One warm August morning in 1992, I heard a kitten crying. I couldn't
see where it was coming from. I looked over into the next door yard and
didn't see anything. The house behind theirs was for sale and no one lived
in it. I went back out a couple of times during the week and never heard
or saw anything again. Saturday
morning, my neighbor, Amanda, called me over to the fence. "Do you
hear that kitten crying?" I said that I had heard it earlier, but
nothing since Tuesday. "Well," she said, "I have been hearing
it all morning long." I went over to her house and we both stood at
her back fence looking into the yard behind her. There it was!! A very
tiny grey kitten. Crying. Her oldest daughter came out and we decided to
climb the fence and try to catch the kitten. It took almost an hour. There
was a woodpile that the kitten kept running into. The wood had been there
so long, it was rotten and very easy to lift. With a little bit of sneakiness
on our part, we were able to flush the kitten into my waiting hands. She
was so tiny. Not wanting to climb the fence, I carried her home
the long way, talking to her the entire way.
At this time, I didn't know that she was a she. At her first veterinary
visit, Janet said, let me see, I can tell. Well, she couldn't. I had to
wait for the vet to sex her. We decided since we found her in a woodpile,
we thought it would be fitting that wood be a part of her name. We named
her Hollywood.
Holly was a sweet long haired grey girl. She wasn't much for being held,
but she would lay between us at night with surry mom, as we called a cat
pillow that had long hair. She would knead and nurse on the pillow and
she purred so loud. She did this til they day we lost her.
She was a very curious cat and we had to get her out of many situations.
Once we found her on the roof of the shop in the backyard. How she got
there, we will never know, but she needed help down. She loved the dogs
and the other kitties. Bart was her best friend in the whole world and
they were inseparable.
While we had Hollywood, the cats were still able to leave the yard during
the day. The neighbors directly behind us had a dog that hated cats. I
never completely blamed the dog. The owners of this dog only gave him attention
when he had a cat trapped in his yard. He was a very lonely animal. I had
gone to the grocery store and when I came home I did a head count. I came
up one kitty short. I looked all over for Holly and was unable to find
her. Bart helped me. He was down at the fence crying at something he saw
on the other side. It was Hollywood. She was alive, but she couldn't climb
up the fence as hard as she tried. I was able to round up my brother in
law and a neighbor. They went into the yard to get her, not afraid of the
dog, who was now laying by his back door.
My brother in law took me to the vet and I had to leave her there. That
evening the vet clinic called with the bad news. Her back was broken. They
could operate and put pins in it, which would stick out of her back, for
life. We could just let her go on the way she was and let her live in one
of those little carts. Or we could euthanize her.
What a decision. She was only fourteen months old. She was a very active
cat. She was into everything and we had to consider her quality of life,
not how much we might miss her. We chose to put her to sleep. This was
on December 20, 1993. It was a very hard Christmas.
Since her loss, we have become parents to an additional eight kitties.
We put one woman out of business for selling sick animals, something I
wouldn't even have known about, had Hollywood lived. My friends and relatives
became more involved with cats, taking in kitties from shelters and spaying
strays. Brian came up with an idea to keep the cats in the yard (see the backyard page for details). So much
good has come from her death, that I hate to dwell on the hurt and heartache.
She is our little Holly Angel and she watches over all of us. She is
a Rainbow Bridge greeter. I know this because she was a greeter at home,
alway climbing to a place where she could give us a hello kiss. We miss
her and we love her.
Rest in peace, little shooting star.
December 20, 1997
Dear Hollywood,
Today is the four year anniversary of your loss. We miss you, sweetie. We always will. Even with all of the cats we got after you left, we still have a big place for you in our hearts. I hope you miss us, too.
kisses and smurgles,
your mom.
On December 31, 1997
Hollywood greeted Mister Fluffy at the Rainbow Bridge.
July 10, 1998
Somebody posted this on Hollywood's message board...thank you so much...
Even though your life was short
it wasn't lived in vain.
For all the happiness you brought the world
made up for all our
pain.
We love you.
