My cat died this morning. She was ridiculously old and quite frankly it’s amazing she lasted this long but hey, y’know. My cat died.
Her name was Tiger. This was because we were very young when we named her. Originally there were two cats, Tiger for me and Sparky for sister Lucy. Tiger and Sparky. Never let children decide anything. I think we got them in 1982 when we were living in a Village outside Portishead, which makes Tiger 19 years old. Bravo, old girl.
Tiger and Sparky were farm kittens. They were born under a shed and their mum wouldn’t bring them out for a good few weeks. I remember going back to the farmer to ask exactly when they were born so the vet could get the shots done and he didn’t know. He also didn’t know why we’d want to give them shots. For a long time they lived behind our boiler, scared to come out. Occasionally when we came home we’d see them standing startled in the middle of the kitchen before they dashed back to their new home. When the gas ignited you’d hear this little yelp and scurrying of feet, and you’d laugh, because you were a kid.
Eventually they braved our company and started shitting all over the house. Farm kittens are pretty feral things, but they grow out of it. We lived on a main road (it was one of those villages that consists of 100 or so houses along a B road) and a few years later Sparky was run over. I remember being cut up about it at school that day, even though Sparky was Lucy’s cat. Tiger then became ‘our’ cat although even now, a decade after I left home, I still secretly thought to myself that she was mine first.
Tiger liked to hunt things. We backed onto a couple of fields and then some woods and every morning there’d be a dead rodent, or half a dead rodent, inside the back door waiting for us. I think this meant she loved us. Later, when I got a chemistry set and starting thinking about science, I dissected a few of them and kept them in vinegar filled jam jars in the garage. Years later, after I’d been a city boy for a bit, we had a mouse problem in our flat. James, my flat mate, had only recently moved from the country and was fine with clearing the traps but I got all squeamish. Funny that.
We them moved to Croydon and took Tiger with us. This was when she started to loose it. At Portishead she had the run of the hills with little competition. Suddenly there were many more cats in a close vicinity, including one bitch of a ginger who would come into the house and steal her food. It later turned out she was breeding kittens in the run down shed next door and I felt bad about throwing apples at her, but Tiger was crap at protecting her food. She’d get into fights and loose and once a our neighbours kitten sauntered in a started eating her dinner with Tiger just standing there, bleating like some kind of wimp.
At Winchester, the third and fourth houses, she lost it even more. Again, there was a nasty ginger next door and her territory shrank further. She became a house cat, pretty much. A lazy thing to be stroked and fed. Maybe that’s why she lasted so long.
Last year she started smelling pretty bad and acting up so Mum made her sleep outside in the wood shed during the summer. During this time this ancient old beast turned feral again and got her spirit back, so much so that this winter she’d wreck the kitchen overnight and cover the surfaces in fur, meaning she had to go outside again. Not that she seemed to mind. Back to her roots as it were.
Funny thing, on the way back home on the tube today I started thinking about how she would stretch up the cupboard doors when you were preparing her dinner and make a god-awful racket and then, when the food was put down she’d sniff at it and ask for something else. I don’t often think about her, not like that anyway.
Tiger will be buried in her favourite spot in the garden this evening with full honours and all that. For, after all, she was my cat.
Okay, she was our cat.
My cat died today too…im in pain…sorry to hear about your cat.
My cat Chippy died today in my arms and was fine only seconds before..
My cat died yesterday. She was 11 years old.
My cat had passed away yesterday morning. Her name was Sassy because she looked like the cat Sassy in Homeward Bound. She was 16 years old but we had her for about 14 years. My dad had rescued her from a man who used to beat her with a 2×4. She was getting really sick the last 2 years and started smelling really bad and had trouble walking but the vet told us she was in no pain. My mom found her in the laundry room yesterday morning struggling to breathe since she hadn’t woken her up at 5a.m begging for food. She brought her up to my room to say goodbye. She died in my arms at 8.30 in the morning. I was so upset. I wasn’t losing just a pet, but a best friend. RIP Sassy (6/23/04), we love you so much. You will never be forgotten.
m cat died last night. i understand your feelings.mine was 18 y/o. f*****g life is full of surprises. i will remember him 4ever.
goodbye my little pal.
Zita died today. She was 17 years old and has been a warm bundle of joy and companionship all these years. You see, I’ve never been able to have children, so I “had” her. She has seen me through many tears and difficulties over these growing up years and I am so very sad. It broke my heart to lay her little body in her grave in the backyard today–under the dogwood tree. Thank God for His little angels that come to us in the form of these mischevious, precious little creatures.
my cat died today. she was fine this morning then she was taken to the vets to get her teeth cleaned and she never woke up from the stuff they used to make her fall asleep. she was 16. my familys had her since i was 2. :( i want my cat back.
i walked outside today to find my kitty dead on the street….. i dont know what happened to her… but shes dead i thought she was chillin in the road but …..shes dead…..now shes in a bag in the trash can…how sad
My cat died sometime today while I was at work. He was 15. I found him in the kitchen when I went to feed them. I didn’t spend as much time or take as good of care of him as I should have these last few months. I wish I had. He deserved better. I miss him.
My cat Matchess was 19yrs old, I had him from birth. He was fine, and then on Thanksgiving I came from work about 2pm and he was having a hard time walking. Just was at the Vet the week before for full blood work, and just fine.
I had to put him to sleep this morning. I held him all the day before. I feel like I lost a big part of my life and best friend.
Uwa!!!! my kitten (Ren)will going to die…i always cry to see him so skinny, dont have energy to walks, i really sad because i dont have time to send him to the hospital because i live in hostel not in home.Now, he’s outside, lying with his mum, which also my cat(Cheena)…i dont know what to do..my tears always come out when see him like that….I love him so much..:(
my cat Cami died two days ago. i knew her all my life and she was 16. she looked fine a week ago but she had trouble eating hard food and water. i took her to the vet 2 days ago and she looked perfectly normal like she always did. when we took her there they said that she had something in her mouth that was bothering her. we were supposed to take her back on monday for blood tests to see if they can do surgery. by that day she hadnt slept for 3 days straight and was really weak. they said they were just going to give her a shot so she doesnt get dehidrated. then 2 minutes later they came in and said your cat stopped breathing beacuse she was so scared. she was acting very different before but i never expected her to die. i am 12 years old and i feel miserable. i was so close to her and no one know the pain i am going through unless they lost there cat too. she died from a heart attack but she was so friendly. i feel kinda guilty in a way. it turns out she had a tumor in her mouth and she was suffering. i guess it is better she died before and is now not suffering like she was. i love cami and always will. ♥