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The Zoo
Present:
Cleo |
Marc |
Sara
Past:
Buffy |
Chipper |
Holly |
Jonas |
KittyCat |
Marble
Mitzi |
Mickey |
Mr.Mr. |
Tammy |
Mitzi
Mitzi with kitten Mickey
Mitzi had actually belonged to a neighbor down the road and lived in their
barn in the middle 70's. When she became pregnant, she took off to live in a brush pile in the
woods behind Nan's parents. Enter the pet freaks - that's us. After the
kitten was born Mitzi (unnamed at the time and about a year old) would come
out for food and allow herself to be petted, but would always retreat back to
the kitten who
wasn't allowed out. Mom, Nan, Lyn, Matt and I all spent much time trying
to coax either or both of them out. We gave up long enough to go on our
Adirondack vacation and then resumed the chase and we were finally successful!
The kitten was enticed out and Mitzi followed and was captured. The kitten,
all yellow, was named Mickey and Mitzi was of course named Mitzi.
In an attempt to ease the transition to living with us we put them in the garage.
Big, big, mistake! Mitzi hid (with Mickey) under the riding mower - dirty
and greasy. So, we brought them in the house. Marble was fine, Chip barked
(gee, there's a surprise) and Mitzi
adopted the area behind the living room couch as home. Once we got Chipper
calmed down, the cats came out and then were quickly assimilated as part of
the menagerie. Mitzi soon became the ruler of the household.
When KittyCat came to live with us in 1986, there was some friction between the
two, but an uneasy truce was maintained, largely by Fred who was very attached
to Mitzi and took her side.
Much of her time was spent sleeping on Fred's chest whenever the opportunity arose,
meaning anytime Fred would sit or lie down. It was Mitzi who demanded the enclosed pen
in the front yard with the cat door out of our bedroom. Lord, are cats ever bossy!
In the early 90's Mitzi was treated for congestive heart failure and kept on
medication that actually allowed her to get around and basically act like a
cat. One evening in the fall of 1994 there was just too much excitement
and barking, Mitzi was apparently startled awake by the barking and suffered
a fatal heart attack. We grieved.
12/2005
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