When the sweetest kitty ever was lost ~ Sunday, February 25, 2007

His name was Twitch, and he was the sweetest cat on the earth.

I adopted him less than two years ago after my cat Sam passed away. I was looking on an animal adoption site, saw his picture, and immediatly fell in love. I needed a cat that was good with other cats, kids, and dogs. A hard thing to find, but Twitch had it all. When I went to visit him at the shelter, he seemed to know I was there just for him. He rolled around and rubbed against me, all purrs and kitty smiles. So home with me he came.

He and his sister didn't get along so well at first. He just wanted to be friends, but she would have nothing to do with it. She'd just hiss at him. It took some time, but eventually I caught her washing his head one day, and I knew that things would be alright.

Twitch went through quite a bit in the short time I had him. When I adopted him, he came to live with just me and Smokey in my little apartment. Sometime thereafter I moved in with my then boyfriend, who also had two dogs. Then, a few months later, I moved back out, and it was just the three of us again. My finance came up quite often to see me, and Twitch just fell in love with the guy. (Always trust your pets). Then in July of last year Twitch, Smokey and I all moved down here to Ohio. A couple of months after that we moved into a bigger apartment. And a couple of months ago we adopted another cat, just so Twitch would have someone to play with.

Our little family was perfect. Twitch had Smoke to bug, and Max to play with. He had two people to love on, and people who loved him.

He was such a lover cat. Always sitting on our laps, and jumping on the bed to sleep with us. Usually he'd jump on chillas, then wiggle his way down inbetween us to sleep. He always had to be with his people.

Yesterday was a day like any other. He was playing with his brother, bothering his sister. I didn't have to be at work until 1, so we had a lazy Saturday morning. We even took a nap around 11 or so. Sometime between that and waking up around noon, Twitch passed away. He wasn't sick, and as far as we can tell, he didn't get into anything that would have posioned him. We found him lying on his side under our bed. We took his body to an emergency vet place, and they said they would take care of him for us.

I'm still in shock. Had he been sick or old, this probably wouldn't hurt so much. But he was a young cat, only 7 and 1/2, and in perfect health, so we thought. I don't know what happened to him. The lady at the clinic suspected heart attack. He did look like he just fell over. I'm hoping whatever it was that it was quick and painless.

He deserved better than this. He deserved to live a long life, and to die peacfully after becoming old and cranky. Not so young, and not 3 feet away from his people, who didn't even know.

I don't know how I'm going to tell Nicholas about this. Twitch was his kitty. Smokey can't stand Nicholas, and hides from him. And Max is still new, and they haven't had a chance to get to know each other yet. But Twitch was always there to greet Nicholas at the door when he came to visit. Always rubbed up against him and would love on him and let Nicholas squeeze him and hold him. I don't know what I can say to him. I hope he can understand.

Twitch was the second best cat I've ever had. The first being Sam. I feel so blessed to have two such wonderful cats in my life, but I wonder why they were both taken away so early, and so suddenly. It's such a hard thing to go through.

It's been less than 24 hours, and I'm still in shock. I can't believe he's gone. We'll never know why either.

I'm hoping that Max and Smokey will learn to get along, or Max may have to go, and I don't want to loose another cat. I got Twitch to keep Smokey company after Sam died, and they did get along so well, after that initial adjustment period. But Smokey's old and cranky, and Max is a kitten who just wants to play. I don't know if they'll ever get along. I hope so.

I know I'm rambling, I can't help it. I still can't believe he's gone. It just doesn't seem possible that a perfectly healthy cat simply died. We were asleep for less than 2 hours, and somehow he passed away. I feel guilty. Like if I had been awake, maybe he wouldn't have died. Or at least not died alone on the floor. I know that there's probably nothing we could have done, even if we had been awake, but there's always that feeling of guilt.

I miss you Twitch, so much. You'll always hold a special place in my heart. Rest in peace.