More sad cat news

For next week's Meowy Monday, I was going to share a little surprise. Another kitten I doubt I mentioned when Sötis had died and one that did show up in the kitten pics here.

I was going to tell you about the adorable little furball called Vitfluff, Lille Plutt (= "little runt") -- yeah, even less of a name than Snuttis and Ullegull, not even one name. How Plutten had a rocky start as an unusually tiny kitten with a neglecting mum and us worrying about if they were really healthy, but managed to survive as the only one in a litter of four. Growing slowly, but at least it seemed that we didn't have to fear anything too serious due to the difficulty to get the mum to feed her kittens nor showing any signs of innate damages.

Plutten had also started to play a bit with Ullegull, Sötis (at the beginning, before his fatal accident) and Snuttis. Sure, they were much bigger and the roughhousing was a bit too much at times, but at least the little runt didn't have to feel too lonly without siblings and a mum only occasionally appearing. Plutten did feel left out sometimes as all the other cats jumped up in our beds to sleep, cuddle, play, feed (the kittens on their mums) -- but would let us know with loud meows so we could act as personal elevators. For my sister's bed, we installed a flat scratching post as a ramp, which made it much easier for the little one to join the others. And soon someone learnt how to climb up the side of the beds too. Very cute to look at because their was so much determination and toil involved.

I was going to tell about the special little things Plutten did. All cats have a special thing or manner. E.g. Plutten liked to sit on our clogs all the time, whether we had our feet in them or not. Other cats love to play with clogs, but we've never had a "clog sitter": Sometimes I'd also call the kitty Pig because of the horrible table manner: paws and face dug into the food, growling at anyone daring to get near. Especially bad idea if you're a long-haired cat (one of the reasons for the lack of photos of Vitfluff so far is that someone simply was too dirty to publish photos off as our photo sessions often occured after a meal...) -- and even more so if you're a long-haired cat with a neglecting mum that doesn't want to help you to clean yourself. The runt was also constantly hungry and always demanded early breakfast by standing next to our beds meowing loudly until we woke up and caved in.

I was going to tell all that. But then something happened. On Friday morning, we were woken by a loud cry. I could hear who it was and soon noticed it wasn't the usual martyr cry of a kitten starving to death, but a cry of pain. When reaching my sister's bedroom, where Plutten used to sleep, I saw something so scary. I saw Plutten in some sort of fit. When the fit subsided we were so glad that it was over. Plutten was weak, but at least seemed to respond and after awhile started to purr a bit. Then came a second fit, a worse one. In the end, Plutten looked at us, struggled to breathe for a few seconds -- and died.

No idea what happened. Was it a disease, something innate, an exposure to something (don't trust dad not to use pesticides near the kittens)? Some days before something happened that we of cause now know was a first sign: we found Vitfluff, who had been outdoors enjoying the sun and been with the other cats, weak and appearing to have lost all sense of balance. Not having seen what had happened and seeing how the little one made a full recovery after being fed (nothing wrong with that voracious appetite) and resting for an hour or two, we thought it was a combination of strong sun and too little to drink. It was a real scare, but seeing no further signs of anything being wrong in the kitten that for the rest of the night ran around playing as always, we never went to the vet for a check up... Now we of cause wonder if what we saw was the result of a first episode.

The kittens have missed our little sweetie and we're glad they at least are two, not losing their only playmate. Before he died, Sötis used to sleep with his head on Vitfluff. Now they'll have each other again in cat heaven (there's nothing strange about an atheist believing in cat heaven, you know).

A tiny kitten that's left a big void.