A Tribute to Little Kitty

It was an honor to know her.

Unfortunately Little Kitty was killed by a car on Pioneer Hill Rd. on Monday, July 19, 2004. It was a sad day for all who knew her. I was devastated. She was a great joy in my life. Just watching her and relating to her was a wonderful daily experience.

Before Little Kitty came I was sharing my house with two animals, Sitka, the dog, and "Kitty", a cat. Both were from the humane society. And both had obviously had some rough times before I got them. The dog was frightened of many things and the cat was very stand-offish and would have little to do with either of us.

Little Kitty came to us in October or November of 2003. She was under the house, making faint crying noises. I put some food out in front of a little opening and she slowly emerged. She was a tiny thing, about three weeks old.

She was hungry and thirsty. She had a funny little deformed tail.

After eating and drinking a bit she began to approach me. Sitka was there too.

I picked her up and carried her into the house. What else could I do? The dog, Sitka, liked her right away. They quickly formed a lasting bond.

Here you can see Little Kitty looking at Sitka during the early days of their relation.

Sitka was happy with her new friend.

Little Kitty had the habit in the first months of sitting and looking right at my eyes. When I sat at the computer desk she would sit by my right arm and look into my eyes for a long time. And she would purr as though it were the greatest thing in the world to be there with me. If I sat at the computer for a while she would lay down with her chin on my arm or lay on her side with her paws pushing against my arm. If she was in the house and I went to the computer she would always get up there by my right arm.

Big Kitty didn't take to her so fast. In fact he seemed to resent her arrival. They spent many hours sitting on the floor staring at each other. Little Kitty kept reaching out to Big Kitty but he resisted for quite a while.

Eventually they became friends and often sat together.

They soon became very close.

They became very good friends.

And of course she maintained her good relation with the dog.

The dog was handy to lay on.

Little Kitty's affectionate nature won all of us over. She regularly approached each of us with that remarkable alertness and openness. She brought out the best in all of us.

But the dog was her favorite sleeping bud. This picture shows her stubby little tail.

Little Kitty was very curious and examined everything in the house. If there was the slightest change she would check it all out. One day she noticed the second hand moving in the kitchen clock.

She liked to watch TV.

When I played the veena she would climb on my lap and sit there under the veena until I finished.

She was very courageous. When Sitka'a big dog friends would come to visit they would get real rowdy and rough in their play. Little Kitty would sit right there and watch. And if they got too close she would spit at them and take swipes with her claws. This always got their attention and they treated her with respect.

As she got bigger the play between her and Big Kitty got pretty rough. There was a period there when Big Kitty was hesitant to come in the house if Little Kitty was there. If she was there she would jump down and run along side Big Kitty and then pounce on her. I guess it was play but it got pretty rough.

There came a time when, for various reasons, I decided that Sitka would be an outdoor dog. There was a large dog house in the backyard already. I lined the doghouse with cedar animal bedding and she slept out there. When Little Kitty spent the night outside she slept in the space under the doghouse. She spent a lot of her time with the dog. I usually took the dog with me when I left in the car. Little Kitty was always there watching us leave.

I took Little Kitty to the vets and she had had all her shots. When she was old enough I had her spayed. I didn't want to have more kittens around. The vet said to keep her from rough-housing until the scar from the operation healed. To do that I had to keep Big Kitty out of the house for a week. During that time he seems to have found some place else to hang out because ever since then he is gone half the time.

They had shaved Little Kitty's belly for the surgery. Her belly was all pink. As the fur began to grow back in it took on the complex patterns of spots and stripes. It was amazing to examine her fur. The patterns were so intricate and varied.

I used to pick her up and craddle her in my arms. She always made one little squeak and settled in. As she got older she wasn't so fond of that and would wriggle around and want down. We had a little game we played every day. As I sat on the floor in the living room she would lay down on her side with her tail toward me. I would grab hold of her tail and slowly drag her backward toward me. Then she would dig into the carpet with her front claws and pull herself foward again. Back and forth. She liked that.

I felt sorry for the cats having to wait out there for me open the door when they wanted in. So I finally installed a cat door in the front door. Big Kitty figured it out pretty fast but it took Little Kitty several days before she could use it with ease. After that it was just in and out all day long.

Little Kitty became very good at hunting. Before the cat door I would find little corpses all over the yard. Mostly mice but she had birds, squirrels, snakes, moles, and rats as well. After the cat door she began bringing them in the house.

Little Kitty spent most her time outside and was usually very near the dog. I never saw her leave the yard. In the summer I often sat on the little deck by the vegetable garden with Sitka and Little Kitty. The dog and I would just sit there but Little Kitty was always up to something. She would be chewing on the dog's big foot or pouncing on her waging tail. Or she would roll over on her back and look at us upside-down. She would leap in the air after a butterfly or sneak up on a pebble and pounce on it. She would come up and lay down next to Sitka and Sitka would start munching her fur with her front teeth. Little Kitty loved that and would close her eyes while the dog worked her over.

For many months I took pictures of the animals and I'm glad I did. But I gradually stopped because I couldn't just enjoy doing things with them or watching them when I was always thinking, "I'd better get the camera and capture this". Also, so many of the most interesting events involved so much motion that the pictures were nothing but blurs. So all the images of Little Kitty frolicing around in the yard and bursting across the yard at high speed exist only in my mind.

It is so hard to accept that we will never see her again. Her passing has left a huge hole in our lives. All she ever knew was my little house and yard and a few animals and people. When people came over she would approach them and realate to them. Big Kitty would have nothing to do with people and wouldn't come in the house if any visitors were here.

It is so sad that Little Kitty was killed. I miss her so much. She was so full of life and love. Although I had stopped taking pictures months ago I just happend to get a picture of her sleeping a few days ago.

Sitka seems very sad the last couple days. I'm sure she is missing her little buddy.

They had had such good times together.

About a week before her death I took a picture of Big Kitty licking Little Kitty's neck. This is what they always did when they first got together.

Big Kitty has lost a real buddy. They went through a lot together.

Here they are face to face.

Here is Little Kitty looking at a picture of one of Sitka's friends on the monitor.

Oh, Little Kitty, I miss you so much. You gave me so many happy moments. I'm so sorry you didn't live longer. You were such a wonderful little creature. I loved you so. Goodbye Little Kitty.