In memorian ; Witje

Witje

Just this morning we had the usual routine of me getting out of bed and Witje trying to attract my attention by getting in front of my feet and making sure I will not forget to feed her. I was supposed to be gone for the day today, but the appointment got moved to another date, so I was working at home, when all of a sudden I heard the strangest sounds coming from upstairs. I went up to see what was going on, only to find Witje having a serious attaque of some sort where she was heavily convulsing and well… I just knew what it meant. I held her until she stopped shaking, laid her on her pillow and called the vet.

Thankfully Tom was not that far away so I could wait for him to arrive before we went to the vet together to say farewell to Witje… I knew it was gonna happen, but after last week when I wrote to you that she wasn’t doing so great, she sort of became a little bit better but in the end it was no surprise that she was about to be at the end of her life. Still another respectable age; 20 years is quite a high age for a cat.

Nevertheless; that doesn’t make it any easier to lose her… She was born in 1990 and I remember Peter (my boyfriend at the time) and I picked her up together with her little brother Casper. She used to be completely white, so that is why we picked the fabulous name of Witje (which means white…I know, I know…lack of fantasy at the time I think) and we took them both home.

From the very beginning she was always very close to me. Which is why -when Peter and I split up a couple of months later, she came with me and her brother stayed with Peter. I have always felt that Witje was somewhat mentally handicapped. Her mother died before they were two weeks old, meaning that she had some trouble with the regular stuff that mum-cats teach their kids, such as going to the ‘loo’. That has always been somewhat of an issue in that she kept missing the cat-toilet on regular occassions… Hmm… well, what can I say? But that was not the reason I thought she was mentally handicapped; it were other little things, like the way I think she sometimes thought she was a dog, or maybe even a rabbit…She could react very strange to certain things and in actual fact it was a blessing for her probably that she became deaf at about 15 years of age. Being deaf meant that she also became much more relaxed. Not hearing all the sounds anymore was a good thing for her!

She was never a real outdoors cat, but she could sit for hours in her little patch of garden and enjoy the sunshine. Literally she loved sunbathing and could sit like the way she is sitting in the photo on the left for hours. Lately she didn’t come downstairs anymore, except to eat. She slept in the attick, came to the first floor for food and went back up again to sleep some more. Over the last couple of weeks she started screaming at night (so not very good for our night rest) which is something that Joepie used to do as well. I am not sure why, as – according to the vet – it wasn’t because she was in pain; it is just something that older cats can do. To me it was a form of dementia as other things in her character changed as well. Her daily routine changed and she became less social. Sleeping more and more, which I guess is natural when you’re that old.

Her and Gizmo always used to be really close (as you can see below) which started from when we got Gizmo. Witje was two years at the time and has acted as a mother to Gizmo from the beginning, with it going as far as she nursing the little kitten Gizmo was at the time. Obviously no milk, but apparently they both felt good by the action itself and they remained close until Witje started changing about one or two years ago. No more curling up together but they have always been very friendly towards eachother which cannot be said of all our cats!

I don’t actually think that Gizmo will even notice that Witje is no longer there. It was the same when Joepie was no longer there; they didn’t even notice. Cats can be cruel like that or maybe it is just mother nature.

Whatever the case; we will dearly miss her!!

Gizmo and Witje