It was a sad day in the Cianfichi/Achuff apartment on Sunday as we said goodbye to Hailey, Adam's cat. Adam bought Hailey shortly after he broke his ankle his junior year in college. A few months later, I met Hailey when I went to a fraternity party at Adam's house. She was cute, but I'm not a cat person and I left the party wondering why a college fraternity guy had a little kitten. Over the next year, I watched the poor cat get locked in the bedroom during parties, fed weird food and given all sorts of odd alcoholic concoctions. She was the only female in a house full of messy, dirty boys. No wonder she tried to run away 3 times.
When Adam took his job in Baltimore and moved into his own apartment, Hailey was left for weeks at a time while he was away on business trips. He got calls from the management office saying that she would sit by the door and cry. He had her de-clawed after she destroyed a desk chair and one of my bags because she was lonely and bored.
Then, the other animal entered the picture. From the beginning, Tobey was fascinated by the cat. He would run around the apartment looking for her, and then terrorize her when he did find her. She would, however, get back at him by standing outside of his cage and pawing at him through the bars. When we moved into our new apartment, the complex changed the regulations regarding pets, so we thought about it and decided to attempt to find a better home for the cat.
On Sunday, Adam dropped Hailey off with a really nice family that lives in a big, beautiful house near his parents. Even though he was pretty upset about it, he said that the family was incredibly excited about their new pet and had already purchased her all sorts of toys and treats. She will certainly be spoiled and get tons of attention, and that makes both of us feel much better about the decision.
