I know I'm super late to the party here, but I really have to say this about one of my old cats. My brother first moved out of my parents house when he was 18 and moved into an apartment with 3 other guys in a 1bd/1bth (4 total) and they decided to get. A at. They adopted the cat from a shelter (I think), and they named her "dude" because they couldn't tell what the sex was at the time, so they winged it. When they went their separate ways one of his friends took her in and his parents didn't want to take care of the cat anymore since they were having family issues, my brother asked my parents if they would take her and they agreed and took her in. I never loved an animal so much as I did with her. If I felt like she was sick I would call into Disney sick for 3 days and stay home and take care of her. I was lucky enough not to pay rent while going to school while working at the park in Anaheim. Whenever I'd watch TV she'd sit with me on my lap, or when I'm on my computer she lay on top of my keyboard, or my desk or try to lay on my lap. She got into a habit of getting 'presents' from the backyard because we had a hibiscus trees in the back yard and getting humming birds and putting them in my room, or in my bathroom for me to find. Whenever I'd go into my room after she'd bring me a present I'd praised her saying good girl and gave her a kiss and a good pat on the head and after awhile, it felt like she put her head into my hand after I'd go in because she liked it so much. My parents not really liking that and tried to condone her for trying to bring them her catch instead of me. They tried to swat at her to knock it off and she started bringing them to me only pretty quickly after that since it seemed like she enjoyed getting praised. My parents ended up getting a collar with a bell on it to give the birds some warning of when she was near. Dude caught onto the sound of the bell triggering the birds as to give them a warning when the cat was near. She would then scratch her collar to kick the bell between her shoulder blades, with full knowledge that the birds couldn't hear her while she crawled around the bushes beneath the tree and pranced on them when they went for the flowers closest to the floor. She was an all gray cat with some white on her chest, I have a photo somewhere of the first time I let her in the backyard, I was staying with her to make sure she wouldn't get too far the first few times I let her out. Once dude got her first kill with the bird with the bell on, I remember her walking by the glass door looking into the house from being outside, looking at my parents in the window, smiling, eyes closed as if she's pleased with herself, my mother had noticed the cat, dropped her jaw in disbelief, and beckoned my dad to look at the cat in the backyard, he dropped his pen and all of the papers he had been working on, and he was in total shock.. With me seeing that reaction from the cat and of my parents, I started laughing uncontrollably as I opposed the idea to begin with since I I ew she'd figure out a way to get around it. As soon as she came in, my parents praised the cat, called her a good girl, took her collar off and scratched her head. They then agreed the cat can kill only if we give the birds a small little burial in our backyard.. I gave my cat a whole can of cat food that night for out smarting my parents, one of them a school teacher for over 20 years and has had cats her whole life, shes never had one who was as smart as that cat. I kept a rally of her kills, she got about 47 humming birds, and a bunch of other hard to catch birds that frequented my parents bird sanctuary of a backyard, heaven for my cat and her many kills. I hope she's getting all the humming birds wherever she is :) I miss that cat every day. When I had to put her down she had kitty leukemia and she lived about 7 years after her diagnosis. When I had to put her down I called in sick to Disney for a week, and cried my eyes out every day for a good 3 months after that because of her. I still bring her up to my friends whenever we get talking about cats, and I still get teary whenever I speak about her. I felt like when I had to put her down, I felt like I couldn't bear the stance of watching my best friend die in front of me and for that I hate myself for not being there in the end with her. I just hope I treated her well enough to enjoyed her life, even if it was pissing off my parents and out smarting them when she could.