It has taken me three months to pluck up the courage to write this tribute article on Fizzy, my darling recently departed cat. For some crazy reason, I expected to have Fizzy by my side forever (or at least for a very long time yet). The house feels so empty after his sudden departure – I keep believing I'm going to see him walking into the Sitting Room or find him eating in the kitchen.
In this tribute article I am going to highlight all the things that gave me joy and that made Fizzy a very special cat indeed.
It all began on a hot Friday afternoon in September. The date is etched in my mind forever – Friday 19th September 2008. I shall never forget how I strongly resisted my friend Liz's pleas to take Fizzy (or Trouble, as he was known as then) just for the weekend, to try him out and to give him back to her if it wasn't right. This might sound out of character to those who know me well, but I had my elderly cat Sonic to consider, who was suffering from heart disease. A springy, energetic kitten was the last thing he needed! I think Liz knew me well and realised that Fizzy was here to stay. He never went back again, of course! I fell in love with him as soon as he stepped out of his carrier. He looked so helpless and gentle, innocent, lolloping about with those long legs.
Then two years later, I almost lost him. I was in a hurry to leave for work and I left my kitchen windows wide open. When I walked back into the kitchen and saw the gaping space where shut windows would have been, I almost buckled under. I just knew that Fizzy had fallen six floors down onto the patio below. How could he survive that? A big, heavy cat like him! When I managed to get into the empty flat on the ground floor, I saw him lying down in the sitting room on the other side of the house! He had crawled all the way in, bless him. I just threw myself on the floor with him and cuddled him, crying, asking him to please not leave me...
Here I have to give credit to our local vet Mark Pizarro. For all intents and purposes, Fizzy was absolutely destroyed inside and Mark didn't think he would survive. However, he didn't give up and promised me he would do everything in his power to save him. This man worked a miracle. Despite crushed, flooded lungs, smashed mouth, a badly broken front leg and a brain hemorrhage, Mark cured him. The real true bond with Fizzy began on that fateful day when he fell. I couldn't envisage ever being without him...
He was my little bit of sunshine. One day I was walking up the hill behind my house and chanced to look up at my kitchen window. Imagine my delight when I spotted Fizzy sitting at the window, the curtain draped around him, watching me go. He knew exactly which window he could see me from!
I have beautiful memories of hot summer afternoons, of Fizzy lying down lazily on my huge coffee table – it was so funny – I was forced to remove all my ornaments from the table as soon as the hot weather arrived because Fizzy would stretch himself the full length of the table (he was a very big Tom Cat!) and would promptly shove any unfortunate forgotten ornaments straight off the table onto the floor! During the Summer months he would also amuse us by lying down on the floor to cool his feet on the cold wall. I've never seen anything like it!
He loved to entertain us; he was a real show off! His repertoire included galloping round the house chasing after Ruben and a string; and everytime he negotiated the corner from the Sitting Room to the Hallway, he would go slipping and sliding without losing his grip on his galloping! Like a Tom and Jerry cartoon!! It was hilarious, thank you my funny baby. Then sometimes he would just flop with a thump on the floor and wait for me to place my foot underneath his feet. I would say “C'mon, Fizzy! Do a Sundance!” and straightaway he would use my foot as a platform to effect a sideways-lying-on-the-floor diving motion like a dolphin! Now, isn't that cute?
I know this sounds unbelievable but Ruben taught him how to do “Sit”. We did record him doing this and I will be posting a video soon, I promise! We cannot understand how Ruben managed to teach him, as cats are well known for their individuality and reluctance to obey
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, but we came to the conclusion that his early life growing up with dogs before he came to us must have helped...indubitably.
I've always had either 2 or 3 cats at a time. When one passed on, I still had the other 1 or 2 and, more often than not, would top up to 3 again with a new little kitten. However, I eventually ended up with Scratch and Fizzy, both fairly young, so I decided to leave it at 2. Then Scratch got sick and died. She was only 6, and Fizzy was suddenly and unexpectedly left on his own; I made up my mind not to get any more cats because he tended to be a bit nervous and submissive around other cats. However, he must have been feeling a bit lonely because, one day, I noticed he was sitting next to a small ceramic cat that I have on the Sitting Room floor; and he was emulating the ceramic cat's position to a T! What an artist! Haha! Here's a photo so that you can see what I mean.
He was a big Tom cat with a big appetite, bless him, and one of his favourite pastimes was rolling about on the kitchen floor with glee – because of the food aromas emanating from the hob! He loved it all, the heartiest spices, sauces, you name it!
It was very hard to say goodbye to this really special friend...on that fateful day, 29th January, I prepared his cat carrier with his little blanket and got ready for a battle of wills trying to force him into it. Imagine my look of surprise when he quickly rushed into the carrier the moment I opened the door... he knew, my little baby knew where he was going and he was thankful that his ordeal was coming to an end....
The vet had bad news for me. After a series of tests he told me there was nothing else he could do – that the kindest thing I could do for him now was to let him go....I couldn't believe my ears. I thought the vet would give me something for him and tell me to take him back in a week's time! It wouldn't have occurred to me in a thousand years that Fizzy wasn't coming home with me that evening.
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I stayed close to him and held him, whispering in his ears all the cute names I had given him all through these years. I held his funny big feet and stroked every bit of him, trying to burn into my memory forever everything that I loved about him. When I spoke to him, he tried to turn around and reach me....my heart broke into a million pieces. I held him and comforted him till he faded away....
He has left a huge emptiness in the house and in my life.... he meant the world to me and was always there waiting for me when I got home from work, making me laugh with his funny antics and giving me so much love.... El Pizzo, Wethi, Bebiu, Wakeu, Yoyo, Wachito..... I will never forget you and I will always always love you..... Goodnight, my baby.... Rest in Peace...
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