 My sister, Teena, rescued a kitten
that I named Cricket because she hopped all the time. On
May 11, 1990, KeKe (Cricket) gave birth to 5 kittens. The
set of torti twins stole my heart immediately. The boy,
however, died within a few days. Hubby, Skip said I could
not have the other twin, which I had named Schmekel, but
he and Teena had secretly discussed bringing her home on
my birthday.
Skip brought Schmekel home in a
box, she was making no secret of the fact that she wanted
out of this box, she was wailing to get out! She had a
ribbon tied around her neck and I grabbed her up and took
it off. I was so excited to have my new baby! Skip turned
to me and said, "I get the woman a diamond and she
doesn't even notice." There was a gorgeous diamond
band on the ribbon! He was right! I didn't even see it, I
only had eyes for Schmekel!
From the start she made it clear
that she was my cat. She could be such a witch! If anyone
else touched her without permission, they paid for it in
skin. Not me though, she followed me everywhere for 5
years. In fact, I did not see her slip out the door to
follow me to a friend's house where I was tending their
dog during the day. She saw the dog, hissed and he gave
chase. It looked like he only scared a life or 2 out of
her and we didn't pay much attention to the incident.
About a year later Schmekel
started getting sick. She vomited almost everything she
ate and began losing weight. Her doctors did every test
in the world, I think, but could come up with no reason
why this was happening. Her eyes told us that she was
very ill indeed. The doc's suggested that we try taking
her to the veterinary school at Virginia Tech for more
extensive testing. There they discovered an Esophigial
Stricture, meaning her esophigus was collapsed. That
incident with the dog we had laughed off was more serious
than we could ever expect. Apparently he had tromped on
her throat which led to the formation of scar tissue
causing the collapse. On Monday, September 10, 1995 the
doctors performed balloon surgery on Schmekel to reopen
her esophigus, but her esophigus ruptured. I had to make
the decision from 4 hours away from my baby to let her
cross the bridge.
There is no way really to describe
my relationship with Schmekel, what I've said here is
just the surface. She was my best friend and not a day
goes by that I don't have her in my thoughts and ask her
forgiveness for me not being with her at the end. This is
very hard for me to live with, that I didn't get to say
goodbye. We travelled to the hospital the following day
to bring her home.
I don't think Schmekel's spirit
has found her way home though, at least not yet. I have
dreamed of all the other babies I've lost through the
years, but I have never dreamed of Schmekel. I'm still
wait for her to find me. She was such a headstrong little
girl, I can't imagine her giving up.
 
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