R.I.P. Thomasina

My kitty cat died today. I guess she was more Mom and Dad's kitty than mine, but she was mine at the start, when she showed up at our house as a wet, bedraggled kitty hiding under our porch. And of course I had to pet on her and then my brother fed her a can of tuna---after that, she was ours. I took her to the vet and got her fixed and her shots, and she was designated as an outdoor kitty, since we didn't want pets in the house.

That changed in May of 1990 (we found her in September 1989). Mom came home from the store or something and grabbed me to drive her back out the road where a cat that looked an awful lot like Tommicat had been hit. We drove by it a couple of times and I told Mom that I couldn't see where a collar should be, and we always kept a collar on her. Plus I told her that I had seen a cat that looked like ours around, when I knew ours was in the garage or something. About an hour later, here comes that persnickety cat walking up the drive, looking very pleased with herself. After that, she became a house cat.

I moved out in August 1990 and couldn't take her with me like I wanted, but Mom and Dad kept care of her over the intervening years. Occasionally we argued good naturedly about whether she was a Maine coon cat or a mutt cat or what. But she was gorgeous. I have pic after pic of her as a younger cat, with beautiful long fur that was charcoal gray mostly, darker some places, lighter others, with some orange mixed in and I couldn't begin to tell you what other colors. She was just a pretty cat. She caught baby birds straight from the nest, chipmunks, mice......
typical kitty cat.

She was a purrser---meaning she was a purry kitty.

But she got older, and kind of crotchety with age. In 1995, married with kids and living in PA by this time, with 2 other cats, I was diagnosed with asthma and told that the cats aggravated it greatly. So as I refused to destroy what finances we had by taking costly allergy shots or daily medication to keep the pets, we farmed Scruffy out to Mom and Dad and Charlie found a good home also. So Tommicat had Scruffy to torment her in her later years, after years of being an only kitty.

Tommicat aged, and not well. She went thru a period of not grooming herself--and not letting anyone else do it for her. She became very unsocial around some people---not that she was the most social cat anyway, but around those she was not used to, and kids especially, she did not want to be messed with. Her legs became arthritic and it was hard for her to walk sometimes, much less jump or run, although if she had a need, she could. She began not being particular about her litter box habits, and we began to wonder if each day would be her last.

About 4pm today, Mom called to chat, and part of her call was to tell me that Tommi had died today. Part of me wanted to cry, but I knew she was better off, as I explained to my 6 yr old. She is in kitty heaven, purring around the Lord's ankles, chasing mice and birds and so on, with legs that have no pain now. I know Mom and Dad are sad--she has been part of the family for almost 19 years. I wonder how Scruffy will get on--he is nearly 15 and has been with Tommi for 12 1/2 years.

Bye bye Thomasina. We loved you and will miss all that you brought to our lives over the years.