RIP Misty: (Aug 2004 – Jan 2012) One tough little cookie

It was right from the outset that I knew misty was one special cat. We decided to call Cat’s Protection league and get a rescue cat. I was told a local lady had a 6 week old black kitten ready for homing, so we went to visit him. Smokey hid behind the settee and was too scared to come out, whereas Misty was right there, checking us out. When I asked about her home, I was told she was too underweight and too ill to be vaccinated yet, and couldn’t yet be homed. She, at 6 weeks old, had already fended off cat flu (normally fatal for cats) and had lost most of the sight in one eye, probably as a result.

We took Smokey home and waited till Misty was well enough to join us too, a few weeks later. There started a beautiful friendship. Misty and Smokey were like bookends, and misty saw Smokey as her eyes, as she still adjusted to her partial blindness. It seemed a little funny that she would still turn ‘blind side’ and walk into door frames, but she got used to it gradually.

The first time we let them out into the garden was hilarious. They both sat side by side looking at the grass, wondering what on earth it was, showing faces of disgust at how it felt under foot. To this day, misty still didn’t like grass, and would bound rapidly across it to safety whenever it was essential to do so!  

She has always been a tough cookie, half Smokey’s size and weight, still, showed everyone who was boss. The first time they encountered a cat in ‘their garden’ Smokey ran back into the house whimpering while misty rolled her sleeves up and took charge of the situation cuffing the stranger across the head in one foul swoop, despite him being at least twice her size.

I do think though, that had she been human, she would have been blonde! One hot summer, all the windows were open in the house, and we could hear Misty wailing. We looked high and low, and couldn’t work out where it was coming from. Some time later, I finally discovered the problem: she had climbed out of the bedroom window, jumped down onto the roof of the lounge bay window below, and was then too terrified to jump down, and too small to get back up! She didn’t try that one again!

She also decided that she had the perfect hiding place from the birds too: we found her INSIDE the bird table! No, Misty, they CAN see you you know!! I looked out one day and the cat is in the bird table looking out, and the birds are lined up on the fence, looking on as if to say ‘you stupid idiot, do you think we are going to fall for that?!’

Again about 5 years later, Misty faced another bout of cat flu. She became extremely ill, and we thought we might lose her. Quarantine and nursing, and nope, she wasn’t done with life yet, she conquered a second supposedly fatal round of the disease and came out fighting.

All her life Misty has battled health and illness. She was such a small cat that vets regularly asked was she always that small, was she eating right? Oh yes, to her dying day Misty would polish of ALL the cat food, and poor Smokey had to get in there quick, or lose the lot!  

Misty developed eye problems a few days ago, and a swelling on her jaw. The vet took a look, and said that she had an abscess and probably glaucoma. Misty was due in the following day for an operation. She was expected back home the same evening.

When she went in to the vets on 26 January to have the eye removed the vet was almost tearful herself when she broke the news to us. She said that Misty had a huge facial swelling that was knocking all her teeth out, preventing her from opening her mouth and causing her incredible pain. Squamous cell carcinoma (one of the most aggressive types of cancers in cats). The vet had no idea how she was still eating. Yet, apart from the sudden swelling and eye trouble, she was still the bright, lively cheerful affectionate Misty that she had always been.

Misty was still sedated under anaesthetic when they called to break the news to us, and the vet said the best course of action was probably to put her to sleep while they still had her sedated. I was heart broken. My lovely, caring, sweet, tough cookie Misty was snatched from me. She was such a sweet cat, who had such a tough life that she did not deserve this. But, how brave had she been, once again. We had no idea.

Despite her unfortunate run of luck, on and off eye trouble, 2 x cat flu, and her most recent fatal squamous call carcinoma Misty was always a cheerful, loving, affectionate cat. Nothing ever got her down, nothing at all.

She will be sorely missed, by not only us, but her brother Smokey.

Rest in peace sweet pea. We miss you.