Tootie Boo Boo

I had a weird dream last night but what stands out the most is the fact that my old kitty, Tootie Boo Boo who has been dead for almost 4 years, was in the dream. I was holding her and petting her. I could actually feel her presence, I could actually smell her. Tootie always smelled like a store bought kitty - like new clothes from Hudsons (Hudsons = Macys). I just can't get over how strongly I felt her presence. I actually think it was her 'visiting' me because try as I might I cannot re-create that feeling of her presence now. I wonder what the dream means...

 

Tootie Boo Boo - she was a stray cat that basically adopted my family. There was a rumour in the neighborhood that her name was Melissa and she belonged to a woman on our block who was dying of cancer. The woman's husband did not take care of the cat while she was dying so there she was. I am not sure what the story and I didn't investigate at the time. All I knew was there was a nice black cat hanging out by our house and she would wait for me to come home from work with scraps of food. I always did have a soft spot for cats. I convinced my Mom to take her in and that was the beginning of Tootie Boo Boo.

 

We realized that she was pregnant not long after we took her in. We also discovered that she may have been abused - when we bathed her she was full of oil and had what looked like cigarettes burns on her body. I named her Tootie because she had bad gas due to the pregnancy, LOL. She had her 4 kittens on my bed. Later she acquired the name Boo Boo - one day I was playing a sort of peek-a-boo game with her. I popped out around the couch at her and said "BOO" and she jumped about a foot high, I kid you not. It was a funny sight! Her eyes got wide and she jumped on all fours about a foot high! It looked like a cartoon. So after that I started calling her Boo Boo. She was quite a little character, my Boo Boo.

 

I loved that kitty. We had her about 16- 17 years. My Mom and I had to put her to sleep in September 2006 because she was sick - liver problems I believe. I thought she was going to die the year before but we were blessed with one more year with Boo Boo before her illness could not be controlled. The thing I remember about that illness the year prior to her death is when I took her to her vet on a Monday morning after being at the emergency animal hospital all week-end her vet came in after looking at her labs and said rather dramatically (and brusquely), "She's gonna' die!" I was stunned but I turned and looked at Boo Boo as she turned toward me and looked at me with her wide, green eyes - I got the feeling we were both thinking the same thing, "Thanks for the info Mr. Obvious...we're all gonna die, aren't we?' I started laughing and my sad mood lightened for a moment. I can't explain it, just like I can't explain the dream or why I feel the need to write about this today.