Kitty

I guess it is true what people always say- we never really appreciate something or someone until we lost that thing or that someone.

We had this kitten recently, until last week that is. This little kitten followed me home one day in April. She was small, lost, alone...She saw me throwing rubbish not far from my home that day, and just came running and followed me home.

We never really had cats in our home before because my wife wasn't really fond of cats. Two of my kids used to have asthma, therefore we never allowed cats in our house.

But this little kitten was so small and fragile that my wife took pity of her. We allowed her to stay only outside though. During the first week, she almost died because I guess she was not used to the kitten food we gave her.

But she survived. And not only that- she grew into a very beautiful kitten. We didn't realise that she was actually a mix until she grew up later. She had a pair of beautiful blue eyes. Her white fur had shades of gray and orange on the tail and ears, and when she was about 3 months old, we began to notice that her fur was growing thicker. Later she grew to look almost like the original Persian. We named her Kitty.

Maybe because she was very cute and adorable, my wife started to allow her into the house. Of course my little girl loved Kitty very much. This little Kitty would answer to the call and would come running whenever we called her. She was very playful, but we trained her not to scratch anyting inside the house. We let her sleep outside though. But she never wandered very far from the home, only as far as our adjacent neighbours' house.

She became a favourite with other cats as well. Our neighbour's two cats would come to play with Kitty almost daily without fail. Or Kitty would simply go to their house to play with them. She would always return when I called her.

Kitty was such a pleasure around us. My little daughter would look for her every time she came back from school. Very often my daughter and I would take Kitty for a drive, something I never did before. My girl won't sleep every night until she played with Kitty. All my other kids loved that kitten too. She was very much a family member. It was such a joy to have her around.

Then one early morning last week, when I was going to work, I noticed that Kitty wasn't in the porch as usual. My daughter asked me where Kitty was. I just said that Kitty might be playing with some cats nearby and would come back later.

When I came back from office later in the evening, they informed me that Kitty was still not home. I went around calling her name, but she never showed up.

Later at night, my little girl still waited for her beloved Kitty. I kept telling her that Kitty would come back and she just have to wait. She went to sleep very late that night, waiting for her Kitty to come back.

The next morning, the first thing my little girl asked was whether Kitty came back. She was very sad when I said no. She went to school that morning with a very sad look, without saying anything.

Later in the evening when I came back from work, Kitty was still not in sight. Then slowly we began to realize that she probably would never come back. My daughter kept asking what happened to Kitty. I told her that somebody might have stolen her. That's all I could say.

We never knew what happened to Kitty. We probably will never know. Until today she has not come back. We began to accept that she is gone. Maybe forever. It is something very hard for my daughter and our family to accept, but Kitty is gone. I told my daughter that we could get another cat, but she said she just wanted Kitty to come back.

The neighbors' cats still come everyday, looking for Kitty I guess. We can almost feel that these two cats also miss Kitty very much.

Now, after she's gone, we realize how much everybody loved Kitty...We really miss her.