Farewell Mr. Kitty
Born: Sometime before 2000
Died: March 1, 2013

He came to me one very cold and rainy night in the fall of 2000, I think it was probably October or November. I heard this God awful noise coming from outside the barn. When I opened the door, in walked this Siamese cat. He was wet, cold and hungry. I gave him a dish of warm milk, which he gulped down quickly and begged for more, so I got him another one, and a dish of cat food too. He quickly devoured that. And began to walk away, I said to him, you sure are a pretty kitty. He looked back at me in a snide way, and then put his head and tail up high and trotted off as if to say, “That’s Mr. Kitty to you, thank you very much”, as he trotted over to the stack of hay and curled up to sleep. From that moment on, his name became Mr. Kitty. He had obviously been abandoned by his family. I have no idea how old he was then, but he was a mature cat.
At first he was not interested in affection or petting, he finally allowed me to touch him after about 4 years, and that was limited to petting him on his head. Over time, he began to remind me of a person on the autistic spectrum. He began to let me pet his head, but he would always raise his head to put pressure on his head. The harder I’d push down, the better he’d like it. If I were to try to pull my hand away before he was ready for me to quit, he’d grab my hand with his claws and wouldn’t let me leave. As time passed, and he became older, he began to like to be petted all over, and he would follow me out and around the farm at times. He even let me give him medication for a sinus infection he had last year, that sure surprised me. He wasn’t interested in catching mice or birds or other things most cats like to do. That was beneath him! Time seems to change things, as this summer, he began to hunt and catch a mouse every once in a while. I guess it just took him a while to get a taste for mice. He started to show signs of loosing weight around January. His appetite was good, and he ate with vigor, but was loosing weight. Then he quit eating, I tried some canned cat food, tuna, warm milk, and he just wasn’t interested. I began to plan the trip to the vet to have him put to rest, but on March ! when I went out to the barn, he was gone. I shed a tear or two, and put him on his bead of hay until I could decide how I would dispose of his body. I will miss you Mr. Kitty, my narcissistic little friend.

Pets can really get into your heart, can't they!....Sounds like you helped give him a good life in his later years....Arlyn

Sorry that he is gone, but you certainly took good care of him.

Hard to lose a friend, he had a good life. Good bye Mr. Kitty

Sorry Tom...

Sorry to hear of the loss of Mr. Kitty. I am a animal lover and lost my Golden Retreiver last May. Hurts soooo bad. Sounds like he had a good life at your place.

Sorry about your loss. I know it is always hard to lose a pet.

Losing a pet companion is almost as hard as loosing a loved one. They gave us comfort !

Know he is in kitty heaven running around and demanding the alpha position

D

Tom I am so sorry to hear about Mr. Kitty. He sounds like a cat I would love to have known. I had a similar experience, many years ago -- a mature male Siamese cat walked up on our deck, and let us know that he intended to live here. He was a wonderful cat -- very intelligent, disdained the other cats in the barn but fought with none, came in the house periodically to visit and then asked to be let back out again. He lived here on our farm for the rest of his life. Somewhere along the line, I learned that he had diabetes, and was discouraged by my vet to give him insulin injections. He lived for about another year, and then like Mr. Kitty, I found him out in the barn, having died sometime during the night. For whatever it's worth, your Mr. Kitty's symptoms sound very much like my cat's and so I wonder if Mr. Kitty wasn't diabetic too. It may be something that Siamese are inclined to, I don't know. I've had many cats -- I've never had another with diabetes.

You were very lucky to be chosen by Mr. Kitty, to be his owner. And he honored you greatly by allowing you personal access to him. I hope your sadness is replaced with wonderful, happy memories. And I hope you see him again.

So sorry Tom.

Eventually, Mr Kitty will meet you across the Rainbow Bridge, where you will both explore other iris gardens together ~Jan

Thanks for the kind words and supporting comments. Tiger, yes another stray dropped off as a kitten, does miss his pal. He sits on my shoulders while I feed and water the horses, and begs attention now more then ever. He rides on the sled of hay as I take it out to the pastures, and jumps in the wheelbarrow and goes for rides. The two are complete opposites. He helps me deal with the loss.

Tom, So sorry about Mr Kitty! I just hate it when animals are abandoned. You really made a difference in his life for sure. We found "spooky" (big black cat with golden eyes) last September trying to stay alive in our barn on mice, rabbits etc. It was ungodly hot in there over 100 many days and he was also sleeping in the hay. I started bringing him food and water. He was thin, his fur was dull and rough and it was also very obvious that he had a serious GI probem: probably giardia, lots of gas and diarrhea. After I found him beat up and bleeding by our neighbor' tom cat, I picked him up and brought him striaght into the house. (to my husbands dismay initially) After $300.00 of care and putting him on pumpkin and yogurt and 6 months of getting used to the other cat and 2 dogs in the living space, he's blossoming. He now ventures routinely to the lower living level. Our vet said she's never seen such a mello cat. Strangely this adventure started after my 15 year old big gray cat Smokey past away and I was trying to figure out if I needed to go get another cat!

Yes, Susan, there are so many people who think pet ownership is an "until" thing, I'll keep you until I move, or until I can't afford to feed you, or until I'm tired of cleaning the litter box, etc. Then instead of investing the time to re-home them, they just take them to the nearest farm and dump them. I've spent a fortune catching and having stray cats neutered and finding homes for some . Many times the cat is a female, and gets dumped because she's going to have kittens and they don't want to deal with that. I don't take them to the humane society, as they just kill them. They get too many. I see a tortise shell cat running about lately, for sure she's a female, and a black tuxedo male. I think the male has a home, as he's really in good shape and only comes every few days. Must live near by, I'm guessing. I haven't seen you on here before, I see you are a new member. Welcome! Usually we talk about irises on here.

Tom.This made me cry.Its awful when a cat is dying and there is nothing to be done except be vigilant and get prompts from the vet.My most favorite cat ever in my 30 year history with them died 2 years ago.I still cant look at his pix for long without tearing up.
I adopted Ben and Jerry from the Humaine shelter in '96.
Jerry is still with me.Ben died of renal failure.
Believe me I am a bit crusty and hardly show that kind of emotion but that cat was special.
You did a great job with your Siamese.
When we domisticated animals we took on the responsibility of helping them when the end comes.Too bad there isnt the same option for us.

...Arlyn