Soft Kitty

My cat died today. Well, by the time this posts, it will be yesterday, but anyway.

I got Peppermint Patty in the Fall of 1999. I had been 8 years old for a month, and my gift that year was a cat; she would be my first since Belle, the cat I had in NC before we moved here who gave me ringworm (not fun). Mom took me to St. Hubert's Animal shelter to get a rescue cat and give him/her a good home. I looked at the cats for a long time, trying to decide. They people who worked there said they weren't sure how old she was but that she could be anywhere from 3-7 years old. Her name was Patty, and I added Peppermint to the beginning so she could keep her name. She was white with black "accents": her face was a mix of the two, her belly and paws were white, and her back and tail were black, but her tail had a white tip like it had been dipped in paint. Her green eyes were alert.

It took her 2 or 3 days before she learned how to jump the gate to my room and explore the house. She was very shy at first and a bit skittish, but I remember her taking a swipe at our smelly, slobbery Golden Retriever at the time, showing him who ran the house. He did not last long and soon moved on from our place of residence.

One of Peppermint Patty's most identifying characteristics was her weight; she was a FAT cat. My family nicknamed her "Patty the Fatty Catty." It pissed me off. She had very strong paws that could wind you if you were lying down, and her purr was like a motorboat. Sometimes she would use my head as pillow so that when I rolled over, I woke from a dead sleep because my hair was stuck under her tummy.

She had several companions in our house, aside from the humans. My sister's cat Thomas, who passed recently, was the resident Tom Cat. Tiger, who passed in January 2006 and was the resident nurse cat, was kind to her. Zazu, our Siamese who is alive and meowing, would crowd the food bowl. Jasmine, our resident scaredy cat, could be counted on when she wanted to hid away from company.

I can remember getting a 3-D puzzle of Edoras (The Golden Hall and court of King Theoden from Lord of the Rings) and having my family joke that Patty could be a troll that comes and knows it down. I remember defending her vehemently to my family.

She started losing weight in January 2009; I remember because is was very soon after I watched the film Jaws for the first time. She's been getting thinner ever since.. I've wondered if her body was not actually absorbing the food she ate. this past week, she was barely more than a bag of bones and fur. Her eyes were beginning to drain, she could only take a few steps before having to rest, and the only way I could tell she was alive was because she was breathing.

Today/Yesterday I to;d her that she shouldn't have to hang on just for me, that I didn't want to see her suffer like this anymore, that she should be happy I wasn't sure if she heard me or not. I guess she did. Dad found her around 11:20 under a table in the Stamp room, the room right next to mine in the basement of our house. I have no idea how old she was, only that she had been my companion for almost 11 1/2 years.

I thank the universe for our time together. I thank our pets for keeping her company, I thank my parents for my eight birthday present, and I thank my wonderful Pretty Kitty who kept a lonely child company and became her wonderful companion for so many years.

Lux aerterna, luceat eiis. Requiem aeternam in pacem, mea cara. Amo te.
Light eternal, shine over us. rest in pece eternal, my dear. Amo te.