Monday, June 23, 2014

Our Isabella

In April of 2004, Lexie, Jamaine and I were in our apartment for almost a year. Lexie was almost 6 and, truth is, baby fever was strong for me. I knew a baby was not in our immediate future so we started thinking of getting a kitten. I had always had animals in the house, since I was born and I think Jamaine did too, dogs though.

I started my search at the SPCA website and came across a few very cute, tiny kittens and went kitten swoon instantly. Then I saw a bio of a cat that was 7 months old and had the same birthday (9/10) as Lexie. No picture provided however...her name was "Nosy". I thought that I would have to meet this Nosy girl when we went to visit the shelter.

When we got to the SPCA we went and looked around...well, you know cats, they aren't bothered about much so they weren't really pawing at us, but some meowed. As I got towards the back there was a beautiful kitty with a paw through the cage trying to get my attention. I, of course, obliged and got down with her and played with her for a while and she was awesome.

Before I made any decisions, I remembered Nosy, the cat that shared a birthday with Lexie just 5 years apart, and went to the desk to ask about her. They led me back into the big kitten room and back down the familiar paths I just walked right to the kitten I had been playing with! That was it! It was a done deal! She was a beautiful kitty, a calico. I now realized the name Nosy was obvious. Her nose was two different colors, split right down the middle, black and tan. Just beautiful coloring. She was now ours!

Once we were home with her, we decided we weren't big on the name Nosy and started thinking of other names. I can't, for the life of me, remember what any of our other choices were but one of Lexie's favorite movies at the time was The Lizzie Maguire Movie. So, I am pretty sure Lizzie was on the list. She ended up with a name from the movie, the rock star that Lizzie looked like and pretended she was for the movie. Her name was Isabella!


She has been with us for 10 years now and coming up on her 11th birthday this September. Jocelyn has completely taken over and even feels she is her cat. Although, Isabella, "Izzy", is definitely a mama's girl. She sleeps with me ::read, ON me:: almost every night. She loves to play in my hair. She has been the best cat our family has had.

That leads me to reason of this post today. She is sick....like, really sick. She has been throwing up a green liquid (bile, I think) for a week. We took her to the vet and $700 later they tell us it will cost another $400 just to find out WHY she is so sick. We just can't do it. It could be another, I don't know,  $1,000 to find out AND fix it. So now we wait...wait for her to turn a corner. Whether it be for the better or worse. Then we decide if she needs to be put down or not. It is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make...and I haven't, technically, made it yet.

I just thought I would share just a very small portion of our story with Izzy. For all of those who have pets, enjoy them. Give them some extra love today...for us and Izzy Bizzy.