Monday, May 23, 2016

Lady Fuzz, Duchess of Lincoln


Duchess...our Duckie

It's hard to believe, but there you have it. One half of the Kindergatos is gone.

She's been getting sick, and Mom tried a few things, but she just kept losing weight, kept having diarrhea, kept...not getting better. So today, Mom made that hard choice. We're all pretty weepy tonight.

I'll never forget the day we brought "the girls" home--Mom had put off getting a kitten until I returned from England, hoping the distraction of raising a baby would help me get past the inevitable sadness at leaving. "A kitten" became a pair when Dad watched Mom and I cuddling two tiny torties, raised an eyebrow, and said, with a sense of giving in, "We might as well get both."

So Bella and Duchess came home with us. Hilarity--and sweetness--ensued.

It seems so weird to think of them not being a pair, but we're left, tonight, with just Bella--who howled under Mom and Dad's bed after they left for the vet's office with Duchess. It's going to take me a few days to get over that one.

A few years ago, I was idly scratching Duchess' ears one evening when I looked at Mom and said, "You know, this cat has the gentlest soul of any animal I've ever met."

Mom just smiled. "She really does." Even Dad, who normally scoffs at such assessments, had to agree. Duchess was just...sweet. Sometimes a wee bit on the ditzy side but always, always, eager to accept ear scratches and tummy rubs. She loved having her hair brushed. The only time I ever heard her hiss was at Harley when he was a baby--and he deserved it.

While Bella was the feisty, red-collared grouch of the pair, Duchess was our Lady Fuzz (Guess who named her? Yup, same woman who named this ridiculous Little Pink Blog.), amiable and good. So ridiculous in her sweetness that Dad started calling her "Duckie" when she was still a baby.

"She's not a duck!!" Mom protested.

"But she's such a little duckie!!" I replied. It stuck.

For years now, I've done the silly-voice kitty-talk at them, crooning all about our "Bella Blue and Duchess, Too!" It hurts to knock the last part of that off...but such is life, when you let pets into your heart.

Rest in peace, Little Duck. We miss you already. Give my Millie a head-butt for me.


Letting it all hang out.

"You're taking us with you, right?!"