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Old October 20th 08, 01:26 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.community
Mosey =^..^=[_3_] Mosey =^..^=[_3_] is offline
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Default Anti Heather Pays Tribute

((((((((((Anti Heather)))))))))
You are a wonderful woman who has had so many losses and
I don't know what to say, except my heart is breaking for what you've
been through.
Thank you for your wonderful tributes. They were beautiful.
We all love you for being such a wonderful, caring woman.
You are in our purrayers
Kyla
--in tears for your losses and broken heart.



angelvinvin@
This past year has been a very sad one for the Rennie household. We
have lost far more than any heart can bear. First was Maia, followed
by Maestro, BJ, Kissa, Lady Grey, and Hemi. I would like to take a
moment to pay tribute to all of them.

Maia came to the Rennie household as a foster cat. Abbey Cats was in
the middle of a huge rescue from a high-kill shelter, and she was one
of my choices to be included in the rescue. After going through the
quarantine process, she was let out of the cat room and instantly
became friends with my little deaf boy Secret. It was so cute to see
these two chasing each other through the house, or sleeping together
in a kitty pile. Since both of them were white, it was difficult to
figure out where one cat ended and the other began.

Since Maia and Secret got along so well together, Unca Graeme and I
decided to adopt her. After only two months of being a member of our
family, Maia became very ill and went downhill very quickly. A trip
to the the vet showed she tested positive for FIP. Rather than watch
her suffer, on December 12, 2007, we decided to let her go to the
Bridge.

Maia was a sweet girl who loved to cuddle, and we miss her terribly.
-------------------

[Anti Heather wipes the tears from her eyes and takes a deep breath
before continuing]

Maestro was always a strange little guy, but we loved him anyway.
When we went to adopt Matthias, Maestro took to Unca Graeme and kept
climbing onto his knee. We hadn’t been planning on adopting two
kittens, but had no choice but to adopt him as well, since it was
clear that he had chosen Unca Graeme as his hoomin, and we felt that
Matthias needed another kitty his own age to play with. They were six
weeks old when we brought them home.

Maestro enjoyed playing with his brother Matthias and the rest of his
siblings. He loved the laser light, and anything that moved. He
didn’t like to be held and cuddled for too long, but would lie beside
you with one paw touching you.

Near the end of the January, Maestro suddenly became very ill. We
rushed him to the emergency vet clinic, where he spent two days and
nights while tests were being run. The verdict was that Maestro was
suffering from severe hypertrophic cardiomiopathy. We were in shock;
he hadn’t even shown any signs of being sick.

The clinic told us that although for some cats to do reasonably well
with medication, our poor Maestro didn’t stand a chance. At best, we
would have been able to keep him alive for three months, but there
would be no quality to his life. With breaking hearts, we did the
only thing we could have done; we sent him on his journey to the
Rainbow Bridge on January 22 at 9:30 p.m.

Meowmie and Daddee miss you very much Maestro, but we know you’re
healthy now and in no more pain.

------------------
[Anti Heather blows her nose and continues]

Bon Jovi (BJ) was just a nasty little feral boy of five months when he
came to live with us with his brother Huey as foster kitties. Two
months after they arrived, I woke up one morning to find his brother
Huey had gone to the Rainbow Bridge sometime during the night.
Although I had never been able to pick either of them up, the night
before Huey died, he jumped up on my knee, sat on my lap and let me
pet him. I thought this strange, but also thought that maybe he was
coming around and starting to trust me. Unfortunately, that was not
the case. sniff

After Huey died, I was all the more determined to bring BJ around, and
worked long and hard with him. After a few months, he would let me
pet him briefly as long as I approached him slowly and spoke softly to
him. Since I had managed to bring him around, and moving him would
set him back to where he started, the president of the agency I work
with gave him to me for Christmas.

My little Bj became more and more friendly, and although I never did
manage to be able to pick him up, started spending time with me while
I was on the computer.

Then BJ started losing weight. I became worried and called the vet,
who said to bring him in. I explained what BJ was like, and that I
couldn’t guarantee when I could bring him in, since he fought tooth
and nail when trying to get him in the carrier. The vet told me to
just bring him in whenever I could.

A couple of days later, I managed to battle him into the carrier and
took him to the vet. He told me that BJ was very sick, and that we
could run some tests to see what was wrong. I told him about his
brother Huey. I told him that it would be impossible to pill him or
subq him if he needed it.

With a heavy heart, I made the only decision I could and sent him to
the Rainbow Bridge on June 25.

------------------

[Anti Heather takes a minute to compose herself before continuing]

Kissa came into our lives in 1997, when she was just four months old.
She was born to a barn cat, along with two brothers.

She was a sweet little thing, and I used to carry her around in my
coat while I was at the farm tending to our horse Jade.

We hadn’t been thinking of adopting a third cat. We already had Oz
and Voodoo, but when her brothers met an untimely end, we decided we
had to save her from the same fate.

We brought her home and introduced her to Oz and Voodoo. At first
they were afraid of her. It was funny to watch these two big black
cats running away from this tiny little girl. [Anti Heather smiles in
fond remembrance and wipes a tear from her eye]

Gradually, they all became friends. Voodoo was more fond of her than
Oz, and would spend hours playing with her. I don’t know how many
times they almost tripped us running up and down the hall playing
chase.

When we adopted Matthias and Maestro, Kissa took on the role of mother
to them. She followed Matthias around and made sure that he didn’t
hurt himself. It was almost as if she knew there was something wrong
with him, and that she had to protect him. sniff

As she grew older, Kissa developed a few medical problems. She had
fallen out of the hayloft when she was a baby, and had arthritis in
her back. She had eye problems, and a nervous condition. When
stressed, she would chew the hair off her legs and belly.

Kissa was my bedtime buddy. Every night at bedtime, Kissa would jump
onto the bed and get under the covers beside me. I would put my arm
around her and skritch her chin while she purred me to sleep. Many
was the night that she would wake me up, struggling to get up. I
guess my arm got heavy when I fell asleep. I miss that so much, and
still have trouble falling asleepat night. sniff

Kissa was always a lady. She was my little princess. sniff She is
now free from pain, and I know she’ll be there to greet me along with
the others when the time comes. tears

-------------------

[Anti Heather wipes tears from her eyes]

Lady Grey was a beautiful Russian Blue mix, who came to live with us
from another foster home, along with her son, who was then called
Monaco, and is now called Noah. She was rescued from a high-kill
shelter while pregnant; just minutes away from euthanasia.

Lady Grey didn’t like any other cats except for her son Noah, although
she did learn to tolerate them. She was more of a people’s cat than a
cat’s cat. Although Noah was much bigger than she was, she didn’t
hesitate to scold him if she thought he was being bad, or groom him if
she thought he needed it.

She was a beautiful girl, who loved to be brushed and fussed over. I
miss her.

-------------

[Anti Heather bows her head for a moment, as tears run down her
cheeks. She then wipes the tears away, blows her nose and continues]

Ernest P. Hemingway, Hemi for short, was brought into our household as
a playmate for Marble. He was a hissy little guy at first, but soon
learned that he got more attention if he behaved himself.

He and Marble were the best of friends and did everything together,
even after they grew out of kittenhood. They played together, ate
together, slept together, and even got into trouble together.

Hemi learned early that having extra toes were a benefit. He could
catch a ball mid-air, and enjoyed snagging treats that were being
tossed to someone else.

He was a very loving boy, and very demanding when he wanted
attention. He would jump on my lap, put both his paws around my neck
and lick my face and neck. Sometimes, he would get a little rough and
give love bites. This was a favorite amusement for him at 3 or 4 in
the morning when I was trying to sleep.

Hemi hid his illness from us until October 9. He was taken to the vet
for blood and urine tests. The test results showed that Hemi’s
kidneys were shutting down, and the prognosis was very poor. After
taking a few days to say our goodbye, on October 14, 2008 Hemi was
sent on his journey to the Rainbow Bridge. He left on his journey
from home, with a few of his brothers and sisters with him.

[Anti Heather thanks everyone for letting her speak, breaks into
hysterical sobs, leaves the stage, and runs out of the building]