14 August 2007(?) – Sun 27 March 2022 (Age 14 years 6 months)
2007 - so pivotal for the Khoo’s
When a little grey kitten chased
pen tops into shoes
Throw the top and away you were gone!
Trotting back with bright eyes
that shone
Swiping yellow toy or a simple blue string
You knew not what pleasure you
would bring
No matter the years you had behind
You’re forever a kitten in my mind
“Where’s the kit?” is what Jan would say
Now - check the places to see
where you lay
Sometimes come running with tail up high
Or with throaty miaow – for food you
would cry
“Hi Babes” would I say to a grey ball on bed
A silent miaow from
your little raised head
In “do not disturb” mode – when your sleep
was so light
Your response
was a gentle claw or a bite
Now when about two - what a tragic event
Hit by a car
round in Berkeley Crescent
Then that long “op” was to repair your rear hock
Your stressful saliva that seemed not to stop
Cat sitting volunteers - well they’ve been a-plenty
(To always ensure our home was not empty)
To them was presented a kill you had hunted
with feathers
and corpses, they were confronted
Hunting skills were so many and sight to behold
That first RAT(!)
- on our kitchen tiles cold
And all of those mice! – caught to show off your skill
With signature
Miaow that announced the kill
Now when at Petter Close, in garden facing South
You sprung and in
“mid-air” caught blackbird in mouth
I’ll never forget that you once caught a bat
T'was constantly
amazed with your skills as a cat
I remember so well into bedroom you bought
An intact and
living magpie you caught
What panic in me - but none did you show
I thankfully
coaxed it out of window
And to see you walking on top of a fence
was clearly to
show off amazing balance
Now when Martin came over with ankle steel plate
The loss of one
canine was sadly your fate
Being led outside - in my mind this is etched
Demanding long
strokes on your body outstretched
And being led to the bathroom - you did this a lot
For nuzzling
session and your “silly” flop
To open a door? – your battle oft won
No sound, just
sit, look up, till done
But trips to the vet – a decision hard pressed
A heart
wrenching cry would make us so stressed
Some demands you would tell us by scratching at doors
They had to be
opened – said the sound of your claws
And when to bed late - at midnight about
A stroke of
your back and purrs would sound out
At night, sometimes atop bed you would park
And commence a wash cycle - even when
dark
Scratching to gain access to our bedroom eaves
Or demanding Miaow's - whatever
you pleased
Antics during my bathing - with bathroom door closed
You’d be on the
bath side and paw at my toes
And I remember sometimes on my blue towel you’d sit
And just stay
there as company with me for a bit
Sometimes you would bound up to the sink
And demand the
tap to be opened to drink
Never mind me, for if shut was the door
You’d sit
looking up and then scratch with your paw
When attempting to satisfy your culinary taste
So much food
was shunned and sent to waste
Oh! what a fussy eater you became
“Finest choice
morsels” was the name of that game
Now what did you love most on your white dish?
Ah, your favourite - raw tuna fish!
But for you my little kit, no cost would be spared
'Cause it
celebrated all our experiences shared
Since once you filled our lives with gladness,
Now there is only distress and
sadness
Our last weeks together so incredibly hard
Your fading away like being
pierced by a shard
No more wash cycles for you and no appetite
No more darting around – just a
loss of fight
So we knew when it was the loving thing to do
To say goodbye and for me was too
soon
I now find it difficult - so hard to stand tall
Never again to
see you my little furball
A hole I have here right in my being
because your
trotting – not again will I be seeing
I will always remember the kitten cat you were
Not that shadow of yourself with the
matted fur
And now I must get used to us being unreachably apart
But please rest assured you will
forever be in my heart
