My Cat Kess, 1997-2009

I guess different people grieve in different ways. As part of my process, I would like to tell everyone about my cat’s life.

Kess was born into a litter with three other fuzzy little female kittens in 1997. Her mom was Athena, my sister’s gray tabby cat. At the age of about 3 months, I adopted Kess’ sister Forest. That’s right, I didn’t adopt Kess straight off.

Kess ended up staying at my dad’s house in Virginia. My dad isn’t the biggest fan of cats, so Kess didn’t get much attention there. Every time I’d go out to Virginia to visit, Kess would run inside with me, pounce on me, and start kneading and purring aggressively. She also had the habit of head-butting my chin. Hard. It was all loving affection, though, and I was willing to tolerate having my chest, stomach, and lap scratched up by her untrimmed claws.

In 2005, I finally decided to adopt Kess. I flew out to Virginia, bought her a carrier and a little mouse toy. I spent most of two days cutting her GIANT mat off of her – it covered her whole body. She was very cooperative in the matter; she seemed to know what I was trying to do for her.

Since she had spent her life as an outdoor cat, she was not litter box trained. I tried putting her in a litter box at my mom’s house, but she just wouldn’t go. I tried taking her outside, thinking that was where she was used to going, but she’d panic and run into the house. She wanted no more of outdoor life! That night I was sleeping on the couch at my mom’s house when Kess jumped up on me, and I was suddenly wet and warm. That’s right; I was the only place she considered safe enough to pee. Thankfully, she was fully litter trained three days later and never went back to this habit!

I took her to a vet in Virginia for all of her shots and deworming, and brought her back to California with me on the plane. Tiger and Forest weren’t exactly thrilled to have a new cat in the house, but Kess was extremely happy to be an indoor kitty. She slept in my arms or on top of me almost every single night. She always wanted attention and affection. I’ve never known a more affectionate cat. She continued to do the enthusiastic kneading and headbutting, but she eventually learned to do it without hurting me.

Just last year, I found out that she had chronic renal failure when I took her in for a routine check-up. We changed her diet, and she continued to thrive. In January, she took a sudden turn for the worse, and we had to step up her treatment to include daily medications and subcutaneous fluids. She was never too happy about these treatments, but she never gave us too much trouble either.

On my last day with her, I took her for a little supervised outdoors time. (In the last few months, she developed a fondness for sitting outside in the afternoon shade). She didn’t seem too into being outdoors, so I brought her back in. About an hour later, I was heading out the door to go down to my studio when she ran across the room and meowed – a clear signal she wanted more outdoor time. So the two of us spent the afternoon outside together, until she was ready to go back in. She slept comfortably on my chest our last night together – her big fluffy tail brushing against my cheek.

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micheledodge

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