Sunday, August 12, 2007

The One Who Came Before


My momma's all sad now. This picture isn't of Jake, though he looks just like him. This is Sundance and he's passed over to the Rainbow Bridge. His story is at http://whatdidyoueat.typepad.com/what_did_you_eat/. After reading Sundance's story and then Tara's blog here http://taraprincessmeezer.blogspot.com/ she's sad for the loss these families experienced and that reminds her of the one that came before me. Her name was Katie. Mom just tried to use the scanner on the printer for the first time with no luck. Tired of struggling with it, she decided to write without the precious picture of Katiekins. This is her story:

Many many years ago when Kali was my only cat, I found the kitten who would be Katie while taking out the trash from my apartment. Looking down I found this half dead little baby kitten. She was the color of dirt, covered with fleas, ear mites, ants and mucous covered her eyes and ran from her nose. Overcome with a feeling of dread, I picked her up. My problem was that I was only allowed the one cat on my pet lease and yet I'd been given a responsibility to help this precious living thing out.

Later that afternoon at the vet's I started to object when the vet refereed to me as mommy. Deciding to keep my mouth shut, I knew I resolved not to get attached to this small specimen of a Russian Blue kitten. My plan was to raise her until she was healthy enough to find a home. She was negative for both FeLV/FIV and the ailments went away with loving care. Not able to find her a home, I finally drove her to San Francisco one and a half hours away because they agreed to take her into the no-kill shelter. Giving her up was giving up a family member, because of course I'd become attached to the little girl. The next morning when she wasn't there to greet me and follow me around the house, I lost it. I called up the apartment management office and asked if there wasn't a way that I could have two cats on my lease. I had decided to move if they wouldn't let me keep her. Loving Katie was more important than packing up an apartment and moving. The manager's assistant gave me good news. There wasn't a limit of animals I could have on my pet lease. Since I already had a pet deposit on file, then I was allowed a second cat.

What had I done to Katie? I hung up the phone and called the shelter. No, she hadn't been adopted out yet. And no, they couldn't put a hold on her until I could get there. Jumping in my car, I flew up there to the shelter. When I found my baby in her cage she was acting like a wild animal. She was so pissed off that she wouldn't stop howling. As I reached for her, a volunteer warned me "Watch out for that one, she bites." Sensing my presence she snuggled into my side.

The poor thing took a day to get back into our old routines. My heart dissolved at the sight of her. She was a special one. I used to tell her how much I loved her every day. I knew that she wouldn't be with me for long. I'd thank her for joining me life and I would tell her that I understood that she was a temporary gift. Three years later she was sick. I took her to the hospital at 1 am. It was her kidneys. The next day at my vet's I was holding her while he injected her with the lethal dose of sleep medicine. Her suffering was over. That same afternoon, I went to the local SPCA and picked out Tyler.

19 comments:

Lux said...

Bless your heart. We're so glad you went back for Katie and that you had several loving years together before it was time for her to go.

Gretchen said...

Awww, Tyler, that was a lovely story of Katie. You are so blessed to have a good bean with a good heart.

Hugs...G

Mosaic Cats said...

That just broke our hearts.
Wide Open.

Shilgiah the Cat said...

My mom's eye's are leaking. What a wonderful mom you have for getting Katie and now you Tyler. Thanks for sharing that precious story.

The Cat Realm said...

We are very sad about Sundance too. All leaky eyes and stuff.
But we will still have a party...
We are having a birthday party for our nomss friend Lucas. His birthday is Monday and he will be two years old!
Please come over AND bring your nomss friend with you!
And we can all have a pawful of nip in memory of Sundance.
Karl and Anastasia

MISS PEACH ~(^.^)~ said...

Such a precious gift of love spread around between you Tyler,the ties to your before kitty Katie and your sweet beanmommy. Life is so good at times. we should be counting all of our blessings each day.
Thank you for your visit...you are a sweet friend and I treasure you:)

michico*Adan*Lego-小芥*阿丹*樂高 said...

I am so sorry we lost one of our friends.

Tara said...

Mom's cryin... you story is so sweet, good for you for going back. Three years, just like Baby. Mom got me two days later...

They will always love the ones that came before, and they will always love us more because of it....

Purrs...
Tara
PS We live 1 1/2 hours away from SF too...

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

The story of Katie made our eyes leak, but we were furry glad your mum went back furr that sweet little girl.It's sad that she only had three years, but they were happy years.
If your mum is having trubble scanning old photos mebbe she could try what our mum duz.She found they were nefurr furry good kwality when scanned, so instead she puts them on a flat surface in a good light and takes a close up photo of the photo wiv her digital kamra. Make sure yoo got the flash turned off though. Then she can crop off any bits that shouldn't be there.
Fanks furr telling us that our sidebar is covering some of our post. Parker said she had the same problem a few months back. We moved some things around and thought it wuz ok. It looks ok all the time to us so We don't know what caused it. We are going to upgrade our template as soon as we can work out how to move all our links ofurr. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

Katie was a very special cat. How wonderful that you went back to pick her up. Our eyes are leaking (my mom and I), but we are glad you had some time together.

Daisy said...

Your story made my eyes leak. My Mommie had a cat that had to go to the Bridge at 4 years old from kidney disease. You can treasure the 3 precious years you had with Katie, and know you saved her from a horrible fate had you not found her that day. And getting Tyler is a great tribute to Katie.

We had trouble with our scanner too, and it turned out to be something to do with the firewall.

Mr. Hendrix said...

Aw, what a sweet story. Katie sounds like a wonderful gift. I'm so glad she had you to care for her during her short life. It sounds like you loved her a hundred years worth.

MaoMao said...

Awww, what a wonderful story about Katie -- my Mommy's all leaky eyed. Katie was lucky to have your sweet bean fur her momma -- what a bee-yootiful story of love and devoshun.

Great big huge kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao.

Forty Paws said...

That's a sad story. We're glad you gave Katie 3 good years though. She deserved that.

Luf, Us

Rosemary B❤️ said...

Oh what a sad sad memory.
and when you see a kitty that looks just like the one you loved, it brings it back fresh.
Katie was so happy to be with you.
You saved her life!

(((hugs))))

The Lee County Clowder said...

That is a great, sad story.

So great that you went back for Katie, and that she was still there.

So sad that you and Katie only had three years together.

Great again that this turns out to be Tyler's gotcha story as well.

The Meezers or Billy said...

oh what a wonderful story. But she is at the Bridge waiting for you so that you two will go off into forever together.

Parker said...

Oh dear...we have leaky eyes here. You are a wonderful Mommy and Katie was blessed to have you. She's at the Bridge waiting for you - now she's happy and playing there. One's that came before always live on in lovng hearts.

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

That story was both sad and caring. We're glad that kitty had a good home for the few years she had.

It makes us feel very lucky to have had a good home all along...

Skeeter and LC