When It Comes Right Down to It...

Zach and I got married before my senior year of college (whenever I tell people that, I feel the need to add that that was totally not my intention or plan when I went away to school. I don't want people to think that I'm one of those kind of girls.) We had both been living in on-campus apartments where we were not allowed to spend the night at each other's places, light candles, drink, or have pets. So when we rented our first place, all we had in it for the first week were candles on the windowsills and beer in the fridge. As soon as possible when we got home from our honeymoon, we brought home an adorable, tiny, and very dirty kitten.

We got our kitty from a crazy cat lady in the city. This lady had dogs and cats everywhere. The three kittens that she had left were in a metal cage with nothing soft in it at all. They were jumping from wall to ceiling of the cage like terrified little SpiderCats while the dogs snipped and barked around them. We took home the girl kitty, who was so filthy that we thought she was entirely gray, only to have her white paws and chest revealed after a bath. After the first night we had her, we woke up eager to see how she was. We couldn't find her ANYWHERE. We had looked for probably an hour in our little one bedroom apartment and finally lifted up the recliner to find her snug as a bug underneath it.

We named her Kedzie after one of the streets that our college, North Park, is on.

...fast forward six years....

Kedzie is a bitch. There's really no nicer way to say it. She's twice the size of my mom's dog, still has all her claws, and uses them. On us. She waits around a corner and when you pass by either attacks your legs or jumps up as high as she can (which is about up to my chest) to scare the crap out of you. In her sweeter moments she'll climb up in my lap when I'm watching TV or reading a book and purr while I pet her, only to have a sudden mood change, freak out and attack me.
She's been sleeping at the foot of our bed lately and last night she sank her claws into my bare leg in the middle of the night. That is not the most pleasant way to wake up!

She's actually not too horrible with Isaac, mostly because he doesn't try to play with or even touch her very often, but she has given him a scratch or a scare a couple of times. The other day Spike had toddled off to his room and he suddenly started crying. Zach and I ran in to see what had happend and found a scared boy with a scared cat's claws stuck in his sleeve. I unhooked her from him and they both ran away terrified.

Zach has been wanting to get rid of Kedzie for a long time. Every time she attacks, he says, "Can we get rid of this thing yet?" It's true that she's brought us more irritation than anything else for a long time, but I'm a sentimental gal and couldn't imagine parting with the first pet we got together.
Nothing drastic happened to make me change my mind, but I finally relented and let Zach post an ad for Kedzie at work. Today a woman expressed interest in taking Kedzie home for her ex-husband. I'm not sure why, but that's not really my business I guess!

I have to admit, when Zach told me, I got a little teary. I'm not sure why about that either. As I try to make a "pro" and "con" list of keeping Kedzie, I can't think of anything to put in the "pro" list, other than maybe that I think it's good for kids to have pets. On the "con" side, there is her yucky litter and cat food that make keeping my kitchen floor clean nearly impossible; there's her hair shedding all over the place; there's friends who can't stay long because they're allergic to her; there's the scratches and bite marks; there's fear for our boys' safety; and there's being awakened in the middle of the night by horrible pain! I also think that if a real "cat person" were to take her, she'd probably have a happier life than she would with us.
For whatever reason, though, when it comes right down to it, I know I'll cry if I have to part with her. What would you do?