4 years ago today we adopted Katie.  When they brought her into the little room at the Humane Society to meet us she totally ignored us.  "She hasn't been outside in 5 days" said the shelter worker, as Katie stared out the window.  "We'll take her" said my wife, and off to our vet we went.  Despite her soiled hind end and awful smell the vet pronounced her healthy.  On the way out the secretary suggested "You can give her a bath" as the foul smell wafted through the lobby.  So home we went.

I quickly ran our boy Freddie across the street to the neighbors and we went to work scrubbing the filth off Katie.  After her bath we put her on the carpet and she spent the next 5 minutes pushing herself around the room with her back legs with her front legs collapsed so she could itch her body.  We thought she might be mentally off or something, but later learned she just thought it felt good.

My wife and I spent the next 5 days living on separate levels of the house, one of us with Freddie and one of us with Katie.  Finally the day came we were allowed to introduce them so we went separately to a local park.  Freddie and Katie began to sniff, Katie really wanted to sniff Freddie (which he didn't like) and it ended in a mess of snarling growling and wrestling.  So off the an animal behaviorist we went, and things fortunately improved pretty quickly.

Katie quickly adjusted to her new life following us around the us and snuggling in our laps as soon as we sat down.  She discovered the bunnies and squirrels in the yard and spent hours and hours chasing them.  She really learned to love her walks and bounced like a spring on her back legs when you asked her if she wanted to go for a walk.  We learned she is allergic to bee stings, but that she REALLY liked cheese.  We learned that Katie wasn't 10 as the shelter had said but 5 or 6.  A genetic test showed she had a little bit of Jack Russell in her (explains the bouncing).  Shy at first Katie quickly became more outgoing, Dr. McReynolds joked that the 2 days she spent at SCVIM was expensive socialization.

While recovering from surgery in bed Katie spent every moment with me, she even skipped her walks for several days.  She was really bonded to my wife and I.

At the end of August 2010 Katie developed a light cough, the cough became pneumonia.  After spending the night at SCVIM Katie clearly wasn't doing well.  Dr. McReynolds summoned my wife and I and while visiting with her she stopped breathing.  Dr. McReynolds helped her transition to the other side while we told her how much we love her.

Happy Birthday Katie we miss you!