It has been nearly 3 months since C.C. passed away but, even now, this is a very difficult page for me to write. This is actually the story of two cats since I cannot tell C.C.'s story without also telling you about Green Eyes.



C.C.

The first time I saw this beautiful calico kitty was at my mom's house. There were two cats living under her house and I was putting some dry dog food out for them. Since my mom didn't have a cat, all she had was dog food so we fed them that and table scraps.

I can't remember how we found out about the cats -- if one of us saw them out in the yard or if one of us spotted a cat at the entrance leading under my mom's house. At first, we thought there was only one cat - a beautiful little long-hair white kitty with tabby markings. Then, one day as I was putting the food out, I saw this gorgeous calico staring back at me. I told my mom about the calico but, since we hadn't gotten a good look at the other kitty, we thought it was the same cat.

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Green Eyes
Dedicated to the eyes that melted my heart -- I still miss you Green Eyes

One day we coaxed the other kitty out into the daylight and got a good look at her. The poor kitty was all dirty and her beautiful long fur was dirty and matted. It was obvious that she had given up on taking care of herself and we could tell she had been somebody's pet once because she was not afraid of us. We guessed that she had been dumped off by somebody who couldn't keep her or didn't want her any longer. It was heartbreaking because she seemed so depressed -- as if she had given up because somebody she loved had given up on her. She had the sweetest face and the most beautiful green eyes. Right away her sweet disposition and her obvious longing for a home melted our hearts and she quickly became my mom's cat. I didn't live with my mom at the time but I went over there every day so I got to see Green Eyes quite often. Green Eyes soon had her own food dish and toys along with a make-shift house out on my mom's patio. My mom had severe asthma and her allergies to cats aggravated it so she was reluctant to make Green Eyes an indoor cat even though Green Eyes obviously wanted to live in the house and had tried to sneak in several times.

Still, Green Eyes quickly became an important part of our lives. By now the beautiful kitty was trying to groom herself and she looked so much better. Still, the matted fur hung like saddlebags on her sides. We began brushing her and cutting away the matted fur and a beautiful cat emerged. One night, as my mom and I were discussing what to name her, I looked out the window and saw her on the patio. Those green eyes were gazing lovingly up at me. I said to my mom, "Green Eyes!", and my mom agreed that it was a good name for her.

At this point, we had seen the other kitty too. The calico cat was now venturing out and onto the patio for food. Unfortunately, she and Green Eyes didn't get along so, while the calico was fed and we tried to gain her trust, she was still considered a stray that we fed -- along with a male that used to come around nearly every night. But she did have a name - my mom called her C.C. for Calico Cat.

Soon, though, the calico had also become one of my mom's cats even though she still didn't trust us and hadn't gotten as close to us as Green Eyes.

But that all changed one horrible night. A lady that we knew had come to visit and, later that night, my mom had heard Green Eyes crying but she thought it was C.C. and Green Eyes fighting. The next day when I got to my mom's house, I noticed that Green Eyes hadn't come out to greet me. So I went looking for her. My mom was busy making food for the church's Thanksgiving dinner so she hadn't really noticed that Green Eyes was missing. Finally, I found her. I saw her feet sticking out from behind a refrigerator that was on my mom's patio and I called to my mom. Green Eyes was badly injured.

My boyfriend and I rushed her to the animal emergency clinic where it was discovered that she had been hit by a car. We figured that it was the lady who had visited my mom the previous night. The animal emergency clinic wanted us to put Green Eyes to sleep because of her broken back but my mom wanted to save her. When the animal emergency clinic refused to help us, we asked them to take care of her until the next morning and we would take her to a animal hospital that is able to take care of her. The next morning, my mom discovered that they had left Green Eyes out on a table all night instead of putting her in an incubator. This would later cost Green Eyes her life. She had surgery at the other hospital and the doctor was optimistic that she would regain use of both of her back legs but, as he was calling my mom, Green Eyes went into cardiac arrest and died from pneumonia caused by the other clinic's carelessness. We were heartbroken.

I went outside to go to my music room in tears . As I was standing on the patio, I felt somebody watching me. I looked up and saw C.C. was on the roof looking down at me.

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C.C.

Over the next few days, C.C. began to adopt my mom and me. But she was still very independent and would disappear for one or two days at a time. My mom, who felt horrible about not letting Green Eyes become a house cat, quickly made C.C. into a house cat despite her asthma and allergies. C.C. quickly adapted to being in the house .. well sort of. My mom wanted her to stay in at night but C.C. refused. My mom made the room that used to be my room and was now the computer room into C.C.'s room and tried to make her stay in there at night when the dogs were brought into the house. But C.C. had other ideas and would meow her displeasure endlessly. We quickly discovered that, behind that sweet calico face, lurked pure cattitude. C.C. never asked for anything -- she demanded it. If she didn't like her food, we would hear about it until we offered her something else. If she wanted out, we would hear about it until we let her out.

C.C. was very spoiled at my mom's house. This was evident when my mom came into the computer room one night and found C.C. in the comfortable desk chair while I sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair next to her. I had left the room to get something and C.C. had taken my spot. I didn't have the heart to move her but that could also have been because she had finally stopped meowing to be let out of the room!

Not long after that, C.C. changed my mom's mind about leaving her in the bedroom when the dogs were in the house. Although Tinker (my mom's german shepherd) tried to attack C.C. more than once, C.C. quickly made a place for herself among the two dogs. This was obvious one night when my mom called me into the living room and pointed to the couch which was also my mom's bed. On the pillow was C.C., Tinker was stretched out covering the area from the pillow almost to the other end of the couch and, at the end of the couch was Scooter (my mom's miniature schnauzer).

C.C. had her ways of manipulating us although my mom never let her get away with too much. One thing C.C. liked to do that my mom was not able to break her of was jumping into my mom's lap when my mom was dressed up and ready to go somewhere. Being a calico, C.C. had the ability to shed the right color fur for any occasion and my mom had to keep one of those animal hair removers close by at all times if she didn't want to have to change her outfit at the last minute.

When my mom passed away, it was first decided that I would inherit her house. When that changed and I inherited the house I live in now instead, C.C. came to live with me along with Tinker.

It took a while for C.C. to adjust to this house with all of the other cats (I had at least 8 other cats at the time -- mostly outdoor cats). But, finally, after a few months C.C. made herself at home. On most nights when she wasn't outside, C.C. could be found in my lap as I sat on the couch watching TV. We didn't let her get away with as much here as she did at my mom's house but she still had plenty of cattitude. We eat our meals in the living room instead of in the dining room. If I was sitting down to a meal, C.C. would quickly jump up on the couch beside me and begin to tap my arm with one paw. If I ignored her, the claws would come out. If I put her down on the floor, she would look up at me and meow at me until I paid attention to her. If I didn't pay attention to her she would pat my leg -- first without claws then with claws. If all of that didn't work, my leg became a scratching post!! No matter how I tried to be firm, C.C. usually got her way.

In the winter, C.C. would curl up under the blanket that I wrapped around myself as I sat on the couch. In the summer, her kneading paws (with claws fully extended!) were dangerous to my bare legs -- she never clawed the area where my shorts covered, only the bare skin that wasn't covered by my shorts!! Still, nearly every night she was in my lap as we watched TV.

Last January, I went back to College. I used the computer in the living room to do my homework and C.C. decided this was her new favorite place to lay. For some reason, she didn't like sitting on my lap anymore. She also started meowing loudly at odd times for no apparent reason. When she was on the desk, I had to gently coax her to move over so I could see the screen. But, if she decided she wasn't getting enough attention, one paw would reach out to claw my shirt to get my attention. If that didn't work, she would lean down so she could rest her head on my hands as I tried to type. She was the perfect distraction for me when I was doing homework.

But, sometime in April, she started staying in the kitchen a lot and she would sit next to the water dish. We would change the water then she would drink. Soon, she wouldn't drink but kept begging for fresh water and the meowing got more frequent. Then her appetite started slowing down and she stayed in the house instead of going outside. For a couple of weeks, her favorite spot was on the rug in front of the kitchen sink. She didn't come into the living room to sit on my lap anymore and she was losing weight. We tried everything to make it better. On days when she refused food, I fed her through a feeding syringe. At one point, it looked like she was getting better. My roommate bought her a container of meow mix shrimp and tuna cat food and she ate it on her own. But, the next day, when I bought a whole variety pack of that cat food, she wouldn't eat it. More antibiotics and regular feedings of a nutrastat and eggs mixture didn't help. She was still drinking water on her own but she wouldn't eat.

We did all we could to make her better. But there is a point where nothing will make things better. Sometimes you have to say good-bye and this was one of the hardest good-byes I have ever had to say.

C.C. passed away in my arms on the morning of May 6, 2007 at 6:45am.