Eulogy for a cat. Kiggy Cabelle (1989-2005)

Kiggy passed away on Thursday, June 23, 2005. She will be missed by her family and friends, humans and feline.

On July 14, 1989, after years of bugging my mom I was finally getting a kitten. I found an ad in the classified section of the OC Register for kittens. My best friend, Jill, and I called and got directions to an apartment in Anaheim. When we arrived, we found a living room full of cats and kittens. A woman ran an adoption service out of her apartment for cats needing homes. She had a playpen full of kittens in all shapes and sizes. I initially wanted a tabby cat, but she only had a male who was very hyper. I was drawn to a scrawny tortoiseshell cat who seemed quieter than the rest. She would sit on your lap and be petted without zipping around like the other kittens. I felt sorry for her because she was kind of ugly, skinny and older than the others. The woman encouraged us to take her as she was having a hard time placing her. My heart melted and I adopted Kiggy.

Little did I know that the reason she was so quiet was because she was sick. For the first three days I had her she had diarrhea. We cheered the first time she had a solid bowel movement. After she felt better, she was a typical kitten. She kept me up all night playing.

Kiggy moved with me all through my 20's and into my 30's. She lived in at least 5 different places, but always took change in stride. While she didn't run to greet visitors, she would always welcome a kind hand and pet. She was a spitfire, though. She was obstinate about things she did not want to do, especially being medicated. She had several bouts of cystitis before we got her weight under control. It was hard pilling her. Luckily she loved hair ball gel and you could hide a pill in that so she would swallow it down. If you handled her gently and patiently, she would often comply. But if you ever tried to force her, she was a little terror. She was all teeth and claws.

The last few years, her favorite things were eating and sleeping. If she could find a patch in the sun, she was in heaven. Kiggy, I hope you find that eternal patch in the sun so you can stretch out and show your blonde footie. Murf.