Feb 28, 2009

In Loving Memory: Gizmo (That Big Fat Girl)

I'm sure many of you noticed I didn't post any new "cutes" yesterday... We're back to our regularly scheduled flood of cuteness today, but before that, I wanted to take a couple minutes to tell you a little about one of the best cats to ever bless us humans with her presence.

It was a little bit of a rough day for me and the rest of the the Your Daily Cute family yesterday -- after 18 years of total love, it was time to make the hardest, most unselfish decision any pet-lover hates to make. Gizmo (which I'll call her for simplicity, but she had one of the longest list of nicknames a cat ever collected -- my personal go-to favorite being Big Fat Girl) was ready to go to the Rainbow Bridge, and out of pure love, it was up to us to help her get there easily.

It was the right decision, but that doesn't ever mean it's easy... We'll definitely miss her, but I hear there's unlimited treats and catnip toys there, so I know she's happy.

This pretty princess came into our lives when I was only 10, so basically she was like another sister. From the beginning, she adopted me as her favorite (not that she didn't have enough love to spread around to my parents and sister, but I always believed she loved me just a little more...). So cute!

One of the cutest things I looked forward to every day as I got a little older was waking up to get ready for school. As soon as my alarm would go off, Big Fatters (there's a theme here, no?) would dash up the stairs and stand by my door, staring at the door knob and waiting for me to emerge and give her some lovin'. Then she'd follow me around all morning or hang out on my bed until it was time to go.

Gizzy was also quite the adventurer. She was a lucky cat who owned a pretty nice backyard, with fences tall enough to protect her from the baddies out there. She could spend hours out there hunting, lounging in the sun, eating grass (bad Gizzy!) and generally just being happy. She was inside cat, but supervised adventures in the backyard were something she looked forward to every day.

Big Gizzy was also extremely partial to treats (which was cutely obvious by the pooch that swayed around a little when she walked). Any flavor will do, but in the past few years she'd been enjoying some cute little high-fiber treats (doctor's orders, yet delicious!).

It's Gizmo who me and my family credit for making us all the the way we are today. Whatever she did to flip our internal switches from people who have cats to "Crazy Cat People" I'll never know specifically, but she did... and now I feed every cat that walks by my car, to my front porch, back porch, office parking lot, random parking lot (shout out to the cat at Target!) and anywhere else you can think of.

When I went off to college, I missed having a cat around so much that I almost immediately adopted a son of my own (Pimp!). Since my sister has adopted two cats of her own, my parents have taken in another and there are many, many rescue cats and kittens that have found homes directly because of one of us Crazy Cat People.

When it comes to cats, Gizmo was the queen, and she'll always be in our hearts just like that. It'll be a little tough for a while whenever I go visit my parents without her around in the house -- she's always just been there. We were lucky enough to have her for 18 happy years, and no one could ask for more.

Tomorrow I'm running a marathon in Tampa, Florida, and I'll be wearing her little heart nametag from her collar on my necklace. Just figured she'd like to follow me around one last time... :)

Love you, Gizzy!

6 comments:

  1. What a sweet sweet girl! And you are a brave, wonderful person for letting her go in peace. AND for becoming a crazy cat person and helping other furries.

    xo, Romeo and Pugsley

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  2. So, so sorry for your loss. I had my Beezie Tat for 19 years--got her about the same way as you did Pimp. She has been the inspiration for so much of my art work, I took her name! Such a beautiful story--Thank you for sharing it. Brewskie Butt and I send purrs and *nosetaps* to cheer you.

    BZTAT and The Brew

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  3. Aww...RIP, Big Fatters. She was a gorgeous girl. Good luck in Tampa -- I'm sure she'll watch over you.

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  4. Awww...tears are rolling down my cheeks. I'm a crazy cat person too and I know how you feel. I've had the pleasure of meeting Gizzy a few times and she was a beautiful kitty. My heart goes out to you and your family.

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  5. Ohhhh, that is such a sweet story! Good luck at your marathon. I know Gizzy will love getting to run around with you, right near your heart. She looks like she was a doll... Thanks for converting your family into crazy cat people :)

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