It was a very late night. My husband and I just coming home from work at 11:00pm. Exhausted, we didn't feel like cooking dinner and my husband wanted Taco Belle (not my gig, but I relented just once). Waiting in the late night food rush, there behind the menu board, was a little kitten. Not just any kitten, but a friendly, quite beautiful kitten.
Of course, I wanted to jump out of the car and rescue him. But unfortunately I had just been through two years of sickness and newly diagnosed with not having a spleen (another story for another time) and my husband and I went round and round about this kitten that needed saving. Then the kitten disappeared into the darkness.
For weeks I thought about that little Taco Belle kitten. Feeling so much regret for not just jumping out of the car and grabbing him. I wondered if he was okay and if he found a home.
Then one evening, we were sitting in our townhouse living room and lo and behold, the slightly older and bigger Taco Belle kitten was at our glass door like he had finally found us and was 'home'. It was quite a scene and a strange one at that - given that the Taco Belle was at least 5 miles up the road and our townhouse had an 8 foot fence around the deck. HOW did he get here, let alone over that 8 foot fence?!
The kitten clawed and clawed at the glass frantically setting off our very protective Maltese dogs who were now barking furiously at this intruder ;) . I pulled them away from the door and let the cat in (which seemed strangely unaffected by the barking and growling). He jumped in my arms and began to purr and love all over me. "It's the Taco Belle kitten!", I yelled.
My husband was now holding the dogs back while I am sitting on the couch in my own little world of excitement. "But you can't have a cat", he said with a concerning tone. Pretending not hear him (as if that would make his words dissolve), I continued in my excited state already determined that this kitten would be staying. How could he not? It was like fate that I was thinking about him all these weeks and that he found his way to our home miles away and over an 8 foot fence. Of course he was staying!!! Then I hear, "But what about the dogs?" my husband interrupted. He then let go of the dogs and they did their little sniffing and Chance jumped down and rubbed and purred all over them and then (as if he knew what he must do) jumped on my husband's lap, flipped over and revealed his tummy with loud purrs. Instant melting of the heart occurred. Chancey Kitty arrived and became a part of our family from that day forward.
He was so stunningly beautiful. The most beautiful cat we had ever seen. His energy and beauty was so special that everyone fell in love with him at first sight and he with everyone else. He never knew a stranger. His eyes were like deep oceans, his paws like human hands, his tummy like soft down which he never minded anyone rubbing.
Such a gentle, wise soul he had. I don't know too many cats that wouldn't hurt a fly (or any bug for that fact) - he would take naps with them in the sun! And he used his paws like human hands, wrapping each digit around your finger, holding it as tightly as he could followed by kisses. Then he would look up at you with those big blue eyes purring as if he was saying, "I love you so much and I am so happy you're my human". I'd always say to my husband, "pinch me....is this kitty real because I feel like he is too good to be true." He'd even let us wrap him around our necks and walk around with him for hours and he'd just lay there like a limp noodle purring the whole time.
In his earlier years, he could scale any wall, take a groggy human down walking to the kitchen in the middle of the night. He was master door knob opener and healer of all sickness and sadness. He remained King of our house even to the end. He never knew a stranger and everyone that met him fell in love - they'd always say, "That is the most beautiful cat I've ever seen. What a cool cat."
The day before he left us, he followed me around the house talking. He'd reach out to me with his paw to hold my hand and I just didn't understand why. It was constant as if he was trying to tell me something but I couldn't figure it out. I wish I would have known this was his way of saying goodbye or that our time would be so limited. I was so busy that day and although I stopped many times to hold his precious paw, I wish that I could have dedicated my whole day to him...had every ounce of every precious moment.
When we woke the next day, his mouth looked swollen (very swollen). He was 19 years old! I thought perhaps he had a tooth abscess. As it happened, my little Maltese Bella was just diagnosed with blood cancer and Cushings so I had to bring them in together. I enlisted my husband and boys to help me since it would be hard to juggle the two of them. This is when we got the unexpected and very shocking news that Chance had a particularly aggressive cancer. The tumor sat beside his heart, as big as his heart and the swelling was the spread of the cancer.
This is never, ever easy for anyone with their beloved pet. But looking at his half massed eyes and his obvious discomfort, we knew that we couldn't put him through the pain of this cancer. As difficult as this was, we were all there with him....our children, his doggy and my husband and I and it just felt like the right thing not to let him suffer any more. We sat on the floor in a circle in a candle lit room at the vets office and took turns passing him to each other, looking into those big blue eyes and telling him all the memories that we cherished with him and how much we loved him. He purred till the very last moment before his old soul left his 19 yro broken body. As heart-wrenching as this was, it was quite peaceful and beautiful.
On the way home, in the symphony of cries from the boys and my husband and me, I felt that my heart was going to burst and had to verbally tell Chance out loud that I loved him....and just at that precise moment as I uttered the last word....cutting through the sounds of crying...we hear, "jingle, jingle." Chance's collar, that my husband had wrapped around the rear view mirror, somehow flew off and landed on my lap! We stopped the car and just sat there in silence from what just happened - trying to absorb the wonder of it all. Yes, that would be Chance's style...his timing, humor and wisdom have always been so impeccable. "I heard you and I am okay!" in Chancey Kitty talk. Our crying turned into hysterical laughter and comfort. Kind of reminded me of that saying, "when you hear a bell ring, an angel just got his wings."
I know this maybe appear to be a sad story, it's not. It's a happy story that will forever live on through the hearts of our family. How amazing our cats and other animals are in our lives - even though they may not be able to build bridges or skyscrapers, they certainly know how to build love within our hearts - they teach us much.
Cherish every moment with your kitty
YouHaveWings
This was one of the last photos of him. His doggy Bella was very sick and he comforted her all this day. Nuzzling his head as close as he could to her and wrapping his whole body around hers. It was the sweetest gesture of love. Little did we know that he was just as sick as she was and that he would be leaving before her.