Ron,

Sorry for your loss. Pets become like family members in our household, only they are welcome to stay as long as they like.

I had a cat once that hated me to death. I can't say that I don't know why because I do. My wife always would accuse me of mistreating the cat, which I really didn't do. This cat would find all kinds of ways to ambush me.

One day I was napping on the sofa seated, head bobbing and the cat jumped up from behind, stuck his claws in my temples and was hanging from my head. Needless to say I was in a great deal of pain. I immediately woke from my slumber, crabbed the cats paws with both my hands and instinctively moved quickly in a forward motion causing the cat to fly upside down thru the air, it then hit the wall by the front door and scattered off. I was screaming at the top of my lungs because I still didn't know what the heck was going on. Of course my wife just happened to walk thru the door at that instant and saw the whole thing. Try and explain that one.

Well needless to say that cat and I became adversaries in a fun way and I miss it to death even though he hated me with a passion.

I still can't figure out if the cat or me got the last laugh. Christmas day about four years ago the cat was really sick. I had gotten a Karioki machine as a gag gift. As I was singing"I heard it thru the grape vine" the cat went into convulsions. He died in my arms nipping and fussing at me. My wife still blames me for that. Hid the Karioki machine from me and told me not to ever sing around the animals, of which we have many.

I'm sleeping a lot better these days , but I sure do miss that cat.

Hope that somehow makes you feel better. I feel like crap, think I'll get a beer. Unfortunately, it is now safe to wander thru the night in my house.