Pita was a four year old Chihuahua and Kootie was a six year old Tabby cat. We rescued Kootie from the streets and Pita was a birthday gift from my husband. These two bonded quickly and became best buddies. They played and wrestled together, they groomed each other and loved to sleep together (in some of the strangest positions).
We left St. Bernard Parish the day before hurricane Katrina hit. We took Pita with us, but we had to leave Kootie behind. We never imagined what the hurricane would do. We were able to get back to our house 4 weeks later, only to find Kootie had survived! He was very thin and dehydrated, but we took him back to our place in Thibodaux and the vet gave him a clean bill of health.
We babied him and got him fat and healthy again, and Pita was so overjoyed to have her buddy back. They fell right back into their routine, which at times, was nothing short of hysterical.
On November 28, 2005 Pita had managed to get out of the house unnoticed, and when I looked out the front door she was standing in the middle of the highway. She saw me and stepped into the road where a truck hit her. Thankfully, she died instantly and did not suffer. We had her cremated and put her ashes on a shelf next to pictures of her and our family and especially Kootie. Kootie had not been acting himself after Pita died. We knew he must have been grieving for her.
Unfortunately, we would let Kootie outside to go roam and hunt (he was neutered, so he had never went far and he would always hunt in the bushes in the back of the house). Well we opened the front door early this morning (12/14/05), and found him lying in the road in the exact spot where Pita had been killed. We buried him in the bushes under a blooming Camilla tree where he loved to hunt. We laid him to rest with a catnip toy we had planned to give him for Christmas and the last picture we had taken of him and Pita together.
About three days before Kootie died, we had noticed a mockingbird around our house. What was odd was that he didn’t seem afraid of us. He would come under the garage or sit very nearby us when we were outside. we thought that maybe it was Pita’s spirit coming to visit us. This morning when we went out back to dig a grave for Kootie, there were two mockingbirds sitting nearby in the tree. I think Kootie needed to join his buddy. We will miss both of them dearly, but I believe their spirits will be back for a visit.
Until we meet again….
may you always run free,
without limits and without fear of harm.
We love you and miss you Kootie-boy and Pita-girl.
| Pita |
| Sandi |