Our cat

When Catelyn was born, our cat, Uri (ur-ee), wasn't sure that we made a good choice.  As a matter of fact, he would lower his ears and try to cover his head when she cried.  Or, he would just run off.

As she grew, he became more and more interested in her....until she began crawling.  Then he felt it was his objective to get away - and FAST!  By the time she could walk, he still tried to get away from her by any means possible....

But then, one day, he began greeting her the second we'd get in the house.

We'd walk in the door, and he'd come running up and rub up against her, and she'd lay a hard pat into his back (at which point I'd remind her to be gentle or nice), and then she'd do it again, this time saying 'Niiiiice' as she pushed her hand down the length of his back. 

He didn't even care.  He loved her.

During our hospital stay with Catelyn, we asked my husband's parents to pick up the cat and take him to their home so that he wouldn't feel too lonely.

To protect Catelyn, we had baby gates up at the top and bottom of our stairwell.  The cat could maneuver around them pretty easily, but he was certainly aware of their presence. 

When he was brought back to our home, following Catelyn's death, we had already taken down the gates.  You could clearly see him trying to figure things out when he started to run up the stairs and realized that there was nothing blocking his way.  He ran up and down a couple of times.  We figured he was trying to find his sweet friend.

The final time, he ran up a couple of steps, turned and looked at us, and then slowly came back down.  It was heart-wrenching.

I know he still misses her.

Today, I went into Catelyn's room for a brief moment as I looked for something I had misplaced months ago.  Uri came in right behind me.  When I left the room, he wouldn't leave.  He sat by her crib side, looking around.

He stayed in there for about 20 minutes.  When he finally left her room, he came and laid on me. 

His poor little kitty heart is still broken, too.