RIP Kitty

When Scott and I were married we had 3 cats and no kids and now we have 3 kids and no cats. Kitty was our oldest cat – she was 17. She started her life in State College, living her first year in a fraternity house with my brother. Then she moved to Virginia where she lived with me in 2 different places. Then it was back to the Pittsburgh area complete with 6 different homes. She was fiesty and my constant companion…until the kids came along.

When Juliana was born, Kitty was mad, really mad. Eventually she came to terms with the fact that the little person who was constantly with me (sitting in her place) was staying – but she was never happy about it.  About this same time she started losing lots of weight – over active thyroid was the diagnosis and we started years of blood work and medication adjustments to regulate her weight.

Juliana has always been scared of Kitty – a healthy fear since she does bite on occasion. Wyatt has no fear and has been warned many times with teeth scratches on his hand. Ru points at her and yells “No Kitty!” whenever she enters the room. In recent years we didn’t see her much while the kids were home and awake. As soon as the kids were at childcare or in bed for the night she would appear and follow me everywhere I went until bedtime.

Her health and temperment have steadily declined over the past 2 years. We went to this curbside veterinary clinic to understand what the problem was. She meowed most of the night and over the past few months she meowed a lot during the day as well. If you watched her eat, you would think she hadn’t seen food in days and she drank a lot of water. Saying goodbye to her this morning was hard. I know that she is in a better place now, but it doesn’t hurt any less. She was fiesty and troublesome but she loved me and I will miss her.