The cat who could fly

She asked me to rescue her!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 years ago, when one of our many pets had died, I stopped into a little pet shop on the way home from work.  Inside the store there was a cage with several kittens and a tiny little white one about the size of a squirrel.  I didn’t know her gender at the time, but she looked up at me and reached out to me with both front paws as if asking me to rescue her.  The pet store worker explained that she was the ‘runt’ of the litter and wouldn’t be expected to live very long.

 

As the sucker I was, I took her home in a cardboard box and promptly handed her to my wife Diane when I walked in.  We named her Kitana after one of the twin fighting girls in the Mortal Kombat video game that our son was addicted to, and for the rest of her life, she was simply called Kit.  We stopped back at the pet store a couple of days later and saw one of her litter mates, a good sized male who was the most beautiful Siamese you ever saw.  But no, Kitana was the most beautiful Siamese you ever saw, and we kept her.

 

She was so small that I could put her into a large “love” cup that we still have, and photograph her sitting in it.  She was small enough to easily curl up in the palm of my hand, and she did just that.  In fact, for all the years she was with us, she would lay on the couch or in bed with me and put her little paws into the palm of my hand to keep them warm.  Or when I fell asleep in the couch, she would climb up on my chest and sleep there.

 

When she recently got sick after losing weight rapidly, I took her to the animal hospital where the young girl at the counter knew who she was named after.  The Vet examined her, and he asked me if her vision was ok, or if she bumped into things.  “This cat can fly,” I said and explained how she could leap huge distances and land with the precision of a Romanian gymnast who just scored a perfect ‘10’ on the balance bar.  It was not uncommon for her to jump from who knows where and land precisely in my shoulder.  She weighed less than 4 pounds when the vet examined her and recommended not performing any extreme measures and we could not afford expensive tests and surgery anyway, so I took her home.

 

Kitana passed away at home on May 20, 2011 just a couple weeks after this photo of her sleeping was taken.  She spoke to me the morning she died, and I held her paws as I always had, but she could no longer fly, and could barely even walk.  This morning, I put her paws under her chin and placed her back into a box to give her back to the world that had graciously given her to us fifteen years ago.

 

The average age of cats is 12 to 15 years I just read on the internet.  Kitana was no average cat however.  She fought the odds, and far outlived the predictions of how long she would ever live, and she was my best friend for many years.  She will be missed, but more important than that, she will always be remembered.  Remembered that is, as... Kitana was the cat who could fly.

 

Reviews

[Jacqueline J]

for me it's always a joy to read about another persons pet and feel the devotion and love they have for them. I guess you wrote this to share her story and also to help yourself heal after losing her. Thank you for sharing this. I'm a big softy and like Desert Dreamer said, it made both sad and happy.

[Sean Allen]

Thank you, Kit was my best friend. I visit her often and bumped into a Cat person one Sunday who was taking pictures of flowers near where Kit is buried. She had had a 'runt' cat a while back as well and her's had died younger as runts usually do which I didn't realize until I had told her how long mine had lived. We were two grown people standing by the beach with tears literally dropping from our cheeks and landing on the sand, thinking about our cats.

[Marie]

I had to read this because of the title. What a wonderful thing...having a cat who can fly..
A wonderful story.

[cynthiabuhainbaello]

Thank you for this heartwarming and touching story of your Kitana, a cat so excellent at leaping she could fly. I have had so many cats in my life and most of them lived long to be with us and be part of the family. Your story brought back memories of my beloved feline friends, some lived well beyond 12 years. Wonderful story!

[Desert Dreamer]

Thank you for sharing this story of the cat who could fly. Sometimes I think it is those of us who have the least expected of them that can do the most. There is great power even among the smallest. Reading this made me sad and happy at the same time, thank you for giving your love to this wonderful cat.

[MS. BABy]

This was so beautiful, I love cats they have been the animals that have chosen me, I have a fisty mini cat just as you had names ChiChi...She was given to us by her mother who no longer could feed her, she brought her to the door and was so tiny she could fit in ur hand....and she is 5mos old now and is just tooo much, so I know how u must feel losing such a life partner.....this was a nice testiment to the kindership that God gave to us when he made animals for us....beautuful