The Circle of Life

We are mourning the loss of our loved kitty friend today.

Before we moved into our new home, we made an unexpected friend on one of our evening family walks. This friendly gray and white kitten came right up to Della and begged her for love. Their friendship blossomed instantly and he followed us home. He was part of the family from day one. Della and “New Kitty” ran up and down the sidewalk, he’d get in her little play tent and just lay there while she contently played.

We brought New Kitty (This is the name our daughter gave him) with us on the move to the new house and he transitioned quite nicely. Last week Della had him in her room covered up with a doll blanket as he napped peacefully. He would let her pick him up and tote him around. He was VERY tolerable of a two year old girls’ love, if ya know what I mean.

We have noticed two big dogs running loose through town a few times in our neighborhood. Of course, we are still learning the community routines and neighbors. Part of being in a new town. We always left kitty out overnight and he slept safely in the garage. We’d leave the garage door open just enough for him to barely make it under. We knew there would be no way for these dogs to get under the door, so we figured kitty would have a safe place if needed.

I guess these dogs just caught him at the wrong place.

Dylan and I actually got a night out together without Della for the first time in a long while. We went to local fair and enjoyed some fair food and a tractor pull.

As we were pulling up to our house at about 10pm, we saw these two dogs playing tug of war with an animal. We soon realized it was our baby. It was absolutely traumatizing and I am so heartbroken. I’m thankful we didn’t have Della with us in the car. I put the car in park in the middle of the road and ran out to the poor kitty. The dogs ran off. Initially, I thought he was going to be okay and that maybe the dogs had just barely gotten ahold of him. Everything happened so fast, I’m still not even sure what I saw.

So I was checking him out and he didn’t have any puncture wounds or obvious external injuries and he was looking at me. I thought I could take him in for a bath and assess the situation a little better, but he started to seize and then he was gone. I am happy to say that I was holding him and talking to him and comforting him in his last moments.

But I can’t forget the way his eyes changed as the life came out him. Although it was just a cat, it’s a very humbling experience. Life comes and goes so quickly.

Cherish those you love while you have the chance to. We are heartbroken our daughter has lost her pal.

RIP, New Kitty