Farewell, Sweet Mistrie Rose

 

Mistrie Rose came to the Big Piney Woods in the fall of 2004. My husband said "there is a cat in the wood shed with tiny foot prints, you might want to put some food out." My first vision of her was a blur running away as fast as she could go, from the food bowl on the porch. During the late fall and winter I got pictures of her through the window, at a distance. Through the years I got closer and closer and was finally able to go outside (on the back deck only, not the front where the food was) and she would let me get closer and closer. She finally trusted me enough that, when I opened the patio door, she would come up for a brushing, for treats, for a petting. She would purr and drool and talk to me. I was the only one she ever trusted but try as I might, she wouldn't let me pick her up and I never pushed it. She was a spayed torbie, age unknown. I think she was one of 40 cats that came from up the road, when the people moved. Some of the cats couldn't be caught, I assume she was one of them. She loved the wood shed so I built beds at both ends, there was a bed under the back deck and one under the hemlock trees. She had heated water (thanks to Robyn of the Hotties who sent me a large heated water bowl) and plenty of food. When we quite burning wood my husband turned a large container into an insulated bed, put up on a table. This is where she spent her final days.

She loved the Big Piney Woods and it always was wonderful to see her, in the sun, chasing leaves, patrolling her domain, cat meditating, looking in for one of the girls, watching the geese on the pond. She loved seeing the girls and always visited them once a day when the weather was OK. She even visited during snowfalls and rain storms, so lonesome, yet I could never get her to come in the house. She was great friends with the fairies and little people of the woods. She NEVER went beyond an invisible fence, NEVER going out to the road (we had plenty of times over 9 years to watch her and where she turned around.) I always worried about her because of predators, but she was very smart. I always worried about her in the winter but she put on fat and a thick torbie coat and would be seen on the coldest of days, catching sun rays. I always worried..........

For the past two years she wasn't putting on as much weight as she had but she still looked fit and healthy. A week before she passed I noticed her food wasn't being eaten. I supplemented with everything I could think of including different dry food, Fancy Feast, and finally turkey baby food. I brought the food out to her in the wood shed, checking on her many times a day. Several days before she passed I watched her make a final visit to her favorite hunting spot, she slept under the hemlocks and checked out an insulated bed there. She came to say goodbye, looking in the window, her tiny body must have been cold. It was the weekend and by Sunday I saw her sitting under the hemlocks, bending over. I went out to see her and she didn't run, I knew then she was really sick and the expression in her eyes asked me to help her. Monday morning I found her against the house, in the sun. I put a towel over her, sure she would run. She looked up at me, pleadingly. I didn't know what she would do when I picked her up, but, she did nothing, she was a feather. Once in the carrier she seemed to relax. I put her in the sun on the deck and she stretched out like she used to and slept. I left her there for 2 hours, soaking up the sun. I have very sad memories of that last day, visions I can't get rid of. I stayed with her to the end and she went peacefully and finally warm and safe.

My heart is broken Run free tiny girl, Patches will be there to greet you and all the kitties who went before. Till we meet again, dollgirl.