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.
Demonstrating how to kill the mousey.
