It's been two weeks since I lost my little guy and I have been missing him terribly. I guess I just wanted to share my memories of this special kitty.

I remember the first time I saw him at the shelter where I volonteer. He was actually hiding under the only thing available to him in the cage……his kitty bed. His brother was up front, meowing and looking for attention. Bartlebee was so afraid, so little and shy. I wanted to say hello, so I removed his bed to pet him. He instinctively cowered further into the corner of the cage as I gently stroked his head with a single finger. He barely lifted his head to look at me. He was a sweet little furry bundle of fear and confusion. I immediately felt for him, but knew I was only further stressing him out, so I put his bed back over him said goodbye, and shut the door.

I began playing with him every time I came to the shelter. I would move my hand closer to the end of the toy each time. Finally he began to get use to my hand being close to him and stopped running to the back of the cage. He slowly started trusting me as I petted him. He would still shy away but never for long. He began enjoying our petting sessions. In no time he became so comfortable with me he would let me pick him up. I couldn’t let him roam the room since he was still sick so he would sit patently on my lap. He would be so relaxed his little head and front paws would be hanging off my leg as he slept. Sometimes he would even fall asleep next to my chest.

For a while he was kept in a cage. I remember letting him out to play with him. He was tentative and looked around first before slowly putting one little arm out, then the other. But once he was in the main cat room, watch out! You’d better keep an eye on him because he was on the move! He wasn’t afraid of anyone. He was shy, but not intimidated. It’s very common for cats to bump into each other, hiss and bat each other. Bartlebee would play with GUSTO! But he would never hiss or bat another cat and when he received such treatment, he never fought back. He would kind of look at them as if to say “Sorry ‘bout that. We’re cool, right?” He would acknowledge that he slammed into someone but would move on. He never got caught up in the heirerarchy, power struggles or even strike out due to stress or boredom like so many of the other cats. He was truly a unique and special cat. He was smart, peaceful and loving. We all could learn a thing or two from Bartlebee.

Speaking of Bartlebee’s “Zen-like coolness”, I remember one time he was watching birds from our back door. Ramses, our oldest cat, wanted to kick him out of his spot, so he walked up to him from behind and hissed at him. Bartlebee just looked over his shoulder at Ramses and went back to watching birds. Ramses paused a second (he used to getting his way), the hissed and lightly batted Bartlebee. Again Bartlebee just looked over his should at Ramses as if to say, “I acknowledge you and I know you want my spot, but I’m here minding my business watching outside and I’m not done yet.” Ramses gave up and left. Maybe Ramses cut Bartlebee slack because he perceived him as being a kitten because he was so small. Or maybe Bartlebee was just special and we all knew it.

Thanks for letting me share Bartelbee's story. He is always in our heart and will never be forgotten.

Love your Bartelbee story. Would love to hear more!!! We can never get enough kitty stories around here. I'm sure your Bartelbee knew how loved he was. I sure like the picture of him peeking out from the towel or blanket.

Continue healing and posting.

Hugs

Great story! He was special indeed. I know your emptiness. When I think of a story about my Arthur, it makes me smile, but quickly turns into tears, like right about now. I'm sure you have many more and we would love to hear it.. Thanks for sharing.. Ann

What a beautiful story of a wonderful kitty!

All the best,
Ken

Thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful story. Your photo of your baby is priceless..what an adorable kitty.

We never tire of seeing photos or hearing stories (Hint...Hint)

Hugs

what a sweet and funny story. finally getting to see a pic of bartelbee, he is adorable. im sorry you lost such a cool baby but you gained a beautiful angel. he reminds me of my acorn who was also such a calm hearted peaceful kitty. i hope they are playing together at the rainbow bridge. acorn was kind to all. his big sis (not by blood) would pick on him at times and he would just wave his paw infront of her and she would leave him alone. my heart is with you and we'd love to hear more about your angel

with love corina and her angels

Sorry to hear about Bartelbee. I read some of your other posts and it sounded like alot of the same thing my poor little girl went through. I noticed you called him your bird in one of your other posts, it's funny, I used to call Monkey my baby bird. Come to think of it, I probably had a couple dozen silly names I called her.

Bartelbee, that's a cute name. How did you come up with that?

I can't take the credit for naming him Bartelbee. Some wonderful worker at the shelter named him that when he was dumped at their door. His name fit him perfectly for some reason and after I finally adopted him I couldn't see him named anything else.

As for the name "little bird" it kinda just happened. He was a tiny little thing at 1 1/2 years and he had a little squeak of a meow that sounded exactly like a bird call. I had never heard a cat make a noise like that before. The amazing thing is I actually heard one of my other cats pick up his meow after he died. I always tell people it is their tribute to an exceptional cat named Bartelbee.

That is sweet.

Hugs to YOu!!!!!!!

It has been a few months that I lost my Bartelbee and it’s been hard without him but some days I reminded of small memories that I had forgotten. They are like little gifts to me and I hope they keep happening.

Yesterday as I sat at my computer I watched my older kitty Cyrus play with some paper he had pulled out of the garbage can. It seemed like such a simple thing to sit and watch him play when suddenly I had the clearest recognition of Bartelbee and his love of my paper shredder.

One day as the lonely paper shredder sat unplugged under my desk it must have called out for companionship because my little Bartelbee decided to jump into it. All I could see was a little black tail protruding from the top. After a few minutes he turned himself around and looked at me, poking his head out from the new home he had created for himself. I’m not sure what made him slip inside that first time but that paper shredder and him became best of friends. He had found a new place to play.

On the rare occasions I had to shred something my other cats would run for the hills when the shredder started, not Bartelbee though. The noise never scared him like my other cats but seemed to call him from either his warm spot watching birds or from a sound sleep on the cat tree. He knew what that shredder created….small, fun, cat-sized strips of paper. How he could create a mess in such a short period of time I will never know. He would take just one strip of paper gently out and play with it for just the right amount of time and decide he needed a new one. He would sit down next to it, stick his paw in the opening and pull out another piece to play with. This could go on for hours. I never got tired of watching it…or even cleaning up his homemade toys once he was done.

Bartelbee was such an individual. I know no matter how long I look I would never find another kitty quite like him. He will be forever loved.

What a precious picture to have captured...forever. What a darling boy and the paper shredder story is amazing.

I know the heartache....I know the emptiness inside.

Hugs,

Judy