My sweet white kitty, Shasta Sioux, passed just 2 weeks ago. She was 9 years old. She was a shelter rescue from my days in California and she was a bit of an oddity. When I rescued her I had no idea that she was deaf. I quickly figured that out (the official test consisted of an elderly veterinarian getting up really close to her ear, clapping and yelling "HEEEEEEEEERE KITTY KITTY KITTY"). Didn't matter to me, I chose her and I was committed. That girl was skittish... she hid much of the first year I had her and really didn't come out of her shell entirely until Baz was born. Those last few years were heavenly (save for a couple of incidents when she became a stalker of dogs and spent one family vacation torturing my Mother-In-Law's friendly dog Andy). When I say heavenly, I mean that she really finally relaxed. She was the alpha cat; Queen of the house (the capital Q is intentional). However, she was always tolerant of Baz. She was gentle. She never jumped up on laps for cuddles, but she often swept across my or Ben's legs to let us know she was in the mood for love. She was a good cat, and she was mine.
I took a spontaneous vacation down to California to spend some much needed time with a sister-friend and her family & other friends and family. I was gone 10 days. When I returned, Shasta began yowling her head off and didn't stop for 3 days. She was never a meower. In fact, we would joke that she only meowed quarterly; you know: 4 times per year. That was pretty close to the truth. So, I knew something was off. I thought that she just missed us since Ben said that she hadn't made a peep the whole time I was away. At the end of the third day, she had a 2 minute long seizure. The next day the vet told us that it was rare for a cat to have more than one seizure within a few weeks, often times with 6 months between episodes. We had him run some tests so that we could find out what was wrong with her and make sure that it wasn't contagious to our other cat (Hazel Gray. She's Ben's sweet kitty). Over the next 2 days she had over 15 seizures. Twice she went into seizures as a result of me petting her. It was heartbreaking. We made the decision to have her euthanized as I could no longer watch her suffer.
You might find it odd that I am willing to jump back into another kitty relationship so soon. Well, I mourned hard for my kitty. I mourned harder than I ever would have thought possible. She saw me through the end of an 8 year long relationship. She comforted me through a terrible housemate situation. She was with me when I fell in love, married, had a baby. She moved with me from California to Utah and then to Oregon. I realized that I felt a kinship with her because she was flawed and misunderstood. So much of what I have been working through lately resonates around those themes. Yeah, I loved her. A lot. But I set her little spirit free and felt a strong urge to find new kitty kinship. Not to replace her. Oh, no. That could never be... but to open myself up and see what was to be. Funny thing is, I set my intention for another kitty so unlike her. I wanted a cuddler. I wanted a kitty that would be gentle with & not freaked out by kid energy. I wanted a boy kitty. But, I still wanted a white kitty (I just love those white cats... random fact: Did you know that white cats make up only ~2% of all cats?). I began to browse petfinder.com. I posted an ad on craigslist. I was committed to taking on a rescue cat. I really thought it would take longer... but when I saw Lover Boy up for adoption at the shelter in Salem, and realized that he was brought in as a stray on the day of Shasta's death, I knew I had to meet him. Today we brought him home.
When we visited him a few days ago, he was covered in kitty dreads. COVERED. He had oil in his tail hair. He had dirt marks all around his head, ears and paws from his ear mite treatment. In other words, he was a hot mess. Imagine our surprise when we showed up to take him home and he had this ridiculous haircut. Thank goodness he at least feels better, because he looks like a shaved poodle. I've taken to calling him "Poodle Pants". ;)
Here he is settling in after braving his way out of the crate and into our home. He went straight to Baz's room and hung out while Baz played and "gave him a tour".
He then sat though a book about the alphabet, complete with storytelling and random facts about Baz's life.
"Did you know that my name is Sebastian? I'm 3 years old and I like to read. Do you like to read, kitty? This is the letter S. Sebastian starts with S."
He came out of his shell rather quickly. We had been tossing some names around: Dandelion, Wishpuff, Krishna, other variations on Krishna such as Govinda. I asked Baz what name he liked and he informed me that the cat already knew his name was Krishna. From Lover Boy to Krishna? Suitable. I like. And so, he is henceforth known as Krishna.
Here he is being lovey.
He wouldn't leave Baz's side and even snuggled with him on the living room floor long after Baz dozed off for the night.
And then!? He crawled over and licked his little nose. Kitty kisses! Yes. Another great reminder to be mindful of what I wish for... those manifestations are sometimes so spot on and quickly received.
Despite being sick as a dog, I'm ecstatic to have chosen and been chosen back. The smile is 100% proof of that. The rosy glow, on the other hand, is pure fever.
Please send us more healing thoughts. Ben has missed 2 days of work because of this awful illness and is eager to get back... and I am eager to have my voice back and to get out into the sunshine and play!
We then moved on to burgers. It's a rare treat for me to indulge in a burger, and I don't much eat meat in general, so I figured that we should do it right if we were going to do it at all. Insert Kobe beef burger. Oi, yummmmmm. Trust Ben's face. They were *that* good.
We browsed around the bay front for awhile and Ben treated me with a fabulous giant labradorite ring. We visited our fave candy shop and rounded up some chocolatey truffles to take back for our amazing (kid watching!) friends. As we were heading out of town, Ben remarked how incredible it was that we made it all the way out to the coast and didn't even go to the beach. DOH! Total forehead slapping moment. I absolutely insisted that my toes make contact with sand. They did. 
