Miss Luna Kitty Longtail

Miss Kitty                                                                                    March 14, 2019

Christmas...yay.

You came to us as a stray that Bessie the Lab chased up a tree. Michael could tell you were pregnant then. “Don’t feed her,” he said. “She’ll go home.” Tough talk from the guy who built a pyramid from a ladder, a chair and a stool to help you get down from that tree.  And indeed it was possible that you were a neighborhood cat. You appeared well cared for so I did as he asked. But you stayed. 

You’d stroll about our back yard as if you’d already claimed it as your own. You tried on more than one occasion to walk into the house. Five days later I was hanging sheets on the line and you came rubbing against my ankles. Your belly bulged with babies but your hips were beginning to look boney. That was it for me. I sat on the steps and you came over and climbed right up into my lap, rolled over and dared me not to rub that big pregnant belly.

Pretty Girl

I decided to call you Miss Kitty because we weren’t going to keep you. I didn’t want to worry about a real name. That was the day I put food and water out and made a bed for you in the old dog house behind the shed. It was out of the wind and rains of Spring; so Michael and I decided that you’d be an outside cat. That lasted until the chilly day in April when we came home from the movies and Michael peeked into your little house while he was walking Bessie. He came inside and announced “Miss Kitty had her kittens but I think they’re all dead.”

Crossed eyes

I raced out to the house and crammed myself in as far as I could. I could see that two of your babies were already gone as they lay cold on the bare boards. Next to you was a pile of tiny bodies. I’m pretty sure this was your first litter because you seemed confused. Then I saw one twitch. “We’ve got a live one,” I called back to Michael. I took each one and warmed it in my hands before putting them with you and your instincts kicked right in. We took you and the surviving kittens into the house. And you stayed.

The surviving female kittens were adopted but no one wanted the male. I advertised you and that boy of yours all over Facebook and the newspaper but no one wanted either of you. So you stayed. And you and Chaucer turned me, a confirmed animal lover but avowed dog person, into a cat lover. You never minded not being the favorite. Chaucer grabbed center stage early on. But it was you I could count on to cuddle with me on chilly nights, under the quilt, head sticking out, keeping my feet toasty.

Chaucer and Miss K

Somewhere along the years I decided that your full name was Luna Kitty Longtail. Luna because your coloring made you seem to glow in the moonlight and Longtail because you had an extra-long tail. You were beautiful and soft with thick fur that ended up on everything. The shedding was bad but you enjoyed getting brushed so you always looked fabulous.

Sleeping Beauty

Your illness was a rough couple of months. I thought you might get better. Two days ago I knew that you would not. For weeks, we went through the extraordinary measures of giving subcutaneous fluids and force feeding you because you wouldn’t eat. Yesterday I did none of that. I just wanted you to rest and be comfortable.  This morning I took you in to end your journey. You decided “no more needles” and passed in my arms before they could stick you.  

I didn’t realize that my heart would break.  Seven years was not enough. I wish you’d stayed.    

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