Cutie

You were born 5/17/04. We brought you home with us from the animal shelter on 7/27/04. You were only ten weeks old. You were such an energetic kitten in the shelter, fearing nothing and nobody, playing like crazy and tearing through the room. You ruled the room in the shelter. We immediately knew that you were the kitten for us.

We brought you home as a playmate for Garfield. He was being left out of playtime with Eclipse and Spooky and we thought he needed another kitty at home to play with. You were perfect. He loved you from the moment he met you. He never once hissed at you (or anyone) and when the others hissed at you he stepped in front of you to protect you. You and he played endless hours together, along with Eclipse and Spooky. The four of you would tear through this house. We used to joke that it sounded like a herd of elephants running through the house. You were never left out of playtime. If there was playing to be had, you were always right there in the middle of it all.

You loved your three siblings from the very beginning. You would play together, cuddle together, give headbutts, kisses, snuggle while sleeping together, and groom one another. You were all so perfect together. We were one big happy family.

You were without a doubt the smartest cat we ever knew. Heck, you were the smartest animal we ever knew. No others ever came close. You were so smart. Everything you did showed your intelligence. While the others would jump on top of the big tv in the basement to look out the basement window and then end up stuck up there (or have to make a very big jump down), you would step-ladder it up using other nearby items and would reverse what you did to get back down.

You loved to play fetch. You would grab the toys, usually these very special and specific little toy mice, bring it to us, we would throw it, you would grab it and return it to us. We went back and forth with that, over and over and over again. You had boundless energy. Sometimes though, you would bring us a toy when you just wanted to lay with us and sleep. You didn’t want to play fetch those times; you just wanted to bring us the toy to stay by you while you slept on us.

You would drag the interactive toys around the house with you. You would have the toy end and would drag it through the house to bring to us, and your siblings would sprint after you attacking the other end of it. You would be determined to get the toy to us, or to wherever you wanted it to be, and would never give up, no matter how many of your siblings would try to attack the other end of the toy you were dragging.

You loved to destroy toilet paper. You would sit on the toilet lid, unravel the toilet paper roll, drag it through the house, and then shred it to smithereens. We came home to find the shredded toilet paper all through the house from you. We flipped the toilet paper on the roll, so it would just spin in circles and not unravel when you would try to unravel it while siting on the toilet lid. You would not be outsmarted though, especially not when it came to something you wanted to play with. You sat on the bathroom counter and unraveled it that way, then would drag it through the house and shred it to smithereens. We gave up on that and just stopped keeping the toilet paper on the roll, instead leaving it on the bathroom counter. You didn’t mind that, you just knocked it off the counter onto the floor and then unraveled it and shredded it to smithereens. We decided to keep the toilet paper in a drawer beside the toilet to keep it away from you. You quickly realized what we were doing, and you were not to be deterred. You would open the drawer in the bathroom, drag out the toilet paper roll, unravel it, and shred it to smithereens. Eventually we just stopped trying to keep the toilet paper away from you and accepted you would not be stopped. Shortly after we gave up trying to stop you from destroying the toilet paper, you lost interest in it and didn’t mess with it anymore.

You loved to play with Q-tips. We used to joke that you thought your name was Q-T to stand for Q-tips, instead of the Cutie your name actually was. You would always drag the Q-tips out of the trash can and we would find them throughout the house.

You loved lint roller sheets. Anytime we used lint rollers (and with four cats in the house, that was all the time!), you would drag out the used lint roller sheet from the trash can and would carry it through the house attacking it. You did that all the time, for so many years. There was no way we could hide the sheets from you; you would always figure out which trash can they were in, knock the trash can over, and dig around until you found them.

You would always knock trash cans over, including the kitchen trash. What a mess we would find when we came home. You would knock the kitchen trash over, root around in there, and drag various items out of it and through the kitchen. We eventually bought a trash can with a lid for the kitchen just to stop you from doing that to the kitchen trash.

You loved flowers, but you went crazy trying to get to them if they were somewhere you couldn’t reach. You would run around like crazy, crying at flowers that were up too high with no way for you to get to them. One day, when you were older, we thought flowers would be safe on the kitchen table. I found you on the kitchen table smelling the flowers, when I didn’t even realize you could even get on the kitchen table. You started trying to eat the flowers and I moved you off the table…and moved the flowers.

You loved to wrestle with your siblings. You really wanted to be “top cat” in the house, but Garfield was far too big and strong for you to defeat. You tried all the time to defeat him though. The others you would win easily in your wrestling matches, but for Garfield, you could never beat him. It didn’t stop you from trying though.

You loved to be groomed by your siblings and to groom them as well. You would always duck your head for them to groom you. Eclipse was sometimes rough with her baths and that would lead to wrestling time, but you didn’t mind that.

You loved the scratching pads and post. The post you liked best when we had just rubbed the catnip in it, so you and your siblings would wrestle and play together. You loved the scratching pad all the time; that was your favorite way of handling your nails.

You loved the cat videos I sometimes would play on tv, the nature ones with little critters and birds flitting about. You would go nuts, even when you were a senior cat. You would run up to the tv, cry at the tv, run back and forth in front of the tv, then hop up on the tv stand and put a paw on the tv. You loved those videos.

You loved the Christmas tree. In your younger years, we would find you halfway up the tree, having climbed it or stepped into one of the branches from a stand nearby. We would always have to pull you out of the tree. You always “helped” put the tree up each year. Even your final Christmas with us, when we put the tree up, you were in there “helping” us. You would always bite the tree branches and would want to eat them, even your final Christmas with us you did that. You absolutely adored laying under the Christmas tree, looking up into the sparkly lights, and would spend hours under there. In your younger years, we couldn’t keep any presents under the Christmas tree. You would tear off the bows and bite at them and would destroy the wrapping paper on the gifts. We eventually gave up on stopping you and moved the presents to another room where you couldn’t get to it. Even when we wrapped the gifts, we would have to repeatedly stop you from tearing the bows off and ripping the wrapping paper off the presents. It was not uncommon for us to have to rewrap gifts and put new bows on the presents.

You loved to watch out the windows. You loved to watch things in the neighborhood; to guard the house. We joked you were the security of the house and you were always on duty.

You loved to lounge in the sunlight. You would roll around in the sun and relax in the warmth.

You loved to lay in front of the heater. You would plant yourself there before your siblings had a chance to get there and would get all the heat in the house. You loved to be so warm.

You loved the vibration of the XBox controllers. You would be sure to lay on the lap of someone who was playing XBox so you could feel the vibrations.

We always joked that the motto of the house was “if it flies it dies”. Anything that flew in the house, any flying insect, you would be determined to kill. If it crawled, it was completely safe. You would follow along with it and watch it, but you wouldn’t hurt her. I will forever remember the crunchy beetle that you caught that day, the way it clearly didn’t taste very good, as you made a face as you crunched on it.

You loved to lay on the bed. I would often find you under the covers, with just your head on the pillow, and you would put yourself in that position. You were so comfortable and precious.

You loved to lay on me while I was reading a book, especially a physical copy of a book. You would rub against the book and try to bite the book covers. There was a vampire book that you once got your fang in. The cover and some of the pages ended up with a kitty fang puncture through it. I later donated that book to the library. Someday I might look to see if the library kept the book, as it would be easy to see if it’s the same book, since it will forever have your fang having punctured it.

You were always skittish of strangers. Even people who you saw more often, you were still afraid of them and would hide. When Grandpa would catsit for us, he would have to bring a flashlight to check underneath the loveseat to make sure he could find you and that you were okay. In your senior years, you stopped hiding from strangers and didn’t mind if your grandparents pet you. In your younger years though, the joke amongst the family was that you didn’t even exist, as they never saw you when they came over.

One of your favorite hiding spots when you got scared was in the drawer of the desk in the study. You would squeeze behind the desk, then squeeze into the little break in the back of the desk to access the bottom desk drawer. If I pulled the desk drawer open, there you would be.

You purred loudly and often. We used to be able to tell when you fell asleep while laying on us, because you would go from purring to silent. That’s how we knew you fell asleep. When the purrs started up again, we knew you had just awakened. You had such a loud purr, we joked you were competing for who could have the loudest purrs.

In your younger years, you loved to lay on the back of the computer chair, with all four paws dangling over the corners, one on each corner. You loved to relax like that, with us sitting on the computer chair and you chilling like that on the back of it.

For such a long time, so many years, every time I looked at you I saw the kitten you were at the beginning. It was years, long after you had passed your kittenhood, before I looked at you and saw the adult cat you had become. Then with the passage of time, you became even older, then much older, a senior cat, and then a very senior cat.

You grieved when Garfield died in January 2013. You watched from between the couch and the loveseat as the vet helped him to pass from this life. He was your protector, your first friend. You loved him so much. You and your two remaining siblings, Eclipse and Spooky, grieved together and comforted one another. Over time, a new normal began, one without Garfield in it, as heartbreaking as that was.

You stopped playing when the arthritis started in you. My poor little girl, we managed your arthritis the best we could, we helped you to be comfortable, but you never played again once the arthritis began.

Tippy joined our family in October 2015. You were very curious about her at first, but she hissed at you and you didn’t like that. You were never friends with Tippy, though the two of you grew to coexist peacefully. Towards the end, you and Tippy would often lay less than a foot apart from one another, completely relaxed around each other.

You grieved when Eclipse died in August 2019. You were very close with her. Again, you and Spooky grieved together and comforted one another and us. Eventually, a new normal began, one without Eclipse in it, and you needed us even more then.

Less than one year later, in June 2020, you grieved when Spooky died. He was your last friend, the last one who you had spent all but the first ten weeks of your life with. He was the last one who cuddled with you, who tucked up tight with you to sleep, who groomed you; he was your dear friend. Then it was just you and Tippy, and the two of you were never friends.

You loved your cuddle time with Daddy, throughout your whole life, but especially your final few months. He would hold you for hours at a time and you would give him so many kisses, cuddles, and purrs, and would paw so gently at his cheek and mouth. You were always smitten with your Daddy. You would go near the front door to wait for him to come home from work, even the times when getting around was harder for you. You didn’t care. You were determined to be there for when he came home, since you were ready for your cuddle time with Daddy.

You loved to roll around on shoes, stick your head in shoes, and wrap your little paws around the shoes. You did that for your entire life, even your last few weeks.

You would give your nom nom eating speech when you were given food you really loved. Your favorite foods changed often, but when we would give you one that you were really happy with, you would do what we called your nom nom speech, which was so adorable to listen to while you were eating. Everyone who ever heard it got a kick out of it. I loved to hear it.

You would dart super fast from one side to the couch to the other when one of us stood up from the couch. You would seize our spot so fast. You couldn’t move very fast most of the time, not in your later years, but you sure could zip from one end of the couch to the other when you wanted to.

No matter how old you were, even just a couple of days before you died, you would reach your paw out to me all the time when I was on the computer. No matter where you were, when I would get on the computer you would either move from one side of the loveseat to the side closest to me, or you would go from wherever you were in the house to the study, up the pet steps, and to the closest side of the loveseat. You would purr so loudly, would reach your paw out to me, would cry at me, just wanting love and attention. I would pet you and tell you I love you and what a good girl you were. You would purr all the louder. Every time I stopped petting you, you would reach a paw out to me again. Sometimes you would nearly fall off the loveseat, you would reach your paw so far. I never let you fall, of course, and you would always get love and attention. What I wouldn’t give for one more chance to love on you, for one more moment of hearing your purr, for another feel of your paw touching me.

You were 17 years old when you died. You lived with us for 17 years. My sweet little girl, my tough little fighter, you lived longer than any other cat we’ve ever had.

We were off work on a staycation week. Monday 10/25/21, you weren’t feeling well and we took you to the emergency vet for an appointment in the evening. While waiting to see the emergency vet, I thought it might be the end. I sat beside you, comforting you and petting you and telling you how much I love you, how I will always love you, thanking you for being so special and letting you know how thankful I was and will always be for having had you in my life. The emergency vet diagnosed you with pneumonia, and you were given a couple of shots to help. The emergency vet was concerned about your heart, but she said we had to focus on the pneumonia first and she was worried about stressing you too much. She wasn’t sure if you had a heart problem or if it was just pneumonia and she didn’t dare try to find out that day with everything going on with you. We were scheduled to bring you in on Thursday 10/28/21 in the afternoon for a cardiac ultrasound.

You seemed so much better the next day (Tuesday) and the day after that (Weds). We were sure you were in the upswing and were going to be okay. Then on Thursday 10/28/21, your last day on this Earth, I saw you at 7am briefly. You wanted attention and I gave you a few pats. Daddy saw you around 10:30am that day when he gave your morning medicine to you and loved on you. We both thought you were fine; you seemed like you did on any other day. Then at around 12pm I walked by the study, the room I came to think of as your room…and you weren’t on the loveseat that you spent so much time on. I looked closer and saw you were laying on the floor, beside the pet steps and in front of the loveseat, in a place you never went. You were laying there motionless. I called your name repeatedly while running up to you. You didn’t move. I got to you and checked you, calling your name and trying to rouse you…and you weren’t breathing….your eyes were open…you were cold….you were gone. My sweet baby girl, your beautiful light was gone from this Earth. I hate that I wasn’t by your side when you passed. I wish I had known. I would have been with you, we both would have been there. We didn’t know, baby, we didn’t know. You are the first one who we weren’t able to be there for when they died. We were both in the other room. We never heard a thing. The vet later said it was fast and painless, she was sure it was your heart, that you were 17 years old, that we would have heard had you cried out, if you had any pain…she swore to us that we would have heard you. While I’m glad you didn’t suffer, my sweet little Cutie, I will forever regret that we weren’t right there with you when you took your final breath, holding you, telling you how much we love you, what a good girl you are, how we will always love you, and thanking you for being part of our lives. We should have been there.

You lived for 17 years, sweet girl. We had 17 wonderful years together. I hope you were happy with us; I hope we did right by you. I think we did. I know we loved you the best we could and I know you loved us too. I think you were happy with us. You made it 17 years, which is the longest life of a cat we have had. You fought through so much, my tough little fighter, my determined little girl, you fought through so much. We thought we would lose you years before, you had health problems that started years before Eclipse or Spooky had health problems. I honestly thought you would be the first of them to pass, because of your health problems. But you fought through all of it. You had chronic kidney disease, IBD, arthritis, allergies, anxiety, and at one point battled anemia. You fought through all of it.

We are so thankful that you were part of our lives. You were one of the sweetest, most beautiful, loving, precious, and amazing souls we have ever been blessed enough to know. We can’t begin to say how much we love you and how deeply we miss you.

My sweet little girl, my baby girl, my Cutie, take a piece of my soul with you to Heaven, that way we can be together even while we are apart. Go and be reunited with your siblings. How happy you and Garfield, Eclipse, and Spooky will be to all be together again. You all loved each other so much. I’m sure your reunion will be something special.

We love you so very much. We miss you and will until we meet again. We will love you forever and ever. We know that you are in Heaven right now and that we will see you again when it is our time to leave this Earth. Until then, RIP sweet Cutie. Remember that we will always love you.

We Love You,
Mommy & Daddy

We Love You