September 15, 1996 – September 16, 2010
Cita aka Citakitty, Citagirl, “C” and sometimes Sweetpea
It is with a heavy heart that I write you today. My little girl has moved on. She has been struggling for the last several weeks and no matter how brave she was, she just couldn’t make it.
Cita has been HIV positive since a kitten and yet she has been incredibly healthy all these years. I remember once when she was 9, a vet said he had never seen a HIV kitty with such a beautiful coat. I believe it is for all these reasons…
I got Cita on December 15, 1996. She was exactly 12 weeks old. I hadn’t had an animal for more than 15 years. For a long time I thought people were crazy the way they thought about and treated their pets. That was until Cita. As she and I sat outside last night for the last time, I started to reflect on many of the amazing experiences I had with her. Here are just a few.
Cactus Attack Us
I remember I only had Cita for a week or so when one morning, about 5am, I was sitting at the kitchen counter. All of a sudden I heard this little kitten crying and had no idea why. I picked her up to discover she had inadvertently stuck her paw into a cactus plant and there, in her paw, were a good 10 or 12 cactus needles. I panicked! I tried to pull one out but they were burred and when I tried, she cried. I didn’t know what to do or who to call at this hour in the day. Well, as only Cita would do, she taught me that if she chewed and licked at one I could easily pull it out. So that is what we did. She licked and chewed until it was ready and then I pulled it out. We did this over and over until each and every one was removed. Needless to say, this created a bond that has lived on forever.
1,000 Kisses
One of the many treats to having Cita is learning the true art of complete and uncompromising love. Cita was a love bug like none other. More than anything in the world, she loved to be held, hugged and kissed… by me that is! In the morning she would go over to her food dish and then come into the kitchen and scream at me and then walk back to her dish. She would do this until I got down on my knees to kiss her while she ate! (You can see who was in charge here!) In addition she would usually be waiting for me after each massage, up on the chair, so that I would hold her and kiss her some more. After work, if I returned phone calls before paying attention to her, she would scream. Of course I loved all this beyond belief. I often told her that I thought it was the combination of those 1,000 kisses every day and all her purring that made her so healthy. Wouldn’t you think?
Cookie Cut Off
Just to give you a bit more about my connection to Cita… One night I was baking cookies. It took much longer than I had expected. The entire time, Cita sat at the counter watching and waiting. As the evening went on and on, she got sleepier and sleepier yet she didn’t budge. About 11pm, as I was just pulling the last batch out of the oven, she decided enough was enough. She screamed at me telling me she was tired and it was time for us to go to bed! I said ok, left the cookies on the counter to cool and off we went.
Kitty Confrontation
One of the unique things about both my cats is that they come when they are called. If they are out in the yard playing and I am ready to leave, I simply call them and they come running. Ok this may not happen every time but about 95% of the time. On one occasion, I called and Cita didn’t come. I looked around and found her in the vegetable garden. When I confronted her she meowed, looked uncomfortable but didn’t budge. It took me a moment to see that there was a big cat, who I had never seen before, sitting perched on the top of the fence just staring at Cita. Well I went out and picked Cita up to carry her away from that stranger and into the house. Once she was safely in my arms, she looked over my shoulder and hissed fearlessly at that darn cat! Wow what a brave girl.
As I am sure you can imagine, I could go on and on but you might think I am crazier than I already am. I just wanted you to get a taste of this incredible girl that got a hold of my heart years ago and has never let go. I have felt such a connection with her that I find hard to comprehend her no longer being here. Today as I watched her take her last breath I found myself wondering how I will be able to deal with the hole that is now in my heart. She was and still is the most amazing kitty I will ever know. Thank you Citagirl for sharing your life with me!
Oh one last thing. Do you know why she was a tiger tabby? Cause she had a “M” on her forehead. This stood for Miracle, Marvelous, My My My You’re Beautiful! and mostly cause she was (a)Mazing!!!
Please send her your loving thoughts for a wonderful afterlife!
Love, Julie