Our beloved Misty Kitty

Last Wednesday, January 21st, we lost our beloved Misty. She was 16 & 1/2 years old, but she acted like she was much, much younger, so it did take me a little by surprise. Sunday evening she threw up, but since Tony isn't careful with his hot wing bones, I just assumed she had gotten into them and had an upset stomach. But she threw up quite a bit on Monday also and then Tuesday and Wednesday morning she was lethargic and not eating, so Christian and I took her to the vet. Unfortunately what had happened was that her kidneys had failed, and because the possible treatment had a low chance of helping her, especially at her advanced age, we had her quietly be put to sleep as we petted her. Our hearts are completely broken because of this great loss, and I would like to post her stories and the pages that I scrapbooked of her long ago (before kids, when I used to have time to do more scrapping).

Because my brother and both my sisters are allergic to cats, I never got to have one growing up. I take that back--when I was born, my parents had a cat. Her name was Ming, but they always called her Kitty. As a baby, petting Kitty with my feet was my favorite thing and my first word was "Key" (meaning kitty) instead of Mama or Dada. Unfortunately she got sick and had to be put down when I was a year old.

So, I guess my love of cats began early on, but I only know of that kitty through pictures and stories from my parents. When I was about to be married, I couldn't wait to finally get my own cat. I even bought a litter box, cat litter, kitten food, toys and other pet supplies several weeks before the wedding. Tony was also excited to get a cat because he was having to leave his family cat, Nikki, behind with his parents.

As soon as we moved into our house, we began looking. I had previously volunteered at the Ogden Animal Shelter, but I figured that the ones adopted there were screened to go into good homes and get fixed, but that free kittens were in danger of going into worse situations. Many are taken by people who think it sounds fun to get a baby kitty, but then tire of them after they grow up. Some are even picked up as snake food or used to teach fighting Pit Bulls to rip animals apart. So, we called on a free ad in the newspaper and went to see some one evening.

When we pulled up to the house, two young boys came out to show us the little white kittens. They told us that the mama cat had been hit by a car and that they were trying to find homes for these last two. I asked them which of the kittens was the friendliest, and the older boy said it was the one with different colored eyes. It was dusk then, so he had a hard time seeing which one it was, but then he held out a kitten to us and we took her home. When we got her home and looked at her in the light, we saw that she, indeed, had different colored eyes. Her right one was green and her left one was blue. She also had lynx point Siamese markings (they were very light then, but darkened with age).

As a kitten, Misty was CRAZY!!! She was very loving, but also extremely playful and energetic. She loved to run right at us and up the front of our bodies (using her needle-sharp claws) and into our arms. Her favorite game was to hide under the bed, behind the bed skirt, and then pounce out when we were least expecting it and bite our toes. She would also attack our feet when she saw them moving under the covers. I remember quite a few times coming to bed in our shoes, and then throwing them off and shoving our feet, protectively, under the folded up comforter at the bottom of the bed :)

(Uh huh, that's Tony in the pic above--Misty's not the only baby on that scrapbook page!) She also loved to jump up and knock things off of our five foot high mantel and off the entertainment center. But she was also a lot of fun, too. She would fetch little pom pom balls, snuggle in our laps, and had the loudest purr (we always called it her motor) that you've ever heard.

She always loved food. Oddly, two of her favorite things were Pringles and red shoestring liccorice! Of course, she rarely got those treats. And I think because I always had her on high quality crunchy cat food, her teeth were in excellent shape. She sometimes would gnaw on dried flower arrangements and grapevine. During the year she lived at Braegger's while we built our house in Clinton, she especially took to Lana's fake grass-like fronds in her centerpiece!

Tony's favorite thing was to rough house with her. He would hold her like a baby, then have one hand be a hissing "snake", attack her with it and she would bite it. He would also stare her down and Misty would arch her back, bristle her hair up, and hop sideways!

Of course, Misty wasn't our only pet for long. We got a German Shepherd puppy named Magnum in April '93 (who, unfortunately was hit by a car and died when he was 10 months old), our first Yorkie in Feb. '94 (who had congenital defects and died after only a few months--yes we had a horrible streak going that year. Luckily our other animals lived long, fairly healthy lives), our second Shepherd-Smokey in May '94 (lost him to Lymphoma at nine years old), Yorkie-Dutchess in July '94 (Protein-losing Enteropathy at eleven years), Dutchess' puppy-Crumpet born Aug. 8, 1995 (13 & 1/2 and still going strong, that stinker), and numerous puppies and kittens that I fostered through the animal shelter.

Each and every time I brought another animal home, Misty would sniff it, growl and hiss at it, hiss at ME, and then avoid me except to give me dirty looks for three days. After that, she would forgive me and be back to her loving self. I always thought it was so funny that she recognized it was my fault that more animals were in the house and felt the need to express her displeasure.

She got used to the dogs pretty quickly, but always hated other cats. However, she did come to tollerate Nikki during her year-long stay with Tony's parents, and also put up with Tina's cats during the five months she lived there while we were building this house.

At our house in Clinton, she practically lived on the counter, cabinets and fridge top to keep away from Smokey. He never hurt her, but he would always chase! The few times that he caught her he would hold her down with his front leg and lick her in the face :)

We had animals as our children for the first nine years of our marriage, so they got all the love and crazy holiday rituals foisted upon them. Lots of pictures with Santa:

Misty really is in the family picture (from 1995) at the top left, she's just kind of hidden behind Smokey's head.
<--enlarged view (or click on the layout above to see how hilarious Tony & I looked)

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And doesn't she just look thrilled to be wearing that hat!

The pictures on this page are also from '95, the adorable puppy is Crumpy-dump!

One funny story about Misty has to do with mice. She was an inside cat for her first five years of life, but when we moved to Clinton and got a doggy door, she started sneaking outside. Shortly after moving in, we started getting mice in our house. We would find out because Crumpet is a born mouser and totally freaks out when she spots or smells a mouse. She barks and whines and tries to get under or behind any furniture where the little rodent is hiding, and when they come out (many times with our assistance using a broom handle) she immediately kills them. We didn't think too much of it since we were in one of the first houses built on that farm land and there was still a large field behind us. But one day, I happened to spot Misty coming through the doggie door with something in her mouth. She proceded to walk over to a corner, carefully set down the mouse, and then paw at it and chase it around. That stinker kitty was smart enough not to kill the mice because then they weren't fun toys anymore!

When Faith was about to be born, I was worried about how the animals would react. Fortunately, the dogs were slightly interested and fairly glad to have a baby in the house, but Misty was absolutely overwhelmed with happiness. She loved to snuggle next to her, and when Faith was a few months old and would involuntarily grab at anything and everything, Misty just let her grab handfuls of fur and pull them out. I guess it was worth it just to be next to her little buddy, and I think she understood that it wasn't meant to be mean. As soon as Faith moved out of her crib, Misty always slept at the foot of her bed. She let Faith carry her around everywhere, dress her up in doll clothes and hats, and push her around in the doll stroller without jumping out. Because of their close relationship, Faith is taking the loss especially hard, and has been having a lot of trouble going to sleep at night--alone.

We were so lucky to have Misty for such a long, wonderful time. When I told our new vet that she had an Injection Site Sarcoma (cancer caused by vaccine) when she was a year old, which we had surgically removed, he was stunned. He said that that kind of cancerous tumor almost always comes right back with a vengence and kills the animal, so we were extremely lucky and blessed to have her in our family for so many more years. She was a wonderful pet and a true family member. We think that she is being well cared for in heaven by Grandma Braegger, who loved animals and cared for many on her farm; Great-Grandma Smith who was a rancher woman with a soft place in her heart for cats; and kept company by our other pets--especially Smokey.

WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU MISTY!!!!

~In memory of Misty: July 1, 1992 - January 21, 2009~

But we weren't destined to be kitty-less for long, so my next post will update you on our family's new arrival!