When he was little, he would crawl up on my shoulder and snuggle into my neck; when he got older, he became too big for that, but he still sat on my lap and cuddled with me. He also allowed me to play with his paws and spread his "toes" and massage the pads of his feet. Not something most kitties would allow, but he trusted me, so he allowed it.
It was unfortunate that about a year ago he was diagnosed with diabetes, but we gave him his shots and monitored what he ate. About 3 weeks ago, he took very ill, and we had to take him to the vet where we discovered his blood sugar was very low, and he had a major infection. He stayed with the vet for 4 days before coming home, and we hoped that he would recover from this illness. The major infection did clear up, but something happened to him because of it. His health deteriorated, he lost weight, and he finally stopped eating. Toward the end, he walked very little, he could no long jump up onto the couch, chairs, or even my bed, and he seemed to only live on water. He also seemed to stop sleeping and not even real tuna tempted him to eat. All we could do was watch him waste away.
He looked so sad and seemed to give up, and the only kind thing we could do for him was to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. It was one of the saddest days of my life, and grief is what I felt even though I knew it was the right and humane thing to do for him. Knowing you have done the best thing for someone you love, does not make it easy, and watching him slip away was very hard.
Most people would argue that losing a pet is not the same as losing a parent, child, or other human loved one, but I would disagree with that thought. Losing anyone, even an animal, that you love is hard and causes great heartache; a loss is still a loss, and spending time loving the one you lost is just as heartbreaking.
Kit was 4 weeks old when he got him and his brother from a farm. They were very tiny and had not been weaned, so we had to give them kitty milk until we would get them eat other food. We started them on soft food that had water or milk added to make it even mushier.
These are the best pictures I have of Kibby when he was younger, but he is still bigger than when we first got him. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand. For a long time, I did not know what to name him, so I just called him 'kitty', and then I decided to call him Kit, but later I began to call him Kibby after the pet food Kibbles & Bits. Not very original I know, but I just could not come up with anything else, and Kit stayed because I is what was put on the Vet's patient form when we first took him in to get a check up and his first shots.
The following are some of the last pictures we took of Kibby before we had to lose him.
You will notice that he is much bigger then the picture of him when he was still small.
Kibby was the best cat I had ever met. His purr was loud and comforting, but his meow was very low and soft. For a cat as big as him, it was funny to hear the little meow that came out of his mouth, and he did not meow very much.
He had some very interesting character quirks. He loved olive and pickle juice. If you left any in a bowl when you put it in the sink, he would go over and lick it. He also loved my massager. I have an electric massage wand, and whenever he heard it, he would jump up on my bed and rub his face against it. He would even allow me to give him a massage over his entire body. He would just lay there and enjoy every moment of it.
He also had one special toy that he liked. I received an orange tool for the kitten; I cannot remember its original use, but I left it on the kitchen counter for washing, and the next thing I knew it was missing. I later found it in the living room and discovered that Kibby had been batting it around and chasing it. Since Kibby did not play often, I let him keep the orange thing as a toy.
He also loved balls of yarn. He and his brother found a ball of yarn that my other had, and they started batting it around. When my mom saw what they were doing, she chased them trying to get the ball back while they ran around batting it away from her. There was yarn strung all across our living room floor, and our living room has two sections to it, so it was a big area.
Kibby also liked boxes and other small, strange places he could crawl or jump into, as seen in the following pictures.
Kit also liked Christmas trees; he found them fun to chew on, play with, and sleep under.
He also liked curling up and sleeping with his brother, Taffy.
Kibby also like to cover up when it got cold.
