I am The Brat Prince

Hello all, It's The Brat Prince here. I was finally able to convince my Momma to help me introduce myself to everyone.

My given name is Sid. Well, that's not entirely true either, that's a small portion of my name but because it's so unique and Momma doesn't want her family or friends to know about the site yet I can't put the whole thing out there. When my full name is googled only 4 sites come up so you'll have to be content with that.

As you can see I'm a gorgeous kitty. My coloring is ruddy, my fur is silky smooth, my eyes are a mix of yellow and green, mostly yellow and I have very soft touchable ears. I'm small and fast as lightning. I used to be able to jump from the floor to the top of the fridge. I haven't been able to do that for awhile now but then, I am 11 1/2 years old. I can still jump from one side of the kitchen, off of the garbage can, onto the top of the fridge though. The length of space is the same, if not a little longer, but since it's a little more horizontal rather than vertical it's easier.

I dislike my two little brothers. Momma and Poppa brought them in one day almost 7 years ago and they love to chase me and pounce on me. Crybaby is just too big for my little body to handle and I don't like him anyway. Pretty Boy, well, he's not too bad most of the time but sometimes I don't want to play so I have to hiss at him to get him to stop.

I like my little sister Whiskers though. She was brought in one day 8 1/2 years ago. We've always gotten along. When one of those boys would pounce on me and make me scream she'd come running ready to kick their ass. She didn't fight back too much when they'd do it to her but for me she was ready to put the smack down. She'd clean my head for me too and sometimes sleep with her butt or a paw touching me somewhere as if to make sure I was with her and ok.

Poppa wasn't a cat person, always considered himself a dog person until he met Momma and her two cats that had her at the time. They were pretty cool, I liked them too. One day not long after meeting Momma he bought her a coffee table book of cats and they were flipping through it together and they came across a picture of a gorgeous Abyssinian sitting on a pylon at sunset. He pointed at it and said, "I want one of those." The next day he went online and found a breeder just a couple towns over. They came in, took one look at me and said, "Yep, that's the one I want."

See how little I was at one time. That's an official size football helmet and I'm not much taller than it. Even fit inside it but Momma can't find the photo right now.

I was a cute little shit at the time, running all over the cat lady's kitchen and getting into everything. And when he brought me home I did the same at his home and because I was so damn adorable he denied me nothing. A couple months later he brought me home a playmate, a sister to hang out with. She got sick and died a few years ago, made Momma and Poppa very sad.

My favorite pastimes were leaping up onto that fridge and jumping up at the feathers they'd hang before me. I also loved stalking the feathers when they'd lay 'em down on the ground. I'd squat down, go very still so they wouldn't see me and then spring out and pounce on 'em and then run and hide and do it all again. Those dang feathers didn't hold a chance against me. Neither did that damn red dot. Even when it'd go half way up the wall, I still got it because I'm just that good. I love sleeping on top of Poppa's computer monitor, it's so warm and cozy up there. And at night the best place of all to sleep is in between the sheet and blanket curled up in the crook of Poppa's legs. I sleep with Momma too but only when Poppa isn't there because I'm nothing if not a Poppa's boy.

That's Poppa holding me in my favorite position to be held. When he or Momma would rub my belly and/or head I'd stick my left leg and paw up in the air giving them a "Hitler" solute.

I'd eat anything you'd put in front of me, well almost anything. I don't like corn chips but give me a Doritos and it'll be gone so fast you would think you imagined it being there. Popeye's Chicken, the spicy of course and bologna are the ultimate foods. M and P couldn't bring the chicken into the house without first locking me away so I wouldn't bug them the whole time they're eating. M never gave me any bologna but P always did. It still didn't make me stop bugging her for it though. But she got pretty smart and would only have it if I was occupied doing something else or I was locked away. Oh, don't worry about the "locked away" I mean that they would shut the door to the downstairs with me and my siblings upstairs. It's not like I was locked in the bathroom or a cage or anything.

Ooh, speaking of cages, I love the cat carrier. They can't bring it out without me wanting in it. Whenever anyone had to go to the vets and they'd bring the thing into the room I'd be the first on top of it, if the door was shut, or in it if it was open. They'd have to poor me out of it to be able to put the other one in. Loved that thing!

You may have noticed that I kept going between present and past tense. I can't help it, you see, I'm no longer here. As you may recall, M wrote how all of us got an upper respiratory infection and that I seemed to get hit the hardest. P took me to the vet and they gave me a different antibiotic to use along with different eye drops for my leaking eyes. It seemed to help, the infection went away and I wasn't breathing through a snotty nose anymore. But my breathing never did get better all the way. Although I wasn't stuffy I was still breathing hard and I still didn't want to eat. The vet told P to get me baby food and that's what M did. It was really good and I did eat it but not as much as they would have liked. But it did get me interested in food again so I did eat some of our regular food but again, not as much as they would've wanted me too. Momma noticed me seeming to lose weight and pointed it out to Poppa who agreed.

Yesterday morning when M's alarm went off I did my normal walking up her body to her head and top of her back and sat there. It's one of my ways of letting her know I'm hungry. After she hit her alarm a couple times she finally got up and I went to the end of the bed. Even though I heard her put the food in the dishes I didn't want any of it. After she finished getting ready for work she decided to try the baby food again. She put a spoon full in a bowl and it smelled so good I ate it all up but when she put a second scoop in I decided I was done and didn't even look at it, I just turned away and laid back down. My breathing was really hard before I ate and seemed a little harder afterward. M called P on her way to work asking if there was any way possible to have someone come in and relieve him for an hour or so at the end of his shift so he could take me to the vet.

Someone said she would but it turned out that the latest I could be seen was 3pm. The coworker, bless her heart, said she'd come in anyway. Turns out I was way sicker than anyone realized. My lungs were full of stuff that was either cancer or a fungal infection. The vet really couldn't say for sure and recommended Poppa take me to a critical care specialist. So he called Momma and she left work to come meet us. When she got there I was in the back being checked out some more. The doctor showed them my x-ray and all the spots in my lungs and the fluid that was surrounding them. All of that is what made it so hard for me to breathe. The right side of my liver didn't look right. In the doctor's opinion she figured that was the cancer mass and what was in my lungs was the spreading of it. Also my kidney's didn't look very good either. She was 99.9% sure it was cancer but the only way to make it a 100% was to give me a mild sedative and stick a needle between two of my ribs and take a sample of the fluid or do a biopsy. Momma and Poppa said that since three doctors thought it was cancer and they definitely didn't want to put me through any more tests that they were ok with what they had already. Especially since even if they got the 100% confirmation it wouldn't matter. My quality of life would not get any better. I'd just be put through weekly doctor visits and may only live a very short while longer.

Since I had a wonderful, spoiled filled, love filled, adored filled life they were ok with letting me go and see my sister and Momma's two kitties she had when they first met, who also became my brother and sister.

I died shortly after 6pm Friday the 23rd.

They will miss me and mourn my passing but they are happy that I will be jumping to my hearts content again. They will be happy that I get to see my brother and sisters again and tell them how much they're missed and loved still. I will miss them too but I'll be watching them and making sure they're looking after my other sister and two bratty little brothers.






Adieu