Good-Bye Roxy

Roxy-September -December 2010 aka "Foxy Roxy"

When we left Thursday to head to Greer both Abby and Roxy were outside. We left at 2:45 that afternoon. When Mrs. Katie came to feed them at 5:00, she couldn't find Roxy. Until we got home Sunday after Christmas at Mrs. Katie's house, Roxy had not been seen. So as soon as I got out of the truck I started calling her, just knowing that she would up come. Kevin said that he didn't hear anything in the backyard and for me to check the front. I walked out on the front porch and called her. I looked over the railing of the porch and found her. Well, of course I just started crying; I wanted to find Roxy so bad, but not this way. She was half way buried under the leaves, and our sad news was that she was dead. Thankfully, she was all in one piece and we found her body to be able to bury her and know for sure that she was gone, and we wouldn't have to not know. We don't know if another animal got her or Kevin had put out rat poison under the house, if she was able to get to that. We will just never know. But we are also sure that it happened the day we left, maybe even before we left, which is why Mrs. Katie could never find her; she was hidden good. Abby also didn't know where she was or she would have of shown Mrs. Katie.

As you can imagine it was a very sad ending to Christmas. I have blamed myself for letting her out. She was inside with me in the house until lunch time and then she wanted to go outside. But I don't there was anything anyone could do for her. And those of you that have lost a pet and have lost one suddenly you know what it's like to deal with. Kevin took her off somewhere to bury her. I just feel so bad for her because she was so little, I just hope she didn't have to suffer long.

And poor Abby,she knows what has happened. She was playing with her toy that she got for Christmas, and went outside with Kevin to get wood to build a fire, and Kevin said she was sniffing around where Roxy was. For the rest of the night, Abby didn't play with her toy, she was just laying around. Kevin said, "I think she is grieving for Roxy". Which of course, animals grieve too, just like people. Even though Roxy would bother her, I know she misses her.

A few of Roxy's favorite things to do:

-She loved the hall bathroom. She would play in the trash, hop in the tub and try to catch the water drops as they would roll down. Her favorite toy was the stopper for the tub.

-She loved to jump and flip over the bars under the chairs in the kitchen and run and slide.

-Every time she would drink water, she would put one paw in the water, and then once she was done, she would bring her paw out and lick it clean.

-She had this one blanket that she loved; it had tassels and she would not play with them, but would suck on them; like it was her pacey or something.

-She loved to sneak up and jump on Abby when Abby wasn't looking.

-Her and Abby would have the best time playing and wrestling.

-When you would pet her, she would have the loudest motor and was so sweet.

-She loved to be outside playing under the deck and running around.

-She loved to sit in front of the fire.

-She loved to jump inside any box or bag.

-And of course she loved to get in the Christmas tree

It was a very quiet, calm, and subdued in the McCormick household last night. I wasn't able to sleep much last night. Every time I would try to lay down, I would start thinking about Roxy. I think I ended up going to bed around 11:30 but I was back up at 4:30 this morning. However, about 7:00 I laid back down and slept to about 10. She was a sweet little kitten, and so full of life. She did some funny things. We took care of her the best we could in the short time we had her. We don't know why God chose this time to bring her to kitty heaven, but He had some reason we don't know. But we won't be getting another kitten for awhile. They take a lot of work and with Madalyn coming in a few months, things will get busy again. But I think even Kevin will miss having little Roxy around to some degree.

A little background on Roxy: she was born under Mrs. Katie's back porch. We took her to the vet and found out she had kitty aids (which had been passed on to her by her mom; meaning the other 3 kittens had it to. Which my niece Kayla, has one of the other kittens and the other 2 are still with their mom under Mrs. Katie's porch). Which just like human aids, effects her immune system. A cat with this can live a very healthy life up to 5 years. She was only a danger if she bit another cat, which we didn't have one, so that didn't matter. So, since she wasn't a danger to Abby or me, we decided to keep her. We would take care of her and do the best we could. We didn't know how long she would live before getting sick, but we decided for now we would keep her. We just didn't know that we would only have her for a very short time period. However, I don't regret not getting her, even though it's very hard to loose her, she had a very good life and was well loved and taken care of for the 3 months she lived.

This was the first day I brought Roxy home. Oct.31st

She loved to play with string or anything she could find.

She loved playing with the tassles on Kevin's sleep bag.

At first, this was her favorite spot to nap.

She discovered the fan this night. She would take her paw and try to touch it.

She gave up trying to touch it, but was still amazed by it.


She loved, loved to go round and round on her scratching post.


Our Christmas Card this year; how quickly things can change.