Smooch, Sadie and Kimba

Smooch, Sadie and Kimba

Smooch was a kitten Judy had rescued before we met and had lost the vision in one eye from an altercation with a feral tom in the cotton fields near Judy's home in Loxley. He took to me from the beginning and I found him to be every bit as lovable as his name implied. Judy had named him Smooch because he would literally kiss your face and rub against it energetically when so inclined.

Here he is with (clockwise from him) Simon, Bobby, Roscoe, Remy, Sassy and Rocky

  

Through four houses and more than 15 years Smooch remained friendly and unafraid of anything or anyone - strangers or friends. He was the only cat we have had who got along well with every other cat he met. He was also the only cat we have had (so far) to die of old age. He started fading and had a couple of seizures one day and passed on that night in Judy's arms.I buried him the next day in our cat cemetary, next to Sadie.

Sadie was our first rescue together. We were still living in Loxley and Judy came home from work telling me about this very shy tortoise-shell Persian she had seen at the Daphne Animal Shelter. She said all she could see was the top of her head and amber eyes peeking over the top of the litter box in her kennel. I surprised Judy (and myself) by impulsively adopting Sadie and bringing her home the next day. This is one of only a couple of surviving pictures of her.

She took up residence under our bed and never really came out except at night to eat and use the litter box. When we moved to the farmhouse outside Robertsdale, she started to come out of her shell, but always remained aloof as far as the other cats were concerned. When we bought the Lake Forest house (3000+ SF) Sadie had a lot more room and became more sociable, even deigning to eat with the others at times.

But not long after moving to Silverhill, she started having seizures and behaving erratically and we took her to the vet. He told us she had a tumor on the back of one eye that was pressing against her brain. The offending eye was surgically removed but she never really recovered. The vet said he thought the tumor was too intrusive and had compromised her brain tissue. After a few more seizures and no sign of relief, we euthanized Sadie and she became the first resident of what was to become our cat cemetary.

Kimba

Smooch was actually the one who adopted Kimba. He brought her home while we were in Loxley one day and it was love at first sight for me. She was a tiny Snowshoe kitten who strongly resembled a cat I had had when I lived in Pensacola named Crystal. She had the most striking blue Siamese eyes and the sweetest personality of any cat I had ever seen. I named her Kimba after the white lion in my favorite childhood cartoon.

Kimba was a bit delicate though and we had a number of scares with her; once when she tasted some liquid potpourri and another time after the exterminator came. She was always so mild-mannered and unoffensive and she got along well with every cat we had although she and Smooch shared a special bond. She moved with us from Loxley to Robertsdale to Lake Forest and finally to Silverhill.

She had been allowed outside (as all of our cats before moving to Silverhill) and always stayed near the house - coming when called every time. Until one night in November when the cold weather was moving in during our first winter in Silverhill. Kimba did not come home that night ... or ever again. After a couple of days I guessed that something had happened to her and actually remembered that she had been coughing and sneezing a lot in the days before.

At first, I suspected a predator had gotten her (a neighbor's Chow mix was rumored to attack cats and small dogs) but later I came to believe that she was really more sick than we thought. I honestly think she left us to go die on her own the way animals are known to do. Dying is a solitary thing in the animal world - as far as I know, only humans come together at the time of passing.