Several years ago, a small black cat showed up at my parents’ house. She was small and feisty. She was by far the smallest cat there but always ate first. I took pity on her and eventually brought her home to live with me. She never wished to go outside. She was happy inside. She had some long haired breed about her so was a black fuzzy blur as she ran through my home. I called her Thunder as she looked like a little thunder cloud.
She became a part of our multi cat household. My oldest and dearest friend was a huge tomcat I had received as a gift as a senior in college. He required twice daily treatments of fluid. Thunder was his constant companion. When he finally died, I was away from home. I found his lifeless body on my return. Thunder was by his side.
For days, she sat in my lap as I mourned his passing. She didn’t want to play. She just sat with me. When my second oldest cat passed away about a year later, she repeated her care. I could not count the hours I have spent with this small cat on my lap offering me what comfort she could.
The focus of my home slowly changed to dogs. Thunder made the adjustment with dignity. She never weighed more than 5 pounds. She had no front claws. I made her a place which was dog free. She only went there to eat and use her litter box. Many times her aim wasn’t great. The dogs populating my house are huge. Each one, however, always shrunk back from a look from Thunder. She loved the dogs but would put up with no nonsense. In addition, many dogs have made their way from the streets as strays through my home to permanent homes. None of them ever offered to harm her. One look and a dog regardless of size or aggression level would leave her alone if that was her wish. If any dog was on her place on the bed when she desired to go to sleep, she would move the dog. A pit bull I have is usually friendly and dog friendly but tolerates no other dogs around while she eats. The pit bull is 85 pounds and strong. She snarls, growls, and threatens when a dog comes near. I have seen her snarling and growling while eating as little 5 pound Thunder comes to see if she needs to supervise anything going on. With a huge amount of noise, Thunder quietly and purposely will put her nose in the bowl right beside the jaws of the pit bull and take a piece of food and leave. She doesn’t want it so drops it for another dog to eat after she has given her permission. Then little Thunder goes back to the pit bull and does it again. I think she only does this to show she can.
If she wants attention, she comes to me and sits in my lap. If that isn’t her wish, she wakes up a dog and gets attention that way. She usually chooses the most aggressive dog in the room. You would think the dogs would be resentful. They aren’t. They view any attention from her as a prized possession. There was a rawhide bone in the floor one evening. It was a pretty good sized one. A 75 lb. lab and an 85 lb pitbull got into a tug-of-war over it. Thunder and I were in bed. I was reading, she was trying to go to sleep. The dogs got loud in their game and woke her up a couple of times. She jumped off the bed, slapped both dogs with her paws with no claws and then stood on the bone when they dropped it. Neither tried to get the bone back and it stayed there the rest of the night.
A couple of summers ago I built an outdoor enclosure for Thunder and the other cat in the house. Thunder went out once, came back in and never went through the cat door outside again. I suppose her majesty had spoken.
About 3 years ago, Thunder got a growth on the side of her face. Our wonderful vet removed it and we thought that was it. Then a couple of months ago, it came back and was removed again. It then came back a couple of weeks ago. It was cancer. Two days ago, I held her and felt her heart beat slower and slower until it stopped. Her doctor and I stood alone over her lifeless body and silently cried.
Her doctor wrapped her small body in a tiger striped pillowcase and lovingly placed it in a little coffin. She and another doctor sealed it for me and I brought her home for the last time. I began looking for a suitable place in the yard and saw the cat habitat. Thunder will get to use it now. I dug a hole, shut the dogs in the house and spent my last moment alone with my littlest girl.
Her medical bills were extensive at times. She only ate the finest cat food. She probably cost a lot of money. The simple fact remains though. Thunder gave far more than she got. Now, she reigns over all the animals waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge. All of whom feel privileged, as they did here, to be her subjects. Good-bye my little girl. You may have been so very small but you left a huge empty hole in my heart.