Chiquita Mudrita, my beautiful black cat

by Patricia Casablanca
(San Antonio, TX)

Chiquita Mudrita first showed up in my front yard about 3 years ago, a tiny little black kitten with golden green eyes. She must have been about 2-3 months old and even tho she and I had never seen each other, she ran up to me as if she knew that I would fall in love with her and of course I did. I told my husband that we had to take care of her and he said he knew I would say that because the night before, he and my son had seen her around the back yard. He knew I would want to keep her, so he said there was no use even arguing against it.

She was a little thin, and her fur was a dull black, but within weeks, with regular meals, fresh water and lots of cuddles, she was a fat little glossy furball of playfulness and curiosity. She never liked to be carried but would come up to me so that I would rub her back and head. She was babied by me, my husband, my son, and even our other cat, Bobo.

Bobo is a Siamese-tabby mix who looks quite a bit like a white Bengal tiger! A couple months later, Houdini, a grey tabby male even younger than my Chiquita, joined our family and 'nini and Chiquita became the best of friends. They were all three strictly indoor cats until late last year when I started letting them go outside a little at a time.

Chiquita grew to be an extremely loving and beautiful black cat. I think the fresh air and sunshine helped her to grow even more than she had, and she became full figured, but not fat.

She was so sweet and loving toward me. Every time I was sick, she would not leave my side except to eat and use the litter box. But Chiquita loved going outside.

Everything was going fine, the cats were getting into a routine of going out in the morning, coming in when it got hot, and then settling down inside for the rest of the day & night.

Yesterday, everything was fine. She came to me for her early morning cuddles, then did her "I'm so cute now let me go out" walk and I let her out as usual. Only this time, out of nowhere, the neighbor's two huge dogs and 3 other stray dogs came out at her. She was attacked and I was too late to save her. They broke her back, and even tho I got those animals away from my sweet baby, it was too late. She died in my arms on our way to the emergency vet.

I am so heartbroken to think that yesterday everything was normal, she was fine and now she's gone. Why did I let her out? I was going to keep her in with me but since it was my day off I thought she would be safer outside than if I was at work with her being left out. Why did this have to happen? Why do people let their dogs run loose and not bother to keep them in their own yards? I miss my little beauty so much, we all miss her. It's so hard to believe that she's gone. Everything was ok yesterday morning and today it's not.

Even though I have more cats, including another stray I rescued a couple months ago and my friend's cat who had her first litter (only 1 kitten survived), Chiquita had been with me almost as long as I've lived in my apartment. And these others are not Chiquita! She was my baby girl, my little princess, my beauty queen and now I'll have to live without her. If she had been sick, it would have been easier to let her go, but she was healthy and happy and full of life. I buried her in the back yard, wrapped in my favorite bathrobe, which was her favorite item of my clothing. She used to knead it and nuzzle it and go to sleep on it, even if I was wearing it.

I miss you my baby, and I'll always cherish the memories of you. I hope that I can forget seeing you fighting for your life, and I am so angry and won't stop trying to get animal control to do something about those stray dogs and uncontrolled "pet" dogs that the neighbors let run loose. I will honor your memory by making sure that kind of thing doesn't happen again, not in this neighborhood. Please wait for me in heaven til I get there.

This kind of love is so special! Chiquita will wait - with a purr and her pretty gold-green eyes - just for you....