Win $5,000!

Purina Yesterday's News Cat Litter is having a 'Do-Gooder' essay contest. The only eligibility requirement is that you must own a cat. All you do is complete a super duper short survey and submit a 300 word essay. If you win, $15,000 will go to a local charity of your choice such as a Recycling Center or Animal Shelter, and $5,000 cash will go to you! EVERYONE eligible should enter this contest because one tree will be planted for each entry.

Seeing this contest reminded me of the important role a cat has played recently in my family's life. Unfortunately, the cat does not live with us anymore, so our story is not eligible for this promotion. So, I've decided to share our family's story here (but after you read our story, don't forget to go and submit your essay at http://www.yesterdaysnews.com/DoGooder/):

Cats! I love them. My husband….about as allergic to them as one could possibly get. We have talked about our kids having pets in their lives before, but the conversation usually ends up with a couple of beta fish as the solution.

As luck would have it (my luck, not my husband’s), a beautiful cat appeared on our back doorstep Super Bowl Sunday 2007. We left her alone hoping she would return home, but after a few days she had made it clear she had no intentions of leaving. We began feeding her, and my beautiful blue eyed baby boy fell in love. He would sit on the cold kitchen floor staring out at her through the sliding glass doors. Sometimes they would play games together by putting their hand and paw up to the glass and moving them around…it was too cute.

Over time we decided to accept full responsibility for the cat since she obviously wasn’t going anywhere. My husband agreed that she could live on our back deck and could come in to the garage during the winter months and when it rained. We took her to the veterinarian and had her checked out, and gave her a name: Callie.

I would like to add in here that I know my husband loved the cat. I would not let her step paw into our home, but Chris would let her walk through the home from the garage to the back deck all the time. I have also seen him let her in to eat the Cheerio’s off of the floor. And, let’s not forget about me catching him on multiple occasions talking to her on the back porch as he was grilling. Yep. He will deny it to his death, but he loved that cat, and that makes me smile.

My son Alex could not get enough of her either. He played with her every day. Every morning he would wake up and feed her fresh water and food (okay, most of the time it was with mom’s help). But, Callie made me realize how much responsibility my one and a half year old could actually handle. She helped me to see Alex’s full potential. He was absolutely capable of getting out a bowl, scooping out some food, and carrying it over to the door…and he loved doing it!

Callie loved us too. She showed us her love by bringing a bird, mole, squirrel, snake, and lizard to our doorstep. Ugh. Thanks Callie!
We had Callie for almost a year, but one day our doorbell rang and a couple said they thought we had their cat. It turned out that Callie’s real name was Tiger. Tiger had lived with this family for eight years until they moved. Tiger must have gotten turned around in her new neighborhood and gotten lost. After Tiger had gone missing, it snowed, and one of their daughters had written ‘Goodbye Tiger’ in the snow. How sad!

We were so happy to have been able to return Tiger to her real family! And we were so lucky to have had Tiger (Callie) in our lives for the time that we did, which ended up being over a year! She helped me recognize Alex’s potential, and she helped teach him to love, care, and help be responsible for others. (This was good training, as Alex was blessed with a baby sister shortly before Tiger left us!) Thanks Tiger!