Kismet

My kitty, Kismet, is gone. I had to have her put down yesterday. Very sad.

A little of Kismet’s life story. Kismet was from the second litter that my cat Francesca had about 10 years ago. The first litter had two kittens and I gave them to a guy I knew (went on a couple of dates but really just friends). So, since they were such cute kittens, rather than getting Francesca fixed, I let her get pregnant one more time. This time she had six kittens. Six. Oh well.

Francesca had this litter of kittens one evening while I was fixing dinner for my dad and I (this was a few of years before Dad died). I kept going in to the bedroom and checking on the progress of the births and was pleased to see Mama Cat cleaning her litter and some of the kittens nursing. But I noticed at one point that one of the kittens was shoved to the side of the box. I picked her up and saw that she wasn’t breathing. So, using my fingers, I gave the kitten CPR and she started gasping for breath. I put her under her mother’s nose and told her to take care of her. Then I left to check on dinner.

When I came back, the kitten was shoved to the side again and not breathing. I picked her up, gave her CPR again and she started gasping for breath. I put her back under her mother’s nose and said “you take care of your kitten”. She gave me an exasperated look and started cleaning the kitten. When I came back to check on her a while later, I noticed the kitten was latched on to her mama and nursing away. She was alive!

I gave three of the kittens away to my upstairs neighbor and kept three. Cupid, the first born, the one that was born dead and one that I just couldn’t give away (I named her Spot). I asked my dad what we should name the little runt and he said Kismet. It seemed like a highly appropriate name so that was what she was named.

Eventually, through the past ten years, I lost Francesca, Spot (gave her away – she ended up being a cat that belonged in a single cat house – didn’t like other cats), and Kitira (my oldest cat, not related to the others). That just left Cupid and Kismet.

They have been pretty happy living together. Kismet liked to instigate fights with her brother and then would whine when he would fight back. Cupid liked to sleep next to her sister but she didn’t like that very often. But, sometimes she would and I would find them curled up in the chair, happy as can be.

I noticed about a month ago that Kismet wasn’t feeling well. She wasn’t eating much and was sleeping a lot. Then Cupid started behaving the same way. After about a day or so, Cupid perked right back up and Kismet seemed to be doing better. She still seemed to sleep a little too much but, since she was a runt, I figured that she just was taking longer to get better.

When I arrived home from Michigan, I talked to my friend who watched the cats for me and she mentioned that one of them seemed to be drinking a lot of water. Since there are two of them, it is hard to tell which one was drinking too much so I just decided to keep and eye on them and see if I could notice anything.

While I was sick two weeks ago, I noticed that Kismet still seemed to be sleeping a lot and she had lost weight. But she was still eating and, whenever I went to pet her, she was eager and excited to be petted and play with me a little.

During this past week, I noticed an odor about her. Very bad smell. I finally localized it around her mouth and got her to meow at me a few times so I could look in her mouth. She would never let me touch her mouth to look inside. But when I was able to look inside, I saw that the side of her mouth seemed to be yellowish white. I thought she had an abscess and that the smell was the infection. I also noticed she was only chewing on the one side of her mouth. Must be a bad tooth or something.

I finally was able to drop her off at the vet’s office on Friday morning before work. Around 10:00, the vet called me. Not good news.

The vet said that there was nothing she could do for Kismet. I asked her why. She said that Kismet had a tumor in her mouth that had decaying flesh around it (that was the smell), tumors in her liver, and tumors in her lymph nodes. I asked her what was the prognosis and she said there isn’t any hope. Nothing could be done.

We discussed a few more things in regards to Cupid and whether Kismet had feline leukemia or feline AIDS and when we should have him tested to make sure he was ok. Then we got to the business of what to do about Kismet. I finally said I could come down over lunch to say good-bye to her and they could put her down after that.

After I got off the phone, I started to cry. I really hadn’t expected such bad news. I thought she had a bad tooth or something. I thought she would be ok if she had a little oral surgery and some medicine.

At lunch I drove back to the vet’s office and they brought me Kismet wrapped in a blanket. She seemed a little quiet but was happy to see me. I held her for about 10 minutes or so and petted her and told her how much I loved her. She purred and purred and laid in my arms as happy as can be. It was hard to be that close to her with the odor coming from her mouth but I disregarded it since I was seeing her for the last time.

After I had held her a while, the assistant came back in and asked if I was ready. I had agreed to be with her while they sedated her but I really didn’t want to sit with her while she died. Didn’t think I could handle that. The vet came in, gave her a shot and they left me to hold her for a while longer.

I rocked her, wrapped in a blanket, while she gradually fell asleep. Finally she quietly stopped purring, her head fell against me and I realized she was out. The vet and assistant came and I said I would be going. I petted her one last time and realized she wasn’t even aware of anything more so I left.

I had decided to have them give me her body back (in a box of course) so I could bury her at my brother’s house and plant a fruit tree on top of her. He has other pets buried on his property and various shrubs and trees planted. It will be a nice resting place for Kismet.

I miss her. Cupid misses her. She was a good cat who had a good life. The vet did tell me that for a runt who was born dead, 10 years was probably her maximum life span. So she lived a full life and is now happy and healthy with her mom, Francesca, and her Aunt Kitira.

Rest in peace, Kismet. I love you.