I know you will all love this:
THANK YOU, KITTY
by Kit Stevko
Kitty, a beautiful little tabby was 15 years old when she developed bone cancer.
She had been my friend and always by my side through divorce, illness, job loss, death of close friends and especially the good times. She slept with me at night and greeted me when I came home. Though she had tolerated two dogs while I was married, she would never allow another cat in the house.
After trying several treatments for the cancer, I knew I had to let her go. It was Thanksgiving and I cooked the two of us a turkey -- her favorite "people" food and she thoroughly enjoyed the minced meat with the broth for several days. The vet came to my home and I held her until the very end.
As I was carrying her out to the backyard, I heard something following me. I turned and a large black and white male cat walked up to me purring in a voice that sounded more like a 2 cycle lawn mower than a cat purr. The phrase "loud enough to raise the dead" came to mind.
As I buried Kitty, this cat helped me pat down the dirt and then followed me back to the house and invited himself inside. It seemed disrespectful to close the door in his face. He had helped. So in he came.
He immediately curled up on the rug by the front door and continued to rumble at an incredible volume. I called my neighbor to come over to meet this cat and we discovered that when we picked up or petted him, his purr became even louder.
Finally, I thanked him for all the love and affection he had given me that evening, but that I needed time to reflect and grieve. So, I put him outside.
The next morning when I opened the door to leave for work you-know-who was sitting on my front porch. He cocked his head, looked me in the eye. He might as well have told me, "It's getting cold, I need a home, you need a cat and I won't take no for an answer." I dutifully unpacked the litter box, litter, cat food and dishes that were going to the humane shelter and set them up for the cat. (Hey, I live in Montana and it really was cold outside. What else could I do?)
That evening I checked with my neighbors to see if anyone had lost this precocious pussy cat and discovered he had been mooching meals from a number of homes for months and he didn't seem have a home. One neighbor called him my angel kitty but due to his constant vocalizing, I decided to call him Trill.
He always trills, even when sleeping, though thankfully at a lower volume. When the vet checked him over it was confirmed that Trill was a "stay at home gentleman" (in other words, neutered) and that he had a vocal problem and couldn't meow but he could and did "trill."
Everyone at the vet's office thoroughly enjoyed his camaraderie and vivacious attitude. I also discovered that he loved riding in the car and he pranced around looking out the windows after having demolished the cardboard carrier. Unlike Kitty, he is a very social pussycat and asked if I would find him a friend. He now has 4 more friends -- Jazzy, Puff, Merlin and Jake.
The house is full of love and meows and purrs and trills and also cluttered with an assortment of cat dishes, soft beds, scratching posts, catnip toys and other toe stubbing paraphernalia.
I believe that Kitty didn't want me to be lonely so she asked Trill to come to my rescue that cold November evening seven years ago.
Thank you, Kitty.
-- Kit Stevko
