Post by Noofies on Sept 30, 2004 12:34:45 GMT -5
She had gotten old and frail, and she passed peacefully during the night.
Tootsieroll was born at a nuclear plant in southern New Jersey 14 years ago. The plant is on an artificial island built by the Army Corps of Engineers; during the years the island was under construction feral cats took up residence, their numbers augmented by dumped cats. There was quite a large population of cats on the island. Since cats can get into areas where they might be irradiated and the electric company doesn't want mutant kitties, every spring they comb through the complex every couple of weeks, catching and euthanizing any feline they find.
Somehow, Tootsieroll escaped the sweep that caught her mom and littermates, and a week later I found her curled up sleeping in the sun next to the construction trailer I was working in. She was teeny-tiny, a little rack of bones covered in black and white fluff. The vet said she was the size of a 2-week old kitten but, based on her teeth, was probably 5 weeks old. She weighed under 8 oz. The vet said she was a boy. I took her home, fed her as much KMR and A/D as she'd eat, watched this feisty little fluffball begin to put on some weight, and tried to find an appropriate boy name for her but just couldn't find the right one. After a few days, when her bottom wasn't so swollen from diarrhea, I began to think that she was a girl instead of a boy, and when I took her back to the vet 10 days after the first visit, the vet confirmed it. At that visit she weighed 1.75 pounds - she'd gained 1.25 pounds in 10 days!
The sweet, feisty kitten turned into a sweet, solid adult. Her endearing little idiosyncracies made me laugh. She'd rub her teeth on my toes - affection? brushing them? - and it was very hard not to kick her reflexively. It tickled! Every night at bedtime, she'd exfoliate my forehead and eyebrows. During the winter she was my nightcap, sleeping curled around the top of my head, between my head and the wall. During the warmer months she slept next to my shoulder, almost but not quite touching me. Though she welcomed new cats/kittens (that's the baby bat Miss Lucy Maud with her in the picture) and was always kind and nurturing, her favorite pal was Calliope who, though only 6 months older than Tootsieroll, adopted her when she was a kitten and was always her substitute mom. (Calliope left for the Bridge 5 years ago, and I know she was there this morning to welcome her friend with love.)
Farewell my sweet nuclear kitty, and Godspeed. You live on always in my heart.
