Another traumatic event from Upton involving animals was when my mother euthanized some of our pets. We were getting ready to move to New Jersey and we found out one of the cats we took care of had kittens. Mom, who always wanted to make a lesson out of things, explained we can’t take care of the kittens, and as responsible pet owners, we had to put them all to sleep. So she got some shrimp and put it on the gound, got the mother to start to eat it, gathered the eight one-week-old kittens around her and put a cup of liquid (I’m not sure what it was) next to them, and placed a large galvanized tub upside down over them and pushed dirt around the edges to seal them in. After about 30 minutes we opened it up to see them all dead inside. Mom now says she really regretted doing it. I wonder why my parents didn’t try to just give them away, take them to a shelter, or just set them free. Unlike my parents back then, I’ve always made an effort to spay my pets first thing. The image of those little dead kittens around their mother still haunts me today.

NEXT UP – Personal Obstacles