I stopped in at the SPCA on the way home from a friend's house one day to shop for a cat. It was time for me to have another one, since it's been a year since my last one. This cat picked me when I went inside. She was a mature mother cat that I was not interested in having for obvious reasons. Plus I did not find her that attractive. She was constantly meowing as I continued to look around at all the other cats. I chatted with her saying "I cannot take you, as you are a female. The receptionist assured me that she was spayed. I decided to hold her for a moment as she was so wanting me to take her. I was pretty sure I would not be interested just the same. The way she kissed me and purred and made so much fuss over me, I could not put her back. She came home with me that day. I had her for ten years after that. She was two years old when I bought her. She was a wonderful friend, loyal and true. Twlve-year-old Callie wanted to go outside the night of November 20, 2002, so I let her out. Little did I know it would be the last time I would see her. I checked to see if she wanted to come in before I went to bed. It was not unusual for her to be out all night, so I went to bed. When she was not there in the morning waiting to come in, I knew she was not coming back, for she was like clockwork. If she went out at night, she was always waiting in the morning. I called the Humane society and asked if a calico cat has been taken there by any chance. None were admitted. I checked the woods, under barns etc., and never did find the body. I put the announcement on the radio. I cried myself to sleep that night once realizing this was all true. Callie NEVER stayed away more than a day. A cat like that was found, and I was contacted five days later. I went to check it out the next day, and it turned out to not be her. This cat (I also called her Callie - she was an exact duplicate of my first Callie)needed a home, so I took her. She had 4 kittens on April 9, 2003, and then two months after that, she ended up sick for some reason. She was urinating and defacating on the beds and I thought she was jealous of the kittens. I used to get cross and threaten to give her another home. I read up as much as I could on animal behaviours and solutions to help correct them, and decided to cope with this issue, giving her lots of attention, as I really thought she was jealous. Then the awful day came when she started to vomit. She brought up June bugs, and I figured she just ate too much and got sick. She went outside after that and was out all night. I got her to come inside the next morning and she was hardly moving. She started to vomit some more, and then just keeled over on her side in pain. I knew something was very wrong and took her straight to the vet. She was put on fluids and kept in for the night. I called the next day, and the veternarian said she seemed to be worse that morning, so I came by to see her. She was all jerking just like we do when we are falling asleep. I stayed with her and petted her for a bit. She was kneading on the table when I was petting her and talking to her. The veternarian said, "Now that's true pet love when you see that. she really loves you!" She was not purring. She was so weak. The doctor said that it did not look good. She advised we could keep her on fluids, but not to expect her to improve much and it may be best to put her down. I did not want to do that without knowing if she could recover or not. She said that it looks like she may have gotten poisoned, but that the blood work would be the way to tell for sure. So I ordered up a series of blood tests and such, and then I went to work. I called at noon, as the results were to be in by then, and I was told the awful news. Her kidneys were shutting down totally, and her enzyme levels were 7 times higher than normal. She was in much pain by this time, and I was advised on what would be the humane thing at this time. I left work to go down to sign the forms to have Callie euthanized. I wished I had chosen to stay with her during those final moments after being there earlier and witnessing how happy she was to see me. I was afraid of what I might see, and chose not to stay with her. I did not want to take the chance of seeing her wince and gasp and possibly suffer a heart attack right before my eyes. I really did not know what to expect. Had I known that she would just go quietly to sleep, I most likely would have stayed. I know it was a moment of sefishness, but I just could not bear to see any kind of reaction that may have come with administering the death serum. Plus I did not want the last memory of her to possibly be a scary one for me. I was pretty much out of it by this time, and just wanted to go home. The receptionist said that the doctor will do it after she is finished with a surgery she was in the middle of, and that I could be with Callie if I wanted. I chose not to be with her. The one thing I do regret is that I worried more about my own fright, and never gave enough thought to how I could have made her so much happier just by being with her at the end. That is something I can never change now, and I will always wish I thought more about comforting her - especially since I witnessed her happiness earlier that day. I got home at 1:45 PM. I have a clock with different cats on it in my kitchen. It is one of those battery clocks. It stopped at 2:03 PM. that day. I was so blue all that evening, and as I was driving home from getting some groceries, Stairway to Heaven came on the radio, and I immediately thought of Callie. I do not know why to this day, but every time I hear that song, I think of my Callie. Maybe it is her way of telling me she took the stairway to Heaven to get to Rainbow Bridge. I made a promise that I would take care of Callie's kittens. My niece has one. She treats cats with royalty, so I was quite happy to let her have one. The other three are with us. Mine is April, One of my sons owns Fluffy, and my other son owns Charlie.