January 26, 2008- Whitt

Whitt

Whitt loved to sit in boxes.


One year ago today, we had to say goodbye to our cat, Whitt.

Let me start out at the beginning. In 2001, Perry and I moved to North Carolina, for his job. I was pregnant with Phoebe. Perry travels alot for his job, so there I was in NC, alone a lot, not knowing a soul. I was sitting on my porch one day and this pretty black cat comes up to me and starts rubbing against my leg, like cats do. I wasn't fond of cats, and I didn't know if this cat was really out to bite me, so I just talked to him, no petting. He would sleep on the chair, on the porch, so I figured he was homeless. It was a cold February, so I put a blanket on the chair for him to curl up in. He kept coming and going for about two weeks, Then I started leaving food out. All I had was tuna and crackers, and water, and he loved it. One day I let him in the house to snoop around. I thought he might pee somewhere, so I made his snooping go quick. Perry was working in Mexico that week, so when he called, I told him I let the cat in for a little while, and he said go buy some cat litter, litter box, food, other cat stuff, and take him to the vet. I guess we were adopting a cat. I was still not a cat person, but he was a cool cat, so I gave him a chance. I knew nothing about cats, so when I took him to the vet, I told them I didn't know if he was a he or a she. They told me he was a neutered male. So, he was somebody's cat, but he never went home, and I asked around the neighborhood and nobody knew him. So he was our cat from then on.

Before I knew if he was a male or female, I kept calling him kitty. That name progressed into kitty-witty, then to kitters-witters, then to Whitty, then to Whitters, and finally Whitt. Dumb name, but it fit him. He was a Whitt, whatever a whitt is.

We had a fun time together before Phoebe was born. We would play hide and seek, and run around the house chasing and scaring each other. When Phoebe came along, he was good with her. Not jealous at all.

A few years later, another cat showed up on our porch. Same thing, cold February, Perry working in Mexico, cat slept on blanket and ate cat food and tuna and water. Perry calls and I tell him, I think we have another cat. He tells me to take her to the vet...we now have 2 cats.

Whitt and Pearl get along fine. Some fighting and hissing at first, but they settled into each other and loved to be together.

November 2005, we make our move back to Wisconsin. Whitt and Pearl ride back in the car with Perry. Whitt enjoyed hanging out on the seat, watching the states go by. They settle in the new house just fine. Whitt loved an open door and if it was left open long enough, out he went. We usually caught him right away, but one time we couldn't find him. He was gone for 2 nights. One of those nights we had a thunder storm, and Whitt was so afraid of the thunder. He always would hide under the bed. So I felt bad that he was out in the storm. 3 days later, the girls were out in their sandbox, when Whitt showed up next to them. Phoebe scooped Whitt up, (he looked like a wet noodle hanging over her arms) and came in the house yelling, "I found Whitt"! We were so happy to see him again. He was skinny, but he was home.

Well, you think being out in a thunderstorm for 2 nights would have taught him a lesson, but it didn't. Any open door, he was out. We would always find him right away though. He never went far.

March 2007 A dog and cat food recall was issued. I checked the food they were eating and they were clear. A few weeks later, they expanded the recall, and sure enough the food I fed them was on the list. I, unknowingly was poisoning my cats. I had them checked out, and sure enough they both tested positive for renal failure. We had some very sick cats. The vet did her best in trying to get them well again. Slowly they were coming around. Pearl was doing better than Whitt, but it took many months of treatment to get there. Finally Pearl was cleared of it. Whitt got better, but never was healed totally. He was able to live a normal life though. So that started in March 07, and by November I noticed some symptoms coming up again with him. I took him to the vet again and sure enough he was getting worse. The vet treated him the best she could, but told us that it was matter of time before it would get the best of him. So we loved on him as usual, and slowly watched him get worse. For awhile he would look like he was going to beat this, but then wouldn't eat again. His kidneys pretty much stopped working. Finally he looked at us like he was telling us that he was ready, and we took Whitt to the vet and said our goodbyes. I was fine, holding him the whole way there. The second we walked in the door to the vet, I busted up. Crying like a baby. They put us in a room, we said some more goodbyes, and told him how wonderful he was, the vet came in and in half a minute, he was gone. We took him home, wrapped him up in a cute kitty towel, put him in a Rubbermaid box, taped it up, and wrote some sweet things on it about him, signed all our names, said a prayer, and buried him in the backyard. It was a sweet funeral.

Pearl is fine. She looked around for him for a few days, but then got over it. She is now the queen of the house.

We are part of a class action lawsuit against the pet food company, but haven't heard anything since we sent in the paperwork several months ago. All we are asking is for the amount we paid for the vet bills, and the price of the cat food we bought. I still had the receipts and some food still sits in the freezer, in case they want more proof.

Whitt, we miss you, we still talk about you, and how pretty you were. You were not very social unless you wanted food. Then you were our best buddy. You were a good cat, you are missed.
8 days before he died.

being the bum that he was.

grabbing the sunbeam.

lovin' on his girl.

sharing a drink.


tolerating his family.