A Heartfelt Loss...

Every so often in one's life someone, or something will come into it that can have a profound effect on you for years to come. Such was my cat Loki. He was a beautiful creme colored longhaired tabby of questionable parentage. His Mother was found in a dumpster behind Heidi's Restaurant in Fallon, Nevada. She was only a few days old so a good samaritan took her home and nursed her to good health. I met Mrs. Cathay in the vet's office just before I had my last love Rudy put to sleep with severe kidney failure. We were talking in the waiting room about our ginger colored cats. Mine on his way out, hers only just starting her life, but already pregnant by a wandering tom. Queen Heidi (her name)was in to be checked, and if she wasnt pregnant she was going to be spayed. Alas, she was, so her mommie decided to let her have the litter and THEN get her fixed, I did not know at the time that Rudy would die that day. Mrs. Cathay was joking and said if she has a long haired orange one like Yours, I will give him to you! I said no, Rudy was enough. She left without taking my name or address. It was my turn and I went in to have another water trteatment for Rudy, but the Vet said, no, he has had enough, He needs to just go. I bawled my eyes out, had the deed done, and left. I sat in the car in front of the vet's office all dressed for work, crying uncontrollably. I had lost the best friend I ever had. I called my secretary and told her what had happened, and took two days off work.

2 months later I get a call in my office, and Mrs. Cathay said, I have something for you. But he is too little yet, and she put his little mouth up to the phone and pinched his tail. My heart melted, but I said no....no more kitties! Oh yes she said I will bring him to your office when he has his eyes open.

3 weeks later this lady walks into my office with a basket on her arm with the cutest little orange kitten you ever saw. standing right beside her was her 8 year old son, staring daggers at me and saying his name is Tiger and he is my favorite. His Mom very gently told him that he knew they could not keep any of the kittens, and that he was mine since the day he was born. I started crying again. THey left and in another month in walks Mrs. Cathay with her son, and two kittens. one for me and one for my personnel clerk. Her son knew he had to say goodbye to them but he sure did not want to. I think it did him good to know that I had lost my cat and that I would love him very much and take good care of him. He slept on my desk right on top of my budget and my reports until Lunch hour when I took him into the vet to get his first check up.



Loki was so tiny, and my other two cats were big, so I put him in the bathroom, with a box and a litter pan and food and went back to work. When I came home later, both cats and the dog were staring under the door at the kitten. It was then I discovered he was so little that he could crawl right under the door. SO I put books down in front of the door to keep him safe while I was gone. While I was home, he had free run of the house.

I had a black Cocker Spaniel named Mariah who had not been fixed, and never had a litter of puppies, well she adopted Loki, nursed him and even produced milk for him. He grew big and strong. one night I woke up hearing something purring on Rudy's pillow, and looked, it was Loki, he had gotten out of the bathroom found his way into the bedroom crawled up on my big bed and curled up right next to my head. There he slept the rest of his life.



Loki liked to sleep on his back, and he had the prettiest tummy to rub. He had really lite colored fur there, and it was rabbit soft. Loki was no skinny kittie either, a stout Norwegian, big in every respect. He liked to play with his toys, and had 20 little toy mice that he would regularly lose under the furniture. Every week when I vaccuumed, I would collect the mice and put them back into the glass bowl under the coffee table. He would methodically one by one pull them out, throw them up in the air, toss them over his head, bat them across the room and lose then once again under the sofa. THen he would go back and get another one and start all over.

Loki loved sleeping in front of the fireplace. He and Ethel would hog the rug in front and just splay out on their backs and soak up the warmth. About 5 years ago,I heard Loki in the night caklling out with his mouth full of "mouse" and got up to investigate, I surely did not want anything alive or dead in my bed. He had a crocheted fish in him mouth and he carried it everywhere, Talking the whole time.
He would deposit it at night right next to my head, and then go find another toy. I would eventually wake up with 8-10 crocheted "catches" all lined up on my bed and Loki laying on his pillow batting me awake with his paws. Wake up Momma, wake up! then he would get more agressive at it, start licking my face and purring loudly while batting my face. I knew then that it was most definately time to get up and get him breakfast. He understood the difference between words, He knew his name, and would come when called, (cats dont usually do that) He knew what hungry was and would jump off the bed and puuurrrrow to lead me into the kitchen.







Loki wormed his way into my heart and filled the spot that was left by Rudy all those years ago. He loved me, I knew it, and I loved him and he knew it. Two weeks ago he was fine for breakfast, and fine while waking me up, but an hour later he was dead of an acute reaction to some kind of allergy. THe vet was stymied! His lungs had filled with fluid in that hour and he basically drowned. I was devasted and still am. It is so very hard to lose a pet that you have loved for 10 years. I have lost three this year, two were expected to go as they were 17 and 18 years old, but Loki was still healthy and only 10. It hits you harder when you are not expecting it.

I have a new orange kitten now, named Wills and I had him before Loki left, so now Wills is going to have to pick up the slack and become the lover that Loki was. Schroeder is still here, and is a lover too, but he likes to be left alone. Loki was always beside me. I think Wills will be too. He was trained by the best.