Once upon a time there was this little scared kitty named Cleo. She was only 6 months old and had just been separated from her siblings to go live with a new family. She was very scared, so much so, that she hide so well that her new family thought she had run away. Once they found her she went to stay in her new mommy’s room where she would get better acclimated to her new family. She was terribly shy and was having a hard time.
Her mommy had decided to get her a friend and so she called the rescue group for a kitten because she thought a younger friend would be more helpful and less threatening. For days there were no kittens till one lucky day in October 1996 when the phone call finally came. The mommy rushed down to the Petco and behold was the most adorable gray and white kitten. She was a “return” adoption because she made people allergic, but the mommy was so happy. The little fur ball played with her auntie’s hair as the mommy to be called her mother and adoption lady. She had to have this little bundle of joy.
The adoption took place that night and the little kitten had a new family. She was so little she fit in the palm of your hand and needed someone to sleep with her for the first night so she wouldn’t be scared. The next day her new mommy introduced her to Cleo and it was such a sight. The little kitten jumped and walked sideways as poor scared Cleo backed away from this little wonder that was less than half her size. This went on for days as they got used to each other. Meanwhile the little kitten had no fear and was wandering the house within no time. Eventually, Cleo was allowed out of her room and she would follow her around. The kitten scouted the rooms and Cleo would know it is okay, so she became know as the Scouter.
The step-sisters grew to love and lookout for each other.
The Scouter turned into quite a mischievous playful girl. She loved playing in boxes and hiding in laundry piles. She also had obsession with butter and so at dinner time she would hide on the window box by the table and when a nice buttered roll was within reach she would hook her little claws into it and drag it over her way to lick the butter off. We learned not to have any butter within reach and to guard your dinner food carefully or she would have her way with it all.
One year the mommy decided she wanted Christmas pictures with the kitties. So, Cleo and Scouter went up to Petco and got their pictures taken with Santa. They both were not happy with this whole experience, but the pictures are quite adorable. Christmas was a happy time where the girls would go nuts with wrapping paper and one time Scouter crawled up into the Christmas tree. Also, it was the time they got their new collars. They didn’t have them for many years, but there was this temporary room-mate Shadow who got out once for 3 days, so the collars went on. They started without bells though because apparently they caused panic attacks at first, but eventually they learned to love and be proud in their specially picked collars.
In February 2006 Scouter and her family moved to sunny Florida and here she got to live like a real outdoor kitty. She adored soaking up the sun outside on the screened lanai. She would sit on her lounge chair and just watch the fountain in the middle of the pond go and relax. The sun was certainly where it was all at.
In October 2006 Scouter had some kitty bloat. We thought maybe the person kitty Charlie had taken advantage of her and she was pregnant. They were both fixed, but it could have been some freak of nature. The idea of Charlie-Scouter kittens was so cute. Everyone thought that was it and even the vet did when he first looked at her, but then the x-ray showed that wasn’t the case. He sent me home saying it was probably inflammation and would clear up.
In November the bloat was going away, but Scouter started getting thinner. She went back to the vet and there she went to an oncologist who did an ultrasound. The news came back as cancerous and her mommy was devastated. It was intestinal cancer, something curable. There was a slight chance it could have been inflammatory disease, but only time would tell. Everyone was optimistic because Scouter was still happy.
November 2006
It became clearer it was the worse of the two over the next few weeks. She lost weight, but ate constantly, sometimes up to 10-12 ounces of food in a day. Her mommy took her for acupuncture and other holistic treatment and Scouter felt much better each time. The third week she had the best weekend of her life. She was the happiest she had been in months. This was the weekend before when she was happiest.
That following Thursday things turned for the worse and the dreaded day where her mommy had to send her to the rainbow bridge came. She was so scared, but she wasn’t alone. He mommy held her while her auntie, the two people who first saw her for the first time, were with her and she went peacefully.
I kept this whole experience private on Live Journal, but decided to open up my posts with Scouter. I found reading about other people’s experiences helped me and what to expect so I could only do the same.
I love this little girl so much and wish she is well in kitty heaven.
During her last month she didn’t really purr as much and so when she did it was the best ever. Her mommy loved her purr so much that she would bring her to bed with her and hope she would hear it because it helped her sleep. Scouter also has the cutest granny meow a cat could ever have. Please take a moment, click the player on the bottom of the page and here the little girl in all her glory.