How to Cause Kay to Have a Heart Attack

Ok, those of you who know me very well, or even those who only know me a little bit, know how crazy I am about my cat. In order to tell this story I have to backtrack about 7 years ago. I had two cats previous to Lexi. They were sister cats and littermates, Thunder and Lightning. I had Lightning 13 years and Thunder for 18 years. Thunder was my lovebug. I also have this "thing" about how cats are INDOOR pets. In my books, if you love your feline babies you keep them indoors out of harms way. I used to let Thunder go out on the balcony of my condo. She felt rather safe there and loved the feel of a breeze ruffling her coat. One night the guy I was dating at the time was leaving. He was on the steps and I was in the doorway talking. Usually when Thunder would come to the door she'd meow to let me know she was right there. This particular night she did not do that. I closed the door not knowing I'd shut my precious baby outside. Outside for the first time since she'd been a newborn kitten. I went to bed right after that and still didn't miss her. She sometimes slept with me but not every night. So the next morning I got up and got ready for work and had keys in hand to walk out. I always told her I loved her before I'd walk out the door. Most often she'd be laying on the windowsill in the living room and she'd poke her head between the curtains and meow back at me. Not this morning. I put keys and purse down and started looking in her usual places but to no avail. I finally called the boyfriend and jokingly asked him if he'd taken my kitty home with him. He said nooooo, then realized I was crying. So he jumped in his pickup and came over to help look. I'd looked all over inside, turned up anything she could get under and didn't find her. When he drove up he said let's drive some of the streets around here. He didn't say it but I knew he was looking for a body. We drove back and started walking around the building. As we were coming down some steps he and I were talking back and forth when I heard her meow. She heard my voice and started meowing. He found her under some shrubs under the stairway. He picked her up and put her in my arms. I was so happy but just bawling away. If only that had been the happy ending. As it turns out she was very stiff and moved very slow. I thought an 18 yr old cat spending the night out on a frosty March night, she'll be ok in a few days. Wrong. I took her to the vet and left with my precious baby in a box. That was March 1999.


I wasn't going to get another cat for awhile. But Lexi had other plans. She woke me up one Sunday morning late July meowing at the top of her little kitty lungs and I went out and scooped her up and she became mine. But in those almost 7 years I've had many recurring nightmares and all of them have one central theme: Lexi getting outside and in dangerous situations. So with this background story in mind, my friend who kitty-sitted for me while I was in California asked me to go to lunch today. We had talked but had not seen each other since I'd gotten back. We sat down and ordered and immediately she said I have a confession. I was being the smarty pants and said let me guess, the reason why Lexi hissed and growled at you is because you pinched her? lol I was making a JOKE! My friend said no, it's worse than that. She came over on Wed. of the week I was gone to feed Lexi her kitty treat. She was a bit concerned because it didn't appear Lexi was eating much since I'd left. Lexi wouldn't come out when she was here so on Thursday she wanted to come back to see if she'd eaten the treat (it's the Iam's pouch of food, Lexi's candy). The bowl was clean so she freshened everything and went to leave. She couldn't get the deadbolt to lock with the key so she came back in and left via the backdoor and locked it. She decided to come back over Saturday morning to make sure Lexi's box was scooped. She came in the front door only to find the back door standing wide open. She freaked out running into my bedroom to look for Lexi. She knows Lexi will hide inside the box springs but Lexi wasn't there. She called another friend in a panic and asked where else would Lexi hide. The other friend told her to go check the middle bedroom closet. She did and thank God!!! Lexi was there hiding and that is when she hissed and growled at her. Anyway, all of that to try to explain this odd day and the odd mixed emotion feelings I've had. I almost wished she had not told me. I hate those nightmares I have, they are unsettling and I know they go back to shutting Thunder outside that night. Thanks for listening.