Death of a Family Pet

I received a phone call from my mother last night. After several minutes of random chit chat, she interupts my bitching about my old utilities in the new place, and say, "Kerry, kerry. Shitters died."WHAT? So I was a little taken back. I was not aware that this phone call was going to be a slap in the face like that. Usually when my mom calls with bad news she has signs. This time, nothing. No warning or nothing. Just Whamo! Your cat's dead.

Backstory: For those of you who don't know, my cat that I have had since ummm... 1990 maybe, and yes, who's name is Shithead, finally went on to kitty heaven. I know you might think it's mean to name a cat Shithead, so here is the story of why we went about naming him this. It is quite amusing.My sister found this tiny little black kitten. OK. He friends cat had babies, but she told out parents that she found in somewhere. (She was always "finding" stray pets back then.) Almost immediately the cat took a liking to me. It was black with white paws and a little white patch on his chest. Very pretty kitty. So we fed it milk. (Yes, this is bad to feed little kitties, but my sister and I were young and dumb.) After showing him where it's litter box was, we put him on our bed and went to sleep. My cat Baca wasn't speaking to me at the moment, because he was pissed as hell that we had this other thing in our room, so I guess he was sleeping elsewhere that night. In the middle of the night I am awakened by this loud meowing. "mew mew MEW MEW!!!" So I wake up, and the kitten is on my pillow. (Where he fell asleep, right next to my head) So I pet him, thinking he's scared, or hungry or something. So I'm petting him, and suddenly he craps all over my pillow. And since we had fed him milk, it was nastier than normal! He was trying to tell me he had to shit, but he couldn't jump off the bed to get to his litter box. Poor guy! So for that reason, and other minor stories, we nick named him Shithead. He was also a little wise guy. "Shithead". During this time, we were all trying to decide on a name for him. So we were all calling him Shithead. Then about 2 months later, we realized that he knew his name as shithead. So we gave up on coming to agreement with his name, and there it was. A cat named Shithead. (Note: Around the public, aka the Vet, and kids, his name is Kitten.) Shithead was a little shit when he wanted to be. But a smart little shit. He loved to sit in high places and wait for you to come around the corner, then wack you with his paws. He wouldn't normally use his claws unless you were roughhousing with him. One time he snagged the dog. That was when the dog was a puppy, and I'm sure he deserved it at the time! ha ha ha! He also loved to cram his big body, into little shoe boxes. This was hilarious to watch! He used to fit when he was little, but when he got bigger, he would still try to cram himself into the box. He has broken many a good shoe box because of this. I'm going to try to find a picture of my cat in a shoe box to post. It is totally hilarous.

It turns out, my parents were on vacation in Hawaii when he died. My sister was watching him. Now, as shitty as my sister is. She's very sensitive when it comes to death. She once killed a mouse she bought because she hid it in the bathroom so Shitters and Baca wouldn't eat it. It wound up dieing probably because of the heat fluctuation in the bathroom from showering, etc. We had it for a weak, and she balled for at least 2 when it bit the dust. So I feel totally bad that she was the one that had to be there with him. She took the day off of work to sit with him so he didn't die alone. This I appreciate, because nothing made me feel worse when I found out Baca had died. He just left one night and never came back. I suppose he crawled under a tree and died. He was very old and on the edge for a long time, so I was prepared, but I still feel bad to this day that he died alone. Even though they are just pets, we have loved them for a long time, and they have become members of the family. I know it had to have been very hard on her, and I'm sure she's going to take a long time to recover.

I'm going to really miss that cat. I still miss Baca, now I am without them both.So now my parents are down to one pet.

1 stubborn Cocker Spaniel named Cody, who is my dad's sidekick. When he is pissed at my dad, he pees on his pillow to let him know about it. I'm sure it's also to let my Dad know who's REALLY the boss.