Little Kitty 1995 - 2009

[rm]

Little Kitty's real name was Shiyung. I'm not sure she knew that. I named her after one of the three sisters of the ruling Orsinate in Aestival Tide, which is Elizabeth Hand's sort of sequel to Winterlong. It's out of print, and it is fucked up.

Anyway, Little wasn't very good at being a cat. She played fetch when she was younger and liked to stand in the shower with me and never learned how to meow properly, making a sort of one syllable grunting noise that usually meant "I'm really enjoying biting this roll of duct tape/box of tampons/book."

I got her 14 years ago to the day. She and her sister-cat (who is not her sister), who had just had their shots and were sleepy and pissed. Little immediately became "the cat" while Pretty Kitty became "the other cat" mainly because Pretty hid all the time.

Some of you first met her at a New Year's party I had a few days later. If you were there, you'll remember that some drunk idiot tried to steal her.

Little was there for the aftermath of Greg, for Michael (whom she was excessively fond of and whose voice she still could recognize on the phone last time I spoke to him in her presence, years after she'd last seen him), and for all sorts of other crap too.

She was there when I was rich, when I was poor, when I had an abortion and when I worked in the sex industry. She was there for the dot.com bullshit, for dreams of Baz Luhrmann (when I went to Australia, my roommate would email to say "the cats think I have eaten you"), and for a stupid fire below our Avenue C apartment where she got drunk on the smoke and staggered around for a few hours after. "Don't worry," the firefighters said, "cats'll survive anything."

And she did. She always had weird medical problems the cause of which was never found. There was the uterine infection and the liver thing (prior to this liver thing just now). She puked a lot. She was messy. Her fur was so thick it turned into little clumps that I swear she should shoot off her body at people at will. She had such massive whiskers I always thought she looked like a sea-creature.

She adored Patty, and drove us crazy in the process, always worming her massive bulk between us on the couch, or trying to by standing on our ovaries first or something. Patty was amazing with her, and I'd laugh and laugh at grooming hilarity, when Patty would use the cat rake on her and the clouds of hair would spin around her like some sort of horrible cat-induced Wizard of Oz thing.

Whenever I was sick, you know, which is often, Little always tried to help by standing on my stomach; my celiac disease does not thank her. When I was sad or scared, I would nap with my head on Little's giant belly. She'd usually let me do it for twenty to thirty minutes at a time.

She was an awesome cat, even if she was stupid (and inventively so), grouchy and too fat to effectively clean herself. She owned every house she was ever in, and loved every person I ever had, just, it seems, on my say so. She was enthusiastic and smug.

She loved broccoli.

Like, a lot. I remember once letting her eat some when Kali was over, and I'll never understand how a cat managed to eat plain broccoli one minute and vomit up acres of cream sauce the next, but Megan was there too and we all saw it happen. It was the most disgusting thing ever and we were all laughing so hard.

Patty and I talk about how Little thunders across the plains of our apartment. Really. She galumphed, and sat on this scratcher we got her which we called her double-wide. If this cat had been human it would have loved Southern food and Elvis, which isn't all that much different from what she did as a cat.

Little could have told you my whole life story. What I look like in the mornings and all the people I ever pretended to be -- it's more than you know. She can't, and I'm sad, and I miss her, but man... dodged that bullet, yeah?

They loved her at the vet, and everyone was crying with me. They were rooting for her and thought she was hilarious.

This is about all I can do right now. I'm leaving comments on but am not having them emailed to me, because I'm not sure to what degree I can process your sympathy.

She was the best of beasties, and if kitty heaven lives up to cliches as advertised, she was so huge they may be having trouble keeping the thing airborne right now.

Comments

[geekchick]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so sorry.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I'm so sorry. Last post about her I saw, it looked like she was on the mend.

She was very pretty. I'm sorry for your loss.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

She sounds like such a wonderful cat. I'm so sorry.

[coridan.livejournal.com]

My condolences on the loss of such a great family member.

CB

[redwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. It sounds like you both enriched each other's lives. Good thoughts.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

My heart goes out to you...it's so hard to lose a friend like Little. ::hugs:: I'm always up for trading silly cat stories, whenever you're up for it.

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear. Yeah, people come, people go, but the cat is always there.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Good night, Little Kitty. I am glad that the two of you were blessed to share each other for the time she had.

[labellerose.livejournal.com]

Safe journey back to Bast,Little.

[better-late24.livejournal.com]

That's a really beautiful way to remember her...I feel like I know her. And I can't even imagine how you feel right now.

[tikvah.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You were both lucky to have each other.

[j-v-lynch.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[gracilejenn.livejournal.com]

I am sorry for your loss. I feel like I knew her from your stories.
Love to you and Patty.

[loveslashangst.livejournal.com]

*is in tears in sympathy*

Kitty heaven has no problems. She's there, and she'll be happily waiting for you when your time finally comes. (Hopefully many years in the future.)

You have my sympathy. Some of them are not just pets. More than child. More than friend. More than partner or roommate. Something we don't have good words for in English. "Familiar" comes closest, but even that implies a user-servant relationship. The good cats aren't like that.

I've known a few in my time, and those ones stay with you forever, long after their pain is over and your pain fades into tearful smiles of loving memory.

Please believe you have my deepest and most genuine condolences.

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. Anyone who says, "They're just pets" obviously has never owned one. Little sounds absolutely awesome and that was a really lovely tribute. I'm sure she's enjoying the all-you-can-eat broccoli buffet in the sky.

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

It sounds like Little was a wonderful cat, and she was obviously loved very much. I'm sorry for your loss.

[rufus.livejournal.com]

I only met her briefly, but she was charming. I'm so sorry she's gone.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear you've lost your friend.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. :(

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

Woza, Little.

having three furheads

[newwaytowrite.livejournal.com]

myself I can't even imagine the depth of sadness as I had never had a pet (until the current trio) in my life.

Tenderness to you, Patty and all those that knew her.

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

I am SO sorry for your loss of Little Kitty.
You are in my thoughts.

[eveningscribe.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry you have lost your friend. My Diamond,pictured, who is deaf and whose previous owners declawed him, got outside on Christmas night, and scared the Hell out of me. Since then I've been clingy on him. He's 9, and I fear what will happen to my brain when he goes someday. Death is so much harder on the living who remain behind than on those who go forth.

Please give Pretty some long, firm strokes for me. Diamond's unusually good at expression his opinion in Human, but grief comes in so many forms, and I grieve that Pretty hasn't the English... Maybe give Patty some long strokes too, I don't know.

You have my empathy. {{{Hugs}}}

[kaifoxx.livejournal.com]

:(

My condolences. I was so hoping she'd pull through.