# Bittersweet Story



## catgirl83 (Jul 29, 2004)

O.k. Be forewarned, this might make some people weepy. Hope I can get through telling it. 

   

I once had two kitties called Patches (female) and Gizmo (male). They had a litter of kittens together and after we had them fixed it seemed they were still mates. Gizzy was an enourmous orange cat and Patches was a petite stocky little Calico. Giz, however, was a coward, bless his heart. He would jump at his own shadow and never went far from the house. Patch, on the other hand, was a Huntress. She once caught a rabbit and brought it over to Gizzy under the apple tree when the blossoms were opened. She presented her prize to him and they shared it, but she wouldn't let any other cats near. Poor Gizzy had a weak stomach and was sick later, but I will always have that image in my head of the apple flower petals raining upon the sweethearts.

That winter Patches became ill. To this day we're not sure what happened (cancer?). She ate less and less and something seemed wrong with her walk. We brought her in the house to heal where we could watch her. We kept her in my mom's bathroom which faces the front yard. One day I noticed Patch sleeping in a strange place against the wall. Later when I went outside to my shock I saw Giz lying in the same place on the outside of the wall. I almost sobbed. Gizzy NEVER went around front, he was afraid of the cars. 

When Patches died Gizzy walked around that place at the wall meowing and he stopped eating. We feared an epidemic amongst our kitties, and we rushed him to the vet. Giz had to stay overnight in the animal hospital with an i.v. attached and all. The vet said he was suffering from grief and had dehydrated himself.

This year Giz too became ill. I won't go into the gruesome details, but suffice to say we could do nothing for him. One night I had a dream. In this dream Patches came to me. I asked why she was here and she turned into Giz, lay down, and died. I said, "Oh, you have come to get him." The dream was strange in that every detail of my yard was exact, except that the pool cover was open and we had an extra tree in the yard (a pear).

This summer we finally had to make the decision to put Gizzy down. That was the hardest moment of my life, easily. He was 11 and like my baby. My dad decided we would plant a tree to memorialize him. This surprised me as I recalled my dream (which I hadn't mentioned to him but used to find my own peace). I went with him to look. It's hard to find trees in July. We looked at three different places and found nothing. Then we broke down and went to the expensive landscaper. He had plenty, but we couldn't afford them. Then my dad found a pear tree that was healthy, but affordable. I nearly passed out. I tried to find another tree so I wouldn't be making the dream come true. But it was the only choice. That day we put Gizmo to sleep and planted the pear tree behind the pool, whose cover is of course off now that it is summer.

I really found peace from the incident. To be honest, I might have lost my mind to put Giz down without that dream. I just felt I had to share it. I'm not religious as far as a church goes, but the dream and the fact that that tree was the only one we could get convinces me there is at least a Heaven for kitties.


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## mizzkitty (Jun 13, 2004)

what a nice and sad story...you did a good thing at the end.


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