with us, we will try to give her a good home where she will always be well loved and cared for.