Tonight we said goodbye to Pumpkin, one of our furry little four-legged children. We adopted Pumpkin from a friend in October. He soon warmed up to us. He loved being outside, especially in our yard, but was almost always waiting for us at the door or on the porch when we came home from work.

In the evening he would climb up on the sofa behind us. He would often knead the sofa behind us or knead us. We called it his “dance.” When Frida sat down on the sofa with us Pumpkin would almost inevitably show up moments later.

Frida did not immediately accept Pumpkin. She growled at him when he came near her feeder or into our bedroom, but she eventually accepted him as part her pack. One afternoon when Pumpkin was in the front yard and started getting into an “argument” with another cat, Frida ran immediately…