Simba's Domain


Rainbow Bridge

rainbridge.gif

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 

Author unknown...

Marlee

Marlee Voo
amarlee.jpg

Marlee was with us for 13 years.  I captured her in a squirrel trap when she was a little feral kitten.  She was a very sweet cat and could hold her own around the younger cats when they tried to tease her.  She had strange spells all her life where she would hide and stop eating.  I would then force-feed her droppers full of tuna juice to get her appetite back.  This last illness wasn't very noticeable, Marlee still played and jumped around until her last 3 days.  Then she started building fluid up under her skin and seemed in much pain.  The vet said she had a mass on her liver or spleen.  I brought her home for those last three days with pain medication and I was coaxing her to try and eat something.  Finally, after the weekend, we had to make the tough decision to take her back to the vet to be euthanized.  January 7th, 2008 was a warm and sunny day, in the 50's.  Marlee spent her last hour on the grass, in the sunshine, sniffing the breeze and hearing the birds sing.
Marlee was a good kitty.

Yellow Cross-eyed Kitty

Yellow Crosseyed Kitty
straycrosseyed222.jpg

Yellow Cross-Eyed Kitty was someone's pet  years ago when Shawna first saw him. When he showed up again spring of 2005, he was dirty, starving and sick.  Why would anyone abandon a mostly blind cat???
Yellow Kitty became part of the outside cat family.  He and Mike did not get along very well, but then it seemed to become mutual wariness.  Mike had been chasing him away but he finally started standing up for himself.  Shawna bought Yellow some amoxicillin for his sneezing, and interceptor for any worms he may have had.  He straightened out some, but not fully.  By Feb. 2006, Yellow loved Shawna and she was able to pet him but she couldn't get him into a carrier to go to the vet.  She treated him with a few more courses of Amoxicillin and he made it through the summer relatively okay.  By fall, he was sick again and disappearing for longer and longer stretches.  Finally, he just didn't come back.  He disappeared shortly after Amber.  Shawna thinks he may have finally succumbed to his illness. 

Amber Lynn

ambercatty.jpg

Amber Lynn was born in the spring of 1991 and died September of 2006.  She was the oldest member of the cats in our family, moving in with Shawna before Dan was in the picture.   She was a very intelligent cat and a great climber.  She used to break into the house by climbing a tree, then the roof and window sill on the second floor, and then push aside the accordian side on the window air conditioner and going in through to the spare bedroom!  She learned her climbing techniques from playing with a squirrel tail when she was little.  Shawna and Dan would put it up high in different places and she would always figure out a way to get it.
She had two kittens before she was spayed and was a good mother.  She attacked a stray German Shepherd for coming too close to our house and also a visiting Pomeranian.  Both her kittens passed before her.  DJ (Double Jointed) lived a year but passed from a congenital problem.  Torrie (the tornado) was given away and we found out she was hit by a car in the new owner's driveway. 
Amber was a good cat. 
 

Grey Tiger

straygreytiger2.jpg

April 2005  Grey Tiger Kitty has died.  The neighbor came over and asked if I recognized a kitty in his side yard so I went to look.  Grey T.K. crossed the Rainbow Bridge due to an infected bite on his leg.  Dan and I buried him in the back yard.  I sure wish he hadn't gone feral, I could have helped him.

olwhitetoe3.jpg
White Toe

White Toe
1993 to June 2004

Here is Ol' White Toe. He was a stray that had been around for 11 years. He disappeared for weeks at a time and came back all beat up and sickly. Shawna dragged him kicking and screaming to the vet for penicillin more than once. He did not want to be a pet and enjoyed tom catting around. 

The last time Shawna saw him was Memorial Day weekend of 2004.  He had an infected bite on one of his ears.  The vet's office was closed for the holiday and she couldn't take him in.  She gave him lots of good food, extra vitamins, cleaned the bite with peroxide, and told him to come back around so he could go to the doctor.  He never came back.  Two days later, Shawna "felt" him pass.

He was a good cat and fathered many kittens in the neighborhood.  Mike and Marlee are probably his children.  There is a black kitten with white toes in the feral colony behind our neighborhood.  He is most definitely a junior. 

Grey
greyjo.jpg

The Wonderful Grey Kitty
 
approx. 1985 - May 2003


Here is the beautiful Grey Kitty...
 
He came to Shawna's back porch maybe 10 years ago...  Some unfeeling human dumped him; maybe they couldn't have pets where they were moving to.  He was already neutered, and not used to the outdoors.  He cried his way into Shawna and Dan's home.  Shawna found out, regrettably, that she could not take care of his beautiful long hair properly, so she gave him away to her best friend Kathy.  Kathy is a human blessed with great patience and was happy to take in the big furry Grey.  He lived happily in her care for a wonderful decade before his health started failing.  It came to the point where the majestic Grey could no longer maintain his appetite, he grew sickly and needed to go to the Rainbow Bridge.  This caused great sadness  among his devotees, but there was nothing to save him.  Now he has passed to the Other Side and awaits for his owner to either join him or accept him as a Brand New Kitten.
God Bless Grey Kitty
 
 





(Grey Tiger's history)

straygreytiger2.jpg

Grey Tiger started coming around during the fall of 2002 and he was a kitten at the time.  Shawna chased him away, thinking he was someone's pet.  After seeing him begining to starve, she realized he had been dumped.  But since she chased him so much in the fall, now he doesn't trust her, no matter how much salmon she feeds him.  It will take some time to earn his trust....  He now lives in the back yard and is a part of the "outside cat" family. 
Feb. 2004,  Shawna can pet Grey Tiger Kitty now!  He is still jumpy and will only let her if she has a bowl of food for him.  It's a start!
September 2004,  Grey Tiger Kitty rarely comes around anymore.  Mike decided he doesn't like him in our yard so he chases him off and tries to beat him up.  Grey Tiger is very fearful now and has gone totally feral again.  He has adopted White Toe Jr. and lets him follow him around.
April 2005  Grey Tiger Kitty has died.  The neighbor came over and asked if I recognized a kitty in his side yard so I went to look.  Grey T.K. crossed the Rainbow Bridge due to an infected bite on his leg.  Dan and I buried him in the back yard.  I sure wish he hadn't gone feral, I could have helped him.

rainbridge.gif