Lucky (left) & Blizzard (right)

A year after I got Lucky, I decided I wanted to get a kitten. I watched the newspaper ads in the spring, until I saw one for two white kittens.

I went to where the kittens were, and found two very tiny white kittens. They didn't look very healthy, and both had ear mites. I could see their ribs. The woman had been feeding them adult Cat Chow, and popcorn. No wonder they were so skinny! I chose the one which looked marginally healthier, and took her straight to the vet.

She just needed some minor vet care, and, mainly, some proper kitten food. When I got her, she could stand on my hand, she was so tiny. I now know she was really too young to have been separated from her mother. She was pure white, except for a tiny black spot on her nose.

When I brought her home, my established cat, Lucky, took an instant dislike to her, hissing at the little kitten. Unfortunately, I didn't know back then the methods for introducing a new cat to an established cat, and it took several months for Lucky, and Blizzard become friends. Despite my ignorance, they became the best of friends, play fighting together, and sleeping together, for the rest of their lives.

Blizzard and Lucky played hard when they were younger, racing around my house at top speed, and play fighting with each other. Although Lucky was initially much bigger than Blizzard, she was careful never to hurt her.

Later, it became pretty obvious that Lucky was a smarter, faster cat than Blizzard. But, when they would play fight, Lucky would let Blizzard 'win' about half the time, although it was obvious to me that Blizzard simply wasn't as quick as Lucky was.

Blizzard was always a very, very sweet kitty. She got into some mischief as a kitten, but it was impossible to get mad at her; she was just too cute and loveable.

Blizzard grew into an absolutely beautiful white cat, with the softest fur you could possibly imagine. Her fur was a bit longer than a typical 'short haired' cat, but not as long as a 'long haired' cat. She loved being brushed, and I would get handfuls of white fur each time I brushed her. Despite brushing Blizzard, her white fur ended up everywhere. I used to buy lint pick up rollers in bulk.

Blizzard quickly became a lap kitty, choosing a spot on me just below where Lucky liked to be on my chest. On cold winter nights, there is nothing nicer than to have two cats helping to keep you warm!

Blizzard never took to being friendly with strangers the way Lucky did; she would hide when the doorbell rang. But with me, she was a real sweetheart. She regularly asked for, and received, all the attention she wanted. She liked me to pick her up, and hold her feet up in my left arm, while I petted her on the especially soft fur on her tummy. She would purr up a storm, and let me rub her tummy as long as I wanted to.

Blizzard's biggest weakness was for catnip. I used to get freshly grown catnip, and give Blizzard some. She went absolutely crazy for the stuff, rolling around on the floor on top of the leaves, licking the floor, and generally getting whacked out. After a while, she could be found sleeping it off.

I used to call the fresh catnip 'kitty crack'. When Blizzard would see me get the Ziplock bag of the catnip out of the refrigerator, she would get very excited, meowing, and putting her paws up on my legs, until I gave her some.

Blizzard was a relatively quiet, dignified cat as she grew older. She still enjoyed playing with Lucky, but less frequently, and not for nearly as long. She spent a lot of time in my lap, and looking out the window from her plush, cushioned shelf at the squirrels from the oak tree next door.

One day, I realized Blizzard had stopped coming when I called to her; she used to come when I called to her about half the time. I quickly determined that she had gone completely deaf, in her last two years of life. Likely, this happened over a period of time, and I just didn't notice until her hearing was completely gone.

On the advice of the wonderful people on the Usenet newsgroup rec.pets.cat.anecdotes, I would stamp my foot when I entered a room she was in. Blizzard continued to talk to me in her lovely, sweet voice, when she wanted something. I often wondered if she could still hear herself, as her meows and other sounds didn't change.

In her last year, she couldn't jump up on the sofa or bed anymore, and again with the help of the RPCA group, I made steps for her, so she could get up on the sofa, the bed, and her beloved window perch.

But, unfortunately, time just ran out for Blizzard. I had taken her to the vet several times over the past few months, when Blizzard seemed ill, or wouldn't eat, but there wasn't really anything specific wrong with her, except that she had lost her hearing, and, unknown to me, most of her sense of smell.

Of course her kidneys were not functioning as well as I could have wished, but the vet said that 'for her age', her kidneys were doing quite well, I was putting the water from cans of tuna fish on her special food, (K/D) which helped make it more appealing, and she was eating enough to maintain her weight at about 7 lbs., down from her decidedly pudgy 12 pounds when she was younger.

Blizzard had stopped eating for several days. She was in no pain, according to the vet, and her lab tests were quite good. But when she wouldn't eat the rich canned food I used to give her as a special treat, or even tuna fish, and she barely raised her head to meow to me, from her bed, I knew her time had come.

I was grateful that Blizzard didn't have a prolonged illness, nor suffer any pain in her old age. She slowed down a lot, but seemed happy, and enjoyed her simple pleasures, such as being brushed, right up until she stopped eating. I think she had decided that her time was up, and her way to let me know was by not eating.

The end was painless, as it should be, and I buried her next to my beloved Lucky, under my lilac bushes, with a stone marker. I put some of the catnip she loved so much, and some of her toys, in her final resting place.

Oh, how I miss my wonderful, sweet, beautiful white cat. Every day.

In Loving Memory of Blizzard
1984 - Oct 4, 2001

All images and text are Copyright © Tom Cunningham
July 26, 2007