RIP Pumpkin 1993-2010

Oh, my sister. For over eighteen years, how I loved you so

Pumpkin was our cat, but to me she was more than our cat, she was also my younger sister. We found her at our doorstep when she was just a kitten. I was two years old back then, and just barely old enough to tell a human apart from a cat.

From the beginning of my memory, she was always there. She was first taken care of by my oldest sister. Pumpkin was usually kept in the garage when my dad still lived with us. Sometimes when she got out, she would run away. But she would always come back eventually.

Later on, we had her living outside most of the time, as you can see from this picture.
She always loved being outside...
Eventually she started to get old enough that we thought it was best that she lived inside from then on.

Those last years were the ones I remember the most easily, in the most vivid memory. During those years she would rely on me for food, water, and a place to sleep, and I would provide all of those for her, becuase she was my little sister, and I was her older brother.

During 2009 or 2010, she had gone to the vet to get a check-up, becuase we knew she was having problem, becuase sometimes she would meow real loudly for no apparent reason, and she also had a hard time keeping her food down.

From that visit, we had found out that she had dementia, and limb cancer. If I remember correctly, the visit was after I left my hometown, where she still was.

It hurt me when I heard that she had dementia, becuase I always heard that dementia is like only having past memories, and everyday would be like waking up in the future, confused about what you missed.
My only regret was that I had to leave her before she died.
I can only imagine that if that is what dementia is like, then the past six months had to have been a living hell for her, becuase I wans't there, and my stuff was all packed away in boxes.

I say this becuase I was always there for her, the person she could rely on most. It breaks my heart to know that she went six months waking up every morning, possibly looking for me, wondering where me and my stuff was...
Right now I have tears in my eyes becuase this is hard to think about. It always hurts me to think about this

Thankfully, my mom was always there.

Anyways, she was getting worse, and we thought it would be better that she not suffer any longer, so we had her put down on December 18, 2010. And we had her cremated.

RIP, Pumpkin, October 31, (1992, 1993, or 1994, I don't remember...) to December 28, 2010

You will always be remembered and missed, and you will always have a special place in my heart forever