My Evil Kitty

Please forgive me as I’m new to this and don’t know the proper way to grieve, but more than anything, I want to celebrate Evil Kitty’s life as she was a dearly beloved family member for 15 years and that doesn’t end just because she’s no longer here.

This is a celebration of her life.

In 2003, not long after Joe and I moved in together, I decided that it was time to expand our family. I didn’t know if Joe would be on board so I figured it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. So I went down to a pretty rough mall in Kansas City where I’d heard that they cart animals in and out of the mall on a daily basis hoping to find their forever homes.

When I got there, I was immediately drawn to this beautiful Blue Russian cat. So I took her into one of the visitor rooms to spend some time with her to see if she was the right fit for our family. And she wasn’t. She couldn’t care less about me, she was only interested in the sights and sounds of the room… it was clear to me that she wasn’t THE ONE.

So then I turned to her sister… they looked exactly alike and was already 3 years old. Her name was Kadija. So we went into the visitor’s room and she was so friendly and loving and totally focused on enjoying her time with me.  And that was it, I was hooked.  They put Kadija in a temporary travel kennel for me and off we went!

She was very quiet on the way home and I knew that we’d need to move at her pace when integrating her into our family,,, after all, she was already 3 years old and I had no idea what she’d been through… and she was Joe and I’s first baby together and I so badly wanted It to work out.

When I got her home I realized that we were completely unprepared to bring any animal into our home… we had no food, we had no cat litter, etc., etc.  So I called Joe (who was at a friends house) and told him that I’d found a cat in our closet and so he needed to bring home food, litter & box, and a water bottle.  He was taken by complete surprise, but I assured him that we couldn’t just abandon a cat that I randomly found in the closet!!! (No, he never fell for that).

When Joe arrived home, we setup her food and litter box and then released her from the travel kennel. The very first thing she did was rub against Joe and claim him as her person. It was really sweet. And then the first order of business was to address her name because neither of us felt that Kidija was right for her. So we quickly began calling her Kitty in the meantime… and it just stuck. So Kitty it was!

During our first few years together, Kitty and I were inseparable. So much so that anytime I came home from work and couldn’t find her (because she liked to hide), I would immediately burst into tears and assume the worst. Silly me. And I remember on multiple occasions I called Joe at work crying because our Kitty was lost… but really she was just sleeping behind the dyer. 

As those first few years progressed, we just became closer and closer. It was the first time in my entire life that I experienced an intense bond with any animal. She was my baby… she was my world! My best friend (a very vocal best friend… she always had something to say).  And let me reiterate, before Kitty, I had no experience with the intense bond that could be formed between humans and our pets… she taught me a lot.

Kitty and I did everything together including sleeping.  In the blink of an eye she was our baby and we couldn’t imagine life without her.

At the time that we got her, we were frequently watching my mother-in-law’s dog when she was out of town. So when I went looking for a cat, it was important to find one who got along well with dogs and I was told that she did.  But we very quickly realized that that was not case.  She was actually quite aggressive towards dogs.  But she was our baby… we loved her, she loved us, and that’s all that mattered.

She went through a lot with us. Since getting her, we’ve moved 5 times and each time she very quickly adapted and made it her home… she was a tough and brave soul.

About 6 years after adopting her, we added Gunner to the family. With Kitty’s aggression issues, it was pretty tense at first. We knew that she would push Gunner’s buttons and we were really unaware of how far he’d let her go before he had enough and snapped.  Spoiler alert: He never did J

During the first 24 hours with Gunney newly in our home, she stayed in hiding at the very back of our master closet the whole time. At that point, she was my #1 priority. She had been my best friend for six years at that point and I considered her health & wellbeing about the situation as my number 1 priority.
So during the most of that 24 hour period, I slept on the floor in the closet close enough that she knew that I was there and that nothing was going to happen to her. I often reached into the very back of the closet to pet and comfort her. It was very sad and I was scared for her…

But we don’t call her “Evil Kitty” for nothing!!  After that first 24 hours she was ready to come out, guns blazin’, and take her spot at the TOP of our family and that’s when Gunner’s torture began.

I don’t think a single day went by, from that moment on, that she wouldn’t yell at him, hiss at him, and even give him a good smack.  Gunner lived a life of fear…. But I highly doubt her intention was ever to hurt him.  She just wanted to make sure that he knew she was our family’s Boss Bitch.

So between her nasty attitude towards Gunner and her always present resting bitch face, she easily earned the nickname “Evil Kitty” and we called EK for short.

She was a sassy little thing. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it, but she always blamed me for bringing Gunner into our perfectly happy family and she showed it by turning all of her love and obsessiveness to Joe…. And it was hilarious!

The way she hunted him down and played sick just to get his an attention was a full on circus that I loved so much! They had the funniest banter between each other and they both lived to make sure the other one know that they were family.
She chased him around the house, slept in his clean close, howled anytime he tried to take a nap, and harassed him relentlessly in an effort to get his attention… which got plenty.  The rest of her attention was directed at keeping her rivel (Gunney) in his place. She stalked him, she blocked the water bowel if she knew he needed a drink, and she frequently trapped him in hallways.  For his part, Gunny was scared. He was very much intimidated by her and made every effort to avoid making any kind of eye contact with her.  The whole thing was stilly.  But these antics left little room for quality time with me, his mom who spent the first 5-6 years being her rock.

And as obnoxious as she was, she was special. She was ours. She is ours.  She fit into our family as though there were never anywhere else for her to be. It was perfect… even though none of us were. A messy motley crew of softs.

After moving into our last home, her obsession with Joe and become full and complete. 

As she was getting older (17 to be exact), she had the heart of a 4 year old.  She would run around here like a maniac and do the silliest things.  She would dart through the house and land on a plastic bag and pretend send was in the fight of her life (and that was just last week!)! Recently we even caught her hiding in a paper back and you did’t know that she was there walked by she would randomly swat at you if you. Silly EK.

Then one day, about 4 months ago, and out and completely out of the blue she decided that it was time to rekindle our relationship. She started spending a lot of time with cuddlling and, sitting with me while I worked, and all of this was whether or not that her nemesis, Gunney” dog was, close by. She needed her momma and I needed her.

And the timing was not lost on me.  I had the distinct feeling that this re-bonding was due to us both knowing that there wasn’t much time left and we never wanted to be to be any question about the deep love we had for one another.  And I found us both making efforts to spend more time together and show deep love.  And love we did.  Now, four months later, my baby is gone.
Kitty did have a few health issues, most notably constipation We did a lot of bowel massages and did every thing in our power to relieve any discomfort she was seen hald albeit it was short term relief. In the past few months, her personality shifted and she started doing odd things such as eating Gunner’s food which she had NEVER touched before. She also became in love with things like pumpkin bread.  She was just always unpredictable to say the least.  I often said that she had a heart of a four year old which made this whole thing so much harder.

On of the best best thing s about her was her “RBF” (resting bitch back). No matter what she was doing, she looked PISSED.  Mad as hell…. And we all LOVED it.  I can’t even tell you many social media posts were attributed to Kitty’s RBF… it was hilarious and we loved her for it, especially because we knew inside of that attitude, all she wanted was to be loved…. And she WAS.
The infamous of RBF posts of were always my favorite. She was a character in a half.  And I loved sharing her attitude with the world. And she had many fans, of course.  But none bigger than me.

These days the house is quieter and there’s a hole that will never be able to be filled.  I have no idea if we’ll ever get a cat another day, but NOTHING can replace that character who portrayed herself as tough as nails but genuinely had a heart of gold, EK.
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When I think of her now, I think of her as healthy, laying in the grass in the sun next to the biggest fresh of water she could hope for (another one of her weird obsessions).  Nothing prepared me for the loss I would feel over my first baby, and my grieving process has been tough.  I will never forget her, I will never let her fans forget her, and more than anything, I can’t wait to hold my baby again. RIP EK, until we meet again. <3 <3