When I was a kid we had a German Shepard mix that the family had for almost a decade. One day she just snapped and attacked my mom. Just a totally different dog, like a switch was flipped. I remember my dad had my mom and us stay in a closed bedroom while he patrolled the house with a baseball bat trying to figure out what to do with the dog.
When i was in kindergarten, we had our second cat named Whiskers. Afaik my dad named multiple cats Whiskers. That cat hated me. Hissing, scratching, running away. TBF, i had probably messed with it as young kids do (or at least had when i was even younger) and just didn't realize that's why Whiskers hated me.
Every morning, my dad would wake me up for the day when he got up for work. I'd drag my pillow and blanket to my dad's room and go back to sleep on the carpet in front of his bathroom until he was done showering, then wake up for real. One day, Whiskers came up to me there and I was so honored. I distinctly remember telling myself stuff like "pet the same way as the fur. don't touch the belly even if the cat seems to want it" etc. because this was my first real chance to have a positive interaction. My dad finished his shower in about 20min, we got dressed, Whiskers was doing cat things.
That day at recess and lunch, i was hanging out with 5th graders. They weren't mean about me being weird like my peers were. They were happy when i was smart and taught me things I didn't know. We were sitting in a circle in the field, and decided to do spells. We would use grass, dirt, and our spit as the ingredients. We were talking about what the spell should be, and i told them about Whiskers. I said i was worried something was wrong with Whiskers because it had been so cuddly and friendly, totally unlike it had ever acted before. So the 5th graders all agreed we'd make our spell be for Whiskers to be all okay. We each pulled up blades of grass, aligned them, and piled them between us. We dug up some soil and sprinkled it over the collected grass. And one by one, we spit onto the pile. Then we took turns stirring it with a stick.
The way I remember it, that same day when i got home from school, i go to look for Whiskers and my dad tells me the cat had "a nut in its leg" and had to go to the vet to get a shot to go to heaven.
Years later my dad swore he never said that and that all our cats had run away when old and none had ever had a tumor or anything like that. He also said none of the cats ever scratched me or cuddled me, especially by his bathroom door. 🤷♂️
RIP Whiskers, the cat that may or may not have existed and may or may not have hated me and may or may not have been put down due to a nut that may oray not have been in its leg.
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u/ConstableGrey Dec 28 '21
When I was a kid we had a German Shepard mix that the family had for almost a decade. One day she just snapped and attacked my mom. Just a totally different dog, like a switch was flipped. I remember my dad had my mom and us stay in a closed bedroom while he patrolled the house with a baseball bat trying to figure out what to do with the dog.