Petunia's Life. Options

[Cat'sMom]

I want to thank everyone for your kind words. You really helped me feel better about loosing Petunia.
Of course I still miss her, I expected her to die of old age not pass away at 8 years old.
Since some have expressed an interest in how Petunia came to live with me I've decided to
post her story.

I believe it was in 2003 when my roommate and best friend and I found Petunia. My roommate noticed her being tossed around by some young boys and decided that we were taking her in.
Of course I agreed, but I wanted to make sure nobody saw us take the kitten, in case she belonged to one of the boys. Though, I consider my animals family, they are property and I was afraid we’d get into trouble for stealing.
We went into the back yard where Petunia had taken refuge from the boys, and I scooped her up into a jacket I had brought along with me and we hurried back inside. Originally Petunia was my friends cat, she was the one who named her Petunia. Inspired by the Harry Potter character but named after the flower instead.

My friend originally thought Petunia might be the runt of the litter, though she did grow to be the size of my other female cat Patchabie. We nicknamed her Nubbin, which means imperfect ear of corn. That’s what farmers call tiny corn and the nickname just stuck. It took a while, but Petunia learned to tolerate my other cats, Severus and Sam, though she hissed at Severus during their first meeting. She also learned to tolerate Patchabie when we took her in sometime later. (I’ve had a lot of strays in my time). We considered trying to find her another home, but our vet at the time convinced us to keep her. We noticed she had a habit of trying to nurse off of our shirts, usually on an arm while she was lying on our lap. Our vet said perhaps she had been weaned too soon.

She never really outgrew this, and would do it when she felt comfortable on my lap. After the death of my friend, due to her heart problem in 2004, I decided to keep Petunia. I had an offer from someone who went to college with my friend, who would have taken Petunia off my hands, but she was a nervous cat and only trusted my friend and I. I couldn't’ give her to anyone else knowing she’d be terrified. She moved 4 times with me and even survived a fire in one of my apartments, luckily all my animals survived that. One of the funniest memories of Petunia was when my friend and I put up a Christmas tree for the first time we were living together. My friend was searching everywhere for Petunia and asked if I’d seen her. Just then I noticed this little face peeking out from the branches of the tree.

She loved to curl up inside boxes and bags. Her favorite toy to play with, if she could snag one out of the package, was a q tip. She also had a fetish for chewing on fingernail files and buffers, after I’d used them. She liked the taste of my nails, and would actually go through my bag to find a nail file I’d recently used.

Petunia discovered on her own, how to drink from the faucets and would demand drinks from either the tub or the sink in the bathroom. Usually following me into the bathroom and hopping into the tub to wait for me to turn on the water. If I was in the tub, she’d go to the sink. Petunia would vibrate the base of her tail and squinch up her eyes as a greeting to me. She was also my computer buddy, choosing to nap on top of the monitor while it was on. Sometimes she’d dangle a paw in front of the screen that I’d have to move.

She would cry at my bedroom door, to get my attention, while I was on the computer in the livingroom. She’d be looking over her shoulder waiting for me to call her over for attention. I could get her to sit up on her back legs by wiggling my fingers over her head. She also enjoyed sleeping underneath her cat beds. Petunia would cry at my door when I went to bed, she wanted me to stay up with her.
I never got angry at her, because she usually settled down after I got up and went to the door once.
She was a lot of company, and the apartment is quiet without her here. Even with my other cats Severus Patchabie and my new kitten Daisy. No cat will ever be quite like Petunia.