As we drove in one evening years ago a little grey tabby came up to us with a sad meow. She was emaciated, very young, and pregnant. I fed her for the next few days and named her Miss Kitty. She had her kittens under our house but probably due to her young age they died. We took her into our vet who spayed her and gave her vaccinations. This was before we knew better about keeping our furkids inside so we kept Miss Kitty as an outdoor cat. We thought we were doing the right thing as she enjoyed the outdoors. She put on weight but she was a small cat. She loved petting. One day she led another grey tabby to the house. This was Daddy Cat. He in turn led his son Casper to us and our furkid family was established.

A couple of years after we adopted her Miss Kitty somehow injured her leg. We couldn't give her antibiotics easily because she would climb a tree to escape our medical attentions so we brought her inside to treat the leg. She stayed inside from that point on and was very happy with home life. We brought in the others shortly afterwards.

Though Miss Kitty was very affectionate towards us she was not that fond of other cats. She was the queen and would swat any and all cats who dared to approach her too closely. She never knew she was only six pounds so she would attack our largest cats. They respected her territory by carefully going around her when passing by. She ruled our house with an iron paw. Occasionally she would let down her stern demeanor and I would see her rolling on her back in the floor, enjoying life.
She always demanded the head spot when eating. Miss Kitty quickly trained all of the later cats we adopted that she was the queen of the house. One time I brought home a stray she did not like at all. Instead of attacking the cat she hissed at me and slashed me across the cheek for daring to bring another cat into the home without her approval. She was somewhat spoiled and very arrogant and we loved her a lot.

We nursed Miss Kitty through a couple of months of an IBD episode where we had to force feed her daily. She finally began eating again on her own. The vet said that her liver values were so bad that it was a miracle that she made it but that was the type of cat Miss Kitty was. Her stubborn streak was what probably helped her to pull through.

The years went by. Miss Kitty saw a number of our adopted furkids die of cancer and heart attacks. She gradually got thinner and less active but she always kept court sitting on top of the couch watching her kingdom. When she wasn't on the couch she loved to lie in a sunny window watching the squirrels at the feeder outside. We had a silly song we would sing to her. It was sung to the Black Oak Arkansas tune "Jim Dandy". It went:

Miss Kitty to the rescue.
Miss Kitty to the rescue.
Miss Kitty to the rescue.
Go Miss Kitty! Go, go, go!
Miss Kitty on a mountain top.
Miss Kitty goes hop, hop, hop. (this done while tapping her head, back, and then her tail)
Miss Kitty to the rescue.
Go, Miss Kitty. Get that squirrel!

She loved this song and would always purr and rub her head against us when we sang it to her.

I have always said that God made two mistakes. One was in creating mosquitoes and the other was in creating death. I am saying this somewhat tongue-in-cheek but impending death has always caused me a lot of pain and a feeling of helplessness. We talked about how we would some day have to say goodbye to our queen but it didn't make it any easier when it was actually time to do it. When she developed liver failure last week our vet tried all of the supportive measures he could in the hope that she would recover her health but it was not to be. This was the one time that Miss Kitty did not get her way and today we knew that she was saying goodbye and was ready to go. We knew this because we had been so close to her all of these years I could read her body language and mannerisms quite well. She told me that she had given up the battle of living and was beginning to slip away. Her quality of life the past couple of days was evaporating along with her general health until we knew we had to say goodbye. I have always made a pact to my furkids that I would do anything to heal them when they are ill but that I would not let them suffer needlessly when all hope was gone. She told me she was at that point and we had tried everything to help rally her. We said goodbye, sang her song to her one last time at the vet as she purred and rubbed my hand. She was so kind to show her love considering the way she felt. After that she went to sleep as we petted her and then she slipped away with the final injection. She is buried in the back yard close to the area where she used to enjoy watching the squirrels play.

Though my heart is in great pain now I would prefer to celebrate her life rather than linger too long upon her death. She was a remarkable kitty with a gentle nature under that domineering queen attitude. She loved us unconditionally and we loved her as well. She looked like millions of other little grey tabby cats out there but she had a special personality that made her unique. I am so honored to have known her and shared her life for more than 14 years. Miss Kitty was a remarkable little girl and she will always live in our hearts.

What a sweet tribute! I had a song for my Callie too; actually, several. Funny how they know the songs we sing for them are special!

What a sweet tribute to Miss Kitty. My Hunter was a bichon and my nickname for him was "handsome Hunter". He loved that. His tail would wag back and forth really fast.