~* I d e a s f o r L i f e *~

An ode to my dear ‘kitti’

Kitti, or the cute little cat that entered my life on May 24th, 2001 left for heavenly abode today, the 5th of September 2004. His meows still buzz in my head, and I can feel him going round my legs in an effort to show his love. His purr still rings in my head, reminding me of the countless naps we have caught together. I can still feel his ‘bottle brush’ tail, which was the flag of antagonism on seeing another male cat.

Kitti entered my life as a mid-sized cat, extremely scared of his surroundings. His countless encounters with ‘vasu’, another broad-faced male cat in the locality, left him wounded on his left leg and hiding on the back on my settee for days together. A little medication and lots of love, made kitti fierce as any other cat in the locality. At times, his encounters with vasu left him severely wounded. On one occasion, kitti lost his front fang. On yet another account, kitti ate just about anything and swallowed a chameleon. This made him really sick, and on the got him to verge of life and death. A few injections and plenty of nutritious cat food got him back to the pink of health and ready for his next competitor, blacky.

Come monsoons, kitti developed severe chest congestion showing typical symptoms of heavy breathing and an occasional sneeze – symptoms of a respiratory illness in cats. My dad and me took him to the vet, who again gave him injections. I left for Pune on the 31st of August for a new job. On my visit to Mumbai in the weekend, I learnt that kitti had been refusing food for the last 6 days and was living just on water. Again, we took him to the vet who gave him another injection to increase his appetite, which had no effect. Kitti continued refusing food, which prompted Tarun and me to take him to the vet again this morning.

At the vets’ clinic, kitti was unusually restless, wriggling out of the bag and extremely scared seeing the number of dogs there. Seeing kitti’s unusual behavior, we left him inside the car for a while for him to get ‘free.’ When kitti was fine again, we put him back into the bag and got back to the clinic. Another 10 minutes, and kitti was restless again. This time more than anything I have seen. Kitti wriggled out of Tarun’s arms. Kitti got ferociously violent and scratched Tarun to let go of him. Resistance from Tarun got him a bad bite on his hands and me rushing to get Kitti under control. Caught the uncontrollable animal by his neck flap and held him against the ground to calm him down. Now, kitti did what he does when he is most scared. He urinated uncontrollably and finally became docile. Meanwhile, hearing the unearthly moans, the attendant at the clinic asked me to take Kitti to the vet immediately, ignoring the queue. When I picked up Kitti, he was limp, loose and almost lifeless. He was making sounds like sneezing and breathing very slow. Took him to the vet’s table and lay him there. He was gone. My Kitti had breathed his last. His eyes still wide open, he lay lifeless on the vet’s table until he was officially confirmed dead.

The feeling of having a loved one die in your arms is so emotionally traumatic. Though, I was strong when this uneventful episode occurred, I am shaken now. Loneliness gets to me and I can’t help but miss Kitti. I loved him, love him, and will always. He was a family member, and not just another pet. We will always miss you kitty. May your soul rest in peace.

posted by mErCuRiAn @ 8:34 PM