New Editions to Our Family

So, here is the story...After we moved into our beautiful new home, we had some unexpected visitors. The four legged variety...Yes, that's right a mouse.

Heather was getting something underneath the cabinet in the kitchen and she let out a blood curdling scream. As you can imagine, I was fairly alarmed and rushed in from the living room to see what was the matter. She exclaimed that she had seen a mouse and was pointing at the cupboard door. I thought that she was seeing things, after all it is a brand new house, so I opened up the door and found the end of a plastic bag. It looked suspiciously like a mouse's tail. Slightly amused, I called Heather back into the kitchen from the top of the couch where she had perched, still screaming. When she returned to the kitchen, we opened the door again. This time a mouse leaped from the shopping bag and scampered under the range.

After getting advice and hearing stories from virtually everyone we talked to that had had a mouse story, I ended up killing 3 mice, two at once in a glue trap, and one in a snap-trap.

In order to prevent future infestations, Heather and I determined we needed a cat. So began our search for a new family member. We went to Saving Grace Animal Shelter, outside of Roseburg and found an energetic, vibrant little kitten we named Gracie.

Of course we immediately fell in love with this little one, even though we both had not claimed any affinity for cats. We found ourselves buying cat toys, wondering which food to buy her and feeling incredibly lonesome when we were not around her. She was so full of life, fun and affectionate.

We only had her for a couple of days when we noticed that Gracie's energy level had dramatically decreased and she needed to be around us much more than we were used to. We thought that she might need a friend to keep her company during the day. So, we returned to the animal shelter and adopted a beautiful Siamese mix kitten that we eventually dubbed "Macie".

After we brought Macie home, Gracie stopped drinking and eating, preferring to be held. Her gait began to be very unsteady. She cuddled with me for hours in my chair, content to be near me, but mewing pitifully as though she was in pain. Heather and I immediately called the vet and brought Gracie in the same night. He told us that he was going to keep her overnight because her internal electrical system wasn't working properly. Concerned, we agreed

The next day was Monday and I had to travel to Medford for a reading conference; Heather taught in her classroom. Even though we were both away, our thoughts were still on our beloved Gracie kitty. Around noon, Heather received a phone call from the veterinarian. Gracie had not made it. She died at the vet's office from a form of kitten leukemia. She was with us eight days.

We still had one adorable kitten at home. Despite the heartbreak of Gracie's death, Macie found a special place of affection in our hearts. She was healthy, playful and extremely loving. However, our plan of having two kittens around reached it's fullfillment with another addition, our other kitten Trudy. Now, they are able to keep each other company during the day and hopefully they will be able to keep the mouse population down to a minimum at our house!