A Sad Day

Dottie, In memorium
August 20, 1990 - April 19, 2006

Dottie left us sometime during the wee hours of the morning. When I came out at 4:45 a.m. she was still warm, but no longer breathing. We're very sad.

She was a sweet, loving kitty and up until she was too old, she was quite an adventurer. She was a gift to me from her mother, Olivia. I got Olivia from the pound, not realizing she was pregnant. Not too long after Olivia came to live with me, it was pretty obvious she expecting. Olivia was extremely grateful that I had rescued her and had given her a good home, so when she began delivering her kittens, Dottie was the first one born. Olivia came to me with the kitten in her mouth and laid it at my feet, even before she delivered the others. Dottie was a beautiful little calico. We named her Dottie because she had 3 dots on the top of her head. Olivia seemed to know that Dottie would have a home forever. Olivia, died almost 3 years ago.

Dottie was always a special cat. We lived in a 2nd floor condominium and she loved walking along the railing, tempting fate. She never fell. She would sometimes even jump up on the roof and sun herself. The condo had a storm drain on one side of the property and Dottie would go down there and hunt for crawdads and mice. She was an excellent huntress and I would find crawdads under the mats quite often. Once she brought me a baby duck, completely unharmed. It was one of the nicest gifts she could have given me, and while I hated to return it, I took it back to the storm drain and released it to its mother. Dottie was quite angry with me for that. If she decided she was angry with you, she would urinate on your stuff. I had some clean up to do after that incident. Once I came home to find about 15-20 dragon flies in the house. She was exhausted and had apparently had a busy day.

When we moved from the condo into a house with a yard, she really seemed to enjoy her new home. She was beginning to feel her age, but enjoyed watching the birds and laying on the patio in the sun.

She made her wishes known. When she was hungry, she would sit beside her dinner dish and wait until she was fed. If she wanted to be petted, she would put a paw on your leg or arm, first gently and then with a little claw. Her routine was to get on my lap after dinner and cuddle while we watched television.

She slept on the foot of my bed for the longest time, and then she developed arthritis and hip problems and couldn't jump on the bed any more, especially after we moved to Modesto and the bed was a lot higher. Instead, she had a favorite chair she slept in and a favorite blanket she slept on by the window. She followed the sun - as it came through the window she would move around so she could enjoy the warmth.

We moved several times during her life and she adapted well. She would take a walk around her new surroundings, examining every nook and corner and then settle down as if to say, " This is nice, I can live here."

A few days ago Dottie developed a swollen cheek. Because of her age, we thought it could be an abcessed tooth and took her to the vet. Dottie had lost a lot of weight, but the vet did lots of tests and said it wasn't anything she could find that was causing the weight loss. We pretty much attributed the weight loss to the reduction in food intake that humans and animals experience as they get older. The vet installed a drain in the abcess and prescribed pain medication and antibiotics. At this time, we're really not sure as to the cause of her death.

We're all going to miss Dottie. She was a sweet, affectionate kitty and we loved her.

Love to all,
Corrie and Jim
mzcorrie@frontiernet.net
jmcrhoads@frontiernet.net