Tiffin...A Love Story

I've been a dog lover all my life. I grew up with dogs and had the best one ever named, Whiskey. I still think about her years later though she has been gone for many years.

I was not a cat person. I didn't dislike cats. People who can look at little kittens and hate are evil, sorry. I just never thought to own one myself.

Then one day fifteen years ago my friend, Karen, started feeding a stray cat who wandered around her apartment complex. I'm sure you've heard this story before, it happens all too often, the cat ended up being pregnant. Six little kittens were born. At the time I lived in an apartment myself that did not allow pets.

But the first time I saw Tiffin, a little tiger-striped kitten, I fell in love. She was tiny and oh so precious. Karen could tell I was weakening every time I saw the little kitten. Pretty soon I was agreeing to take a kitten I couldn't have.

She was so small when I brought her home even at six weeks I was always afraid of stepping on her. From the very beginning she was too cute for words. She would crawl onto my chest and lay there and purr. I had just returned from a trip to Ireland and my tour guide was a wonderful old Irish woman named Tiffin and thus Tiffy received her name.

I've never known a cat who loved her name more than Tiffy. We'd call her Tiffers, Tiff, Tiffy. She loved them all and knew every nickname.

Eventually I got suckered into taking her brother, too, but that's another story.

Tiffin never did get very big, weighing at the most about 7 pounds. Over the years she did so many cute things and was a wonderful companion. I am sure we all know how much we end up loving our pets.

Well, now, nearly fifteen years later, my little Tiffy is sick. I won't go into the gory details but suffice it to say it might be cancer and I'll likely be forced to make an extremely tough decision. She's given me many years of love and though I am not ready to say goodbye, I wouldn't want her to suffer.

So, whatever happens with Tiffin, I'll never forget that tiny little kitten who stole my heart.